Flame

Part 1: Glimpsing the One

It was an early spring Sunday morning in New York City. Sharae was on mile three of her five-mile weekly run in Central Park. Her thick, curly black hair was pulled up into a tight bun on the top of her head. She wore a pink Nike sports bra, with a loose pink and black crop top that read Just Do It; black Nike shorts covered her petite, yet voluptuous assets and black Fenty Puma sneakers were on her feet. Her iPhone was in her work out band strapped around her arm and wireless Beats by Dre were on her ears. She had one goal and one goal only for the moment and that was completing these couple of miles. She paid no mind to the onlookers from other pedestrians, although the park was fairly quiet at this time. It was New York City, and regardless of what time it was, there was always a certain amount of people in the area. All the Way Up by Fat Joe and Remy Ma blasted through the speakers in her ears. This motivated her to speed up her pace. Sweat glistened her milk chocolate soft skin as she kept her breathing under control. This is how she started her week. This is what kept her grounded and prepared her mental for the busy work and school week ahead. Sharae worked at a barbershop owned by her Godfather, Adam. She specialized in locking hair, coloring, cutting, cornrows, braids and customer satisfaction. She was the only female among a shop full of guys, but it was all good, for she admired the same as the guys: the ladies. She was only twenty-two but swore that she had been here on this earth before. She was living in this world but wasn't of this world which caused for many feelings of alienation. Many of the people who were in the same age group as she, weren't on the same mental level. She craved stimulation in all forms and appreciated the wisdom and experience that came from people who were older than her. It may have been that her parents had her at a late age. Her mother was close to forty years old when she was born, and her father was close to fifty. She was their first and only child for they had many problems trying to conceive and looked at Sharae as their blessing. Both of her parents passed away while she was in the middle of high school, and that left her Godfather and his wife, Shelly to care for her until she was able to care for herself. When Sharae wasn't working at the barbershop she attended Hunter College three days out of the week working towards her Bachelor of Arts in Dance. This was one of her many forms of expressions and creativeness. She believed that her first steps as a toddler were a form of dance for she had been dancing for as long as she could remember. She danced all throughout middle school, high school and now college and planned on owning a dancing studio of her own one day. Baby steps for now, and she was indeed crawling. Passing the lake that was in the middle of the park she was distracted by the beautiful scenery and did not see another on-coming runner until it was too late and they crashed into one another. Sharae; annoyed, and in pain held her ankle for it felt as if she had twisted it, which was never good for a dancer. The stranger apologized with her hand out for Sharae to take hold of, but of course she could not hear until she pulled her headphones from out of her ears.

"What?" she said finally looking up at the stranger surprised at whom she had literally crashed into.

"My bad beautiful, can I help you up?" she was tall with a complexion similar to a caramel Frappuccino. She had long locks that were pulled back into a ponytail, muscular arms covered in tattoos and a very athletic build. She smiled revealing a matching set of dimples and perfect teeth, her lips were full, and eyes were slightly chinky like she could have been mixed with Asian.

"Uh... sure," Sharae took the strangers hand as she helped her up. Once she was on her feet it did feel as if she had sprained her ankle, so she took her weight off of her left foot.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'll be okay."

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah..." Sharae said as she tried to walk but ended up limping instead.

"Whoa... Take it easy there. C'mere," the stranger scooped Sharae up into her muscular arms like nothing and sat her down on a bench nearby.