This was originally published in Serendipitious: English as a special entry for #AMACon 4 on its weeklong Anniversary celebration. Thank you, AMACon for inviting me and giving me this opportunity.
Here, I've added a Prologue and made some minor revi...
“Would you like to watch the sunrise up there with me?” He asked.
I’ve heard this question before, from a life I’d rather just keep tucked away in my deepest memories. But here it is, being asked again by a man I just met and barely know, and all I could hear was my heart screaming yes. It was surprising as it was scary, because for the first time in a long time, I was excited about something.
“Yes.”
He chuckled and took my hand again. We ran toward the hotel entrance. I didn’t miss the way he waved at the guy at the hotel reception who nodded at him but with a face which had “who is she?” written all over it. I figured that RJ must frequent the place because we navigated through the lobby and casino very quickly and was in a staff elevator in under two minutes from the entrance. He pressed a code and I felt like we zoomed to the top of the building. When the doors opened, we stepped out and I thought we ended up at the Observation Deck. But he led me through a narrow corridor and when we reached the door at the end, he stopped and took a deep breath.
“Ready?” He asked, panting, like he could no longer contain his excitement. It was contagious.
“Yeah?” I said and giggled.
He smiled wildly at me before opening the door. When he did, a gust of wind blew my hair about and at first I thought we were in outer space.
I stepped out and the first thing I noticed was the blanket of stars hanging from the deep black sky. I held out my hand stupidly, thinking I might be able to reach them. I’ve never been that close to the sky, that I had to giggle at the feeling of elation it gave me. The warm desert wind blew smoothly on my hair, and my dress danced between my legs.
“Come on, I’ll take you to my spot.” He led me around complicated looking pieces of equipment and antenna looking gadgets installed on the floor. We ended up under a square glass canopy that could fit maybe four people. From there, even sitting down, one can see the entire Las Vegas and the surrounding deserts through the glass railing. He probably noticed my surprise when I saw there was a mat there already, because he whispered “I come here a lot,” then smiled widely at me, and his dimple was deeper than ever.
When we were settled, I could only utter a ridiculous “wow.”
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“Right?” He said, nodding and very proud of himself like he had just shared the 8th wonder of the world that he discovered.
“This is amazing. How did you find this?” I asked.
“By accident, would you believe it? When I was still--, well there was a time when darkness was consuming me, I asked a friend of mine if he knew the highest possible place I could go to in Las Vegas. He told me to go here. He meant to lead me to the Observation Deck, but being bad at following directions, I ended up here. When I told him about this place, he said only a handful of people knew about it, like a secret hide away, so that’s the only door in this entire building that they never lock. When I first got here, I explored, went around all these installations and found this little corner right here.”
