Amaranth

11

        "Look around you. This is life."

        He saw nothing but miles upon miles of tombstones, all stretching across the expanse of the earth swallowing people as storms do to ships. Each marking the life of a deceased or someone who once walked this earth as freely as he was doing. Except unlike him, they were trapped. It was the only difference he could think of.

        She inhaled it in. "This is life. This is my life."

        He leaned in.

        “What are you doing?”

        “I want to kiss you,” he stated.

        “Why?”

        He sighed. She was making this harder than it had to be.

        “Because I like you.”

        “Oh.”

        He leaned back in.

        She stepped away.

        “What’s wrong?”

        She turned away.

        “I thought you like me too.”

        She nodded. “I do.” She hugged herself. “It’s just that I can’t kiss….”

        “You can’t?” He tilted his head. “You mean you’ve never kissed anyone before?”

        “No. I mean yes. I mean I don’t know.” Her head was swirling in confusion. She felt so lost that she wasn’t sure there was a way out. The only thing she knew was that something was wrong.

        “I don’t understand. You’re not making any sense.”

        “I don’t understand either. All I know is that I don’t kiss. Like ever.”

        “So you’re saying that even if you wanted to kiss me, you can’t? That something is stopping you?”

        She shrugged.

        “Okay, then.” He turned away, his face strained. It was for the best, he thought. But why did it felt so right to want to kiss her?

        He didn’t know. He didn’t have the answers. Neither did she.

__________

November 22, 2014