I looked out into the noisy city night from the balcony of my apartment. I leaned against the †˜safety’ bar that prevented me from falling several stories high. I breathed in the moist winter air and gave back my unwanted thanks back to the world. Along with the air, I inhaled the thin cigarette’s taste. It was like a kiss but not throwing all that deadly garbage into the equation. I really never recalled when I started smoking…hmm; actually I don’t really recall a lot of things from way back when. When I say that I all of a sudden remember a familiar voice in my head I haven’t heard in ages, †˜Hey, it looks just like snow.’ In that exact moment snow starts to slowly descend.
I ignore the snow and thought back to a certain spring moment when the cherry blossoms bloomed, and someone who compared them to snow. Her brown hair shined as the light from the sky reflected off of it as she turned around and said, the sad thought barges back into my memory, but I shook it off as I finish my cigarette.
As I was about to head inside, my cell phone beeped once, which meant I received a text message, I pulled out the cell phone from my pocket and looked at it. It read:
Can’t wait to see you again! Make sure to come pick me up in the morning okay?
I smiled at the message and responded back. I closed my phone and stuffed it back into my pocket before heading back inside my apartment.
I made my way through my apartment that resembled more of a dump. I really need to clean this place up sometime, I thought as I tried not to knock over things. I finally find my way to the bathroom; I turn on the switch and look into the mirror. I saw me, a me that is much older thanks to stress, depression, writer’s block, and this damn scruffy beard. I should really shave this off… I have a big day tomorrow, I thought as I felt the roughness along my jaw line.
I sighed as I took the shaving cream and spread it across my face. I looked at the razor blade before I began and the same voice came into mind, †˜Takahiro-kun, I’m sure you’ll be alright’…
An entire six months, I spent it in this coop, sitting in front of laptop staring at that blinking cursor, thinking I would find my muse for the lousy stories I write. That hoping got me nowhere; I struggled real hard just to be able to get something down so that damn cursor doesn’t blink! So I would hop on my Fakku.net and read through the forums in the Writer’s and Fanfiction section, trying to find something to help me get going on my writing and loneliness.
***
“I have to go now,” the bright woman smiled as she held her parents warmly. She finally let go of them after a minute or two and quickly walked to the train ahead of her. “See you in a week!” The cheerful girl smiled as she waved good bye to her parents. Then she entered the train and found the nearest seat next to the door. She was thankful that the train was so empty. As the locomotive made its way to the city, she couldn’t help but think about how long it would take to get there. She occasionally gazed at the constant scenery and would stare back down at a beautiful diamond band around her left finger. †˜Takahiro-kun…’ she reminisced about the boy she loved and remembered their first kiss and the night they spent together in that old shack just talking to each other until they both fell asleep. Now, she wonders how much more of a man he has become, after all it’s been a long time. She smiles, eyes still fixed at the ring she was wearing, †˜Takahiro-kun, I’m sure you’ll be alright.’
***
I woke up from the alarm I set last night, but I didn’t get any sleep. I hopped out of my bed and threw myself into the shower. I made myself presentable. After I cleaned up my dump I quickly headed back to the mirror and thought, not bad Mr. Tohno. Not bad at all. I admired myself for a few minutes more, and thought how well I made myself look young again. I smiled and then I looked at my wristwatch. I better get going otherwise she’s gonna get angry at me. I patiently waited for the elevator, and when the doors opened I climbed into the box that could possibly kill me in that one- tenth of a percentage, but I didn’t want to jinx it.
I finally exited the skyscraper and wrapped a black scarf, made by her, around my neck before I turned a corner to get to the train station. I walked through streets that were covered by the heavenly powder as I paraded through, hearing the soft crunches beneath me I noticed a familiar neighborhood and I decided to take a detour through it.
As I walked through these lively streets full of kids, I remember my childhood with that certain someone. A flashback came to me, it was when me and her were walking to school as kids and she ran ahead of me in front of a railroad crossing, she turned around and yelled something but I didn’t quite catch it because the train sped by. Before I knew it I was coming up to the railroad crossing from my childhood, I could see it in the distance.
I reached the crossing and began to go over it. A young woman, around my age, elegant brown hair, and dressed nicely. She seemed so familiar, but I kept going. In that split second I caught a glimpse of her face. Soon we passed each other and we both reached the end of the crossing. I gasped as soon as I realized who she was. I turned my head back, not noticing the signals screaming, I saw that the woman stopped in her tracks and slowly started to turn her head into my direction. I anticipated it, hoping that it was just my mind playing tricks. Every fiber of my being wanted me to go after this woman and as I was about to confirm her face… a train sped by. I decided to wait a little longer and turned my entire body around this time… then, another train opposite of the first flew by.
Patiently, I stood there waiting for the endless trains to crash or something. Finally, for what seemed to be forever, both trains disappeared into their own separate, individual horizons. Both of their fates were to never cross each other again.
The woman was already gone.
It was meant to be like this and that truth held sadness in me. Slowly and reluctantly, and I mean against my heart, I turned around to face the direction I originally had been traveling on.
“Takahiro-kun!” an elegant voice called out to me. I snapped out of the inner conflict within me and returned back to reality. It was Harumi. Knowing that, I threw on a wide smile across my face so my fiancé wouldn’t worry. She must’ve gotten a haircut over in America because the last time it was down to her back and now it was up to her shoulders. She wore casual clothes that just made her even more graceful. Her being was ever so radiant, brighter than I remembered. She dragged her bags with her since they couldn’t stay to par with her speed. Once close enough she dropped all her bags, ran to me, and embraced me tightly. “Miss me?” Harumi asked with her face pressed into my chest.
“Of course,” I answered her. We stood there for awhile, feeling each other’s long awaited warmth. Being happy would not be able to define this moment.
“Ta-kun, you don’t regret anything do you?” she brought out of nowhere. †˜Ta-kun’ is a nickname Harumi decided all on her own, without my consent. Though I have grown use to it…
“Why would you ask that kind of question, especially right out of the blue?” I asked her. She was telling me to answer or else, if she was silent. I sighed and spoke out, “Of course I regret things, but if you’re trying to ask if I regret marrying you, no I don’t. I love you, Harumi. Only I can be your hero,” I smiled. Soon we began to tread along the mystifying white land, in front of us with our arms locked together. As we continued to stroll down the now empty street
I felt her smile under my arms, “you sure know how to say such confident things when it’s with me alone, why can’t you all the time?”
[spoil]
