Sunken ships

5

"Home already?" I shout back at Alex as I hear him put his coat away and take his shoes off.

"Well yes, Mark said I didn't have to work this afternoon." Mark is Alex his boss, a very friendly man. He is around the same age as Alex ad me and he and Alex get along really well.

"That's great," I say in response to his explanation. Alex had already entered the living room in the meantime. But the moment he came in he immediately froze when something caught his eye like he saw a ghost. Every emotion disappeared from his face.

"What's wrong?" I ask with a bit of concern in my voice. I turn my head to what Alex is looking at when he suddenly speaks again.

"You found it..." he states. He was staring at the journal that I had put on the dark wooden table. I didn't tell him I was going to search for it or even that I was going to read it.

"Yes I did, I am really sorry I didn't discuss it with you first but I only read the first couple of pages." I apologize in the hope he wouldn't get mad for what I did.

"Honey, you don't have to apologize for it. You can read it if you want I don't get to prohibit you from something like that. Plus, you wrote it yourself so I guess you still remember everything you wrote in there." he explained as he walks past me to sit on the couch that is placed on the other side of the dark wooden table.

"Yeah well, it was funny to read what I thought back then," I admit looking down at my lap.

"Did you already read my favorite part?" he says, making my head shoot up to meet his face.

"It was the first thing I wrote in it actually. So I guess it was you who gave me the inspiration to write it."

He chuckles at my comment while he stands up from the couch and walks my way to give me gentle a kiss on my temple. "I am going to set the table to eat some lunch," he says before walking into the kitchen.

How did I deserve such a sweet man?

...

The rest of the afternoon went by very quickly. After lunch, we went out to get some groceries on the local market around the block. I love going there, it's really relaxing to walk around and smell all the different herbs and spices. 

When we walk around in public we still get a lot of stares from people when they see us walking next to each other. It's difficult for me to act normal when all those people are staring at us like we are aliens even though we are not doing anything wrong. Alex, on the other hand, doesn't really care what they think, he is proud to walk in public with me, and in moments like that, he usually rubs his thumb on the palm of my hand to calm me down.

After we got home from the market we decided to play a board game. To my disappointment, Alex won this time so because of that I made him cook dinner tonight.

So now I am sitting here, on the couch while Alex is in the kitchen with his little apron and humming along with a song that is playing on the radio. I think it is The Wonder of You by Elvis Presley.

I was getting kind of bored from waiting, again I am not very patient when I noticed that the journal was still sitting on that little table. I reach out to grab it. Reading a bit more wouldn't hurt anyone, would it?

So I begin to open the book and skip a few pages until I find the next part I wrote a day or two after the first one.

When we arrived in England everyone who got off the boats got guided to the trains that would bring us back to civilization. On the short walk up there we were all given a blanket and a cup of warm tea. The man handing out the blankets kept repeating "well-done lads" but we were all but proud of ourselves. 

"All we did is survive" I heard the man with emerald green eyes say two steps ahead of me. I knew his name by now, Alex. He told me that back on the beach in France. When he told me about the beach I was really happy I finally knew the name of that beautiful man. There was this mysterious but also sweet thing about him that I just couldn't take my eyes off. And every time I looked at him I got this strange feeling I had never felt before.

We got on the train and I decided to go sit with Alex. I was extremely tired and wanted to get some rest now that we had the chance. I pulled my knees to my chest and the blanket next to my head as a pillow. Before I closed my eyes I looked over at Alex who was sitting in front of me with his forearms on the little table between us. He looked ashamed, sad almost. I just wanted to hug him but before I knew it my tired eyes were closed.