And the twilight fills the air...
You can see the snow on the mountaintops,
Through the veil, of Old Japan...++
-Jei remembers...
It was a dark night without the moon, only a few stars in the sky and sharp winds. That was the day I met him; Cal. I'd been walking aimlessly down the street, turning around corners, walking down alleyways, and hopping on trains to get away from the argumentative family that I had been born into, thinking to myself that if everything were just simple, as I has planned, there wouldn't be any problems.
It wasn't late, so I could roam around as much as I wanted without being scolded. But, it was November, so of course the sun would set around 5 O'clock. Anyway, my wondering led me down a street (somewhere near 39th and Wabash). I didn't really pay attention. I had my walk man's volume up high, nodding my head to the beat. I was tired of the song that played, I knew. I think it was Linkin Park's, Breaking the Habit. So, I looked across the street where there was a bunch of babbling from some old drunk guy. He was yelling/talking at a guy who looked no older that 15, two year older than I was at the time. I, of course, stopped to look, not at the man who consistently drew attention to himself, but at the boy who's appearance looked rather...angelic.
From a distance you'd think his hair was was a light shad of brown. However, when the rays of the streetlights hit him, it was actually a reddish brown hue. His skin was a honey colored tone and he had hazel green eyes. Green!
But...those eyes told me that they were always suppressed by his sorrows, wallowing in tears unshed. Deep green eyes that hid thoughts and emotions behind false intimidation. As soon as I realized that, he turned and looked right at me. I was afraid, but I didn't look away. I couldn't because I had gotten myself tapped in the gaze of that mysterious boy, making my way deeper and deeper into that maze of hate. I wonder what he thought of me then. Maybe he felt nothing, because it seemed as if he looked right through me.
Someone bumped into me then. My walk man hit the ground and broke into pieces. That brought me back to the world. I would have muttered something rude to the idiot who killed my CD player but I was too dumbstruck by the color green to care. Hmm....now we all know how my favorite color became green...
That was my motivation then...those eyes. Smiling, with those eyes mind, I turned around and headed back the way I'd come.
Anyway, thats how Cal and I first met..err...saw each other. Our actual meeting was a bit more...harsh.
So....a few weeks had gone past and I never forgot that night. But then, How could I with the way my family was acting? I was on my way home from the library (lots of studying back then) and I passed a little girl crying by the boing boing horse thingy in the neighborhood playground. I didn't like when little people where sad so I walked over to ask what was wrong. She looked at me with pretty hazel green eyes that I recognized immediately. Turns out the girl fell and bruised her body up a bit. It really did look bad. I didn't understand though, how she could bruise the back of her neck while falling forward.... I asked her to play with me. There was nothing much that I could do about the bruises.
The little person continued to cry until I gave her some candy that was in my backpack. I sharply noted that the girl had the same honey colored complexion of the boy from that night, but her hair was a deep brown.
I felt a cold hand touch my shoulder. Cold as in frigid...moist with an unbearably wetness... but something told me it was masculine, grip hard and alert as a man's would be...
...it was raining.
I was on guard. The bruises had left my conscious. Pulling from the stranger's grip, I turned around swiftly standing in front of the little girl and glared hard at the boy. However, that glaring look turned into an expression of surprise and awe. The boy from before stood right before me. Rich, maroon hair, soggy and drenched from the soft rain, invaded his forehead. His eyes were terribly serious, like that of a criminal's. He walked nearer to me, agonizingly slow, and then he opened his mouth, "What...are you doing...to my sister?"
I gasped. 'Sister?!' I thought.
He grabbed my hand rather roughly, and twisted it in his grip. It really did hurt. He looked at me, no... through me. Again, with those beautiful sea colored eyes. My own narrowed. Who the hell did he think he was? I snatched my arm away and placed my own glare upon him
"First off, dont go running around here making false accusations and thinking your all high and mighty. Second, I didn't do anything to her. I happened to be walking by and saw her crying. Third...who the hell are you?"
He didn't even answer my question and walked right to the little girl who's name was Mariah. I got angry. I hated when people treated me like nothing. Like what I did or said didn't matter. I was two seconds from whacking him upside the back of his head when Mariah told her obnoxious older brother what had happened.
"Cal Cal," she called him. "I fell and got a scratch and that girl came and made me feel better." She said this rather energetically. The boy looked at me...
"What now?" I questioned. "Gunna ask me why I did it?"
I was surprised when he answered with a yes. I sighed. "I have a little sister around her age. She reminds me of her, that's all." I walked past him and offered Mariah my hand. "C'mon. We'll go to my house and get a bandage. It's not too far from here. You can meet me sister." She liked that. " I suppose your strange brother can come too..."
Mariah laughed. "He's not strange."
"I beg to differ."
And that's how it happened. Of course, he and I fought every chance we got but it was kind of that love hate relationship...in a way.
++ On an Island led by all the ancient ways,
Just a million miles from here...
And yet it seems like only yesterday
That her song rang out so clear...++
Just a million miles from here...
And yet it seems like only yesterday
That her song rang out so clear...++
