I used to dream in black and white, and it was so glorious. A young girl without a care in the world, my dreams guided her through dark passages without a single stab of fear, and the youthful girl climbed to the highest heights without any vertigo. These nightly illusions had sustained me throughout my otherwise barely bearable life. That was until I had met someone who made me prefer to be awake and live a dream. rather than lay in bed and allow my heart to fabricate away, starting at dusk.
I was in a peaceful state of rest when his voice passed through my ears and into my very being. With a bit of a startle, abnormal for me, I came into consciousness. I wondered what had caused him to wake me in place of just in my own time.
As it was with us, I just smiled reassuringly to encourage him to speak to me. He could only explain if he would part his lips. I hoped my smile would do just that.
My white face must have seemed curious, for he told me then that there was something that I must see and he beckoned me to come with him. Going with him was like going to him. Easy. Natural even, I realized as he took my hand to help me up.
It was so strange of him to not say where we were to go. I was not expecting to wake to him, as I had done so few times, and I told him only of the startle. (I kept the pleasure it gave me to myself. I had to keep careful with him.) His tender apologetic reply made me hush for a moment, for I could see he was truly disappointed he didn't watch me sleep longer. I almost blushed.
We were now both standing there on a glorious, empty coastline that I had failed to take note of upon my arrival into the waken world. Tending to notice only him was a common occurrence in his presence.
I touched my face, rubbing my eyes as a toddler may do after their nap, and then traced his figure against his background, wordlessly... How was it possible that he could look so perfectly in place everywhere he was? My eyes grew larger still.
He took my hand softly, as I let him, and he guided me to the edge of this heavenly waterfront. It was like some kind of movie, and it made me spurt laughter. I noted not if he looked back at my face. My eyes were open to the sky as I stepped behind him. I was content, laughing, with my hand in his. I only needed to be happy to laugh.
It was snowing, softly, but snowing even so. How silly was that, to have snow on the beach? It gave me another reason to laugh. He let go of my hand as we arrived at the watery border. I stared at the sky, trying to determine where the flakes were coming from. I made no note that they touched me, I was too deep in my fascination to care for any cold. When I picked a white, tiny, shape of a flake, I watched it's descent. It came down in front of him there, in front of me. I saw him look back at me, and my sincere smile escaped.
His thoughtful face looked creased and worn by worries, but joyed when he caught my simple smile. Our eyes lit on fire. The intense blue from his and the wintergreen from mine combined to make a shade more beautiful than the sea itself. In that moment, the world existed, and it mattered with intensity to me. For he was my world. Mine, and I was his. He then took my hand again.
He pulled on my hand, for the second time in this space of time together, and I decided I'd push him to see if he'd tell me of our destination. He was so gently insistent to move, I was curious. When I asked him, he answered me with a simple explanation that it was somewhere warm. He wasn't going to tell me anything more, and I was sure I could be content with that. Look, I was content again. I laughed in my small moment of simple, pure, happiness. He gave me these moments. He gave me life.
His hand pulled once more, but it was only because I was being hesitant whilst as I was pondering.
Wherever we were to go, we were to go together. And I would follow him anywhere, I would be at his side. Whatever he wished was his and always was. Part of me was lost in these thoughts, that I was all of those things he wished, only me...So lost, indeed, that I did not realize we were walking on a frozen ocean.
The crystallized water wonder of snowflakes coated our little world together on our journey, and I enjoyed each one that placed itself on my skin. It gave me such will to spin, twirl, and dance in all sorts of circles around him as we walked. Although he picked the direction, he could not keep me in a straight path. He gave me too much joy with his presence.
Our surroundings gave me such awe. He seemed to give the strange circumstance we were in no notice. The only thing he looked to was the way we made our way with such high spirits.
Spirits. At one moment along that time we were skipping along on the snow covered ice, I felt what my Baptist pastor may have defined as a spirit accompanying us. Their comfort, these spirits that may or may not have existed there, it warmed me in such a way that my body felt no wind chill or sadness. It was then I felt completely lost with my partner in this trip to who knows where. And I was complete in myself. I made every moment count, bringing as many smiles to him as I gave myself. I was carefree, and my whole body glided along with his.
The energy never stopped flowing, but the snow did start to dwindle from the mysterious clouds so far above us. Sunk into the moment that had a duration of what could have been months, it took me a few seconds to realize that he had pulled on my arm in his sweet way and he had halted to look below our feet. Had I not felt weightless on my feet, I may have felt fear to fall through the image I saw through my footprint. A true marvel, a marvel that was almost of terror, there was movement and morphing shapes below us on the seafloor. A million thoughts struck hotter than lightening through my mind. My first instinct was to conceal myself in his arms from this enigma of a picture below us.
[[[[His profound eyes held the same gasp that I was barely able to contain expelling from my weak lungs. The very wind in our ears faded out and we were transfixed. It was so impressive to me, that in this moment our own breathing halted. My acute senses detected the movements of whatever was so far below us, and soon enough, it must have detected us. With soft force, it rose to bump the ice. We did not see them, these that had frightened us...But we played with them. They would bounce onto the ice, and we persisted in following them. Our laughs floated through the chilled air, and I could almost imagine our under the frozen wave friends laughing with us in their own special language.
As we followed these magnificent manifestations, catching glances at their impressive shapes in the patches of ice, the hand on the clock of time could have spun so fast Father Time became dizzy...For we chased them on, and on, and on, skipping, racing, our heartbeats accelerating, but yet I still felt his heart there next to mine. And it was beating the same quick rhythm. Synchronized, we were. ]]]]
After the adrenaline of those few moments, my eyes lifted to admire my company. My darling company. I saw the color of fear fade from his soul windows as the creature tapped on the ice below.
Then together, we, with each tap, followed them on. Gracefully and joyously we persisted in following them. They were a wonderful contrary to what fear we could have held, dancing and racing so fearlessly upon ice.
All my diversion was in the fact that I was in his presence, and he in mine, and that we did and went about what we did, together. Our laughter of bells, chimes, was a harmony more magnificent than the size of all the underwater animals that could've existed beneath our dancing feet.
We came to a point in our journey when the enchanting soft flakes ceased their own dwindling journey to the ground. Our eyes beheld an indescribable thing then. It was the very source of life, the glorious sun. It's presence was encompassed by a gently moving river. That was the sun's encasement, a place where our underwater companions could swim and surface periodically, spontaneously... Each jumped high into the fresh air. I smelled the salty breeze and internally jumped each time in sync with them. The jump I experienced was small in comparison to the startle of happiness I received in being in company of Leo.
As they propelled through the air, they sent our way warm droplets of sea water. It soon began to rain. Where it came from, I did not know for sure. I was in sync with my partner in our ocean ballet.
The atmosphere pondered on the happiness and peace Leo and I emitted as we took each others hands and played freely. The journey was not over though, and his gentle pull on my hand told me so. We bid our onlookers, admirers, and ocean friends farewell before continuing on our way, side by side.