Juniper

chapter 2

Later  that day...

The last bell had rung, signaling that he had finished his  first day of teaching . The english teacher collected his things, and turned off the lights of  his new classroom. He locked the door and walked down the empty abandon hallway. Making his way briskly to his car the fall breeze rippling through his soft wavy hair. He approached his car unlocking the back door and tossing his black leather briefcase in the back seat. Getting into the divers seat, he leaned his head back and sighed. Opening  his eyes slowly, he looked around the parking lot, leaves of various shades of orange. yellow, red, and dark green cascading softly to the ground. This made Paul smile, he had always loved Autumn even, when he was a boy growing up in Liverpool. Something about it, always seemed so poetic... almost like Jenna. It was whimsical... elegant, a bit... melancholy...  

Suddenly something caught his eye,while his eyes  had been absentmindedly roaming about the parking lot. Thats when he saw her walking down the street, he watched carefully, enchanted by her every move, the way she walked, the way her nimble  elegant long fingers gently placed  strands of hair behind her ear, the way her eyes looked as though she was engrossed in her own fantasy, and the slight sparkle that lighted them up as though they were amused. 

Paul shook his head, trying to get his  mind out of the clouds and back in reality, the 27 year old english teacher, gently caressed the small,corse hairs growing on his chin. He shouldn't be thinking about a student, it just wasn't right. He cringed when he closed his eyes and an image of his deceased wife filled his mind. Gently whispering an apology to the air.  He had been depressed about Linda's death for almost a year, things she said, and did filled his head. The memories where painful, and the dreams were horrid, not because they were nightmares, but because he'd find himself waking up in the middle of the night, to the realization that she was no longer there with him. But dead. He scolded himself, for constantly reopening the pain, the deep sorrow, and sadness, he felt every-time he thought of her. He loved her, more than life itself. But he deeply wanted to move on, and stop feeling guilty when he was attracted to other women, or even trying to be happy and finding himself depressed.  He felt he shouldn't be happy without her, he couldn't, it wasn't right. She was haunting him, haunting his mind and he  yearned for the pain to  just  go way. 

Paul finally pushed his thoughts aside,  he turned his attention back to the sidewalk where he had seen Jenna walking. But confusion striked,when he found her no longer there.  Frantically he looked around, hoping she would still be there. But She was gone, out of sight. He sighed to himself, glancing at his watch it was almost 5 O'clock, he'd been sitting there for almost an hour. Paul sighed again and started the car, pulling out of the school parking lot and down the street towards his empty house. The sun was falling slowly out of sight and he knew what awaited him at home, a Tv dinner and a cold bed. His tears welled up in his eyes and threatened to fall, as he drove off into the night.

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Sorry guys for the sad chapter but i had to develop Paul's character more.