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Description
The sunlight bounces across the lake like a stone skipping on the water.  The golden rays reflect off the surface, illuminating the faces of a fisherman, a sailor and a girl.  The light lingers with the girl and reaches out to stroke her brown hair, streaking it with red.  The shine from the water mirrors the sparkle in her lake blue eyes.  The waves playfully lap against the rock on which she sits and the tree behind her bends in the wind, shielding her from the harsh weather.

In this space she is safe, protected.  For a few moments each day, she comes here to sit quietly and enjoy the silence.  Here there is no one to judge her or hurt her.  There is no silence to fill with awkward conversation because here the silence is natural and undisturbed; but as beautiful as this place is, she cannot stay.  Though the world seems to hold its breath for her and take pause, it cannot last.  She sighs as if exhaling with the world, knowing her time is up and she must go.

She makes her way down off the rocks to the bank and slips on her shoes.  She picks her way through the trees back to the path that will return her to her apartment and switches on her cell phone, the final tether back to reality.  A missed call.  She listens to the message as she walks the wrong way down the path.  Looking back at her safe place, she walks towards the thing that made her seek it out.  She reaches the door and waits for him to let her in, knowing he can see her from the window.  He opens the door and she follows him wordlessly inside.  Once in his room, she stands uncomfortably before him and feels his fingers along her collarbone as he plays with a necklace she wears.  This gesture used to send thrills up her spine but now, a shiver of nervous anticipation rather than pleasure runs its course through her body.

“Where have you been,” the boy asks, whispering the words in her ear as his arms snake around her waist.  “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I went for a walk,” says the girl, arms still limp by her side, the hint of a tear in the corner of her eye.

She stares out the window with her chin on his shoulder as his hands creep up her shirt.  This is not what she wants.  What she wants is out there, but she has never been strong and to say no could quite possibly cripple her.

The boy starts to undress her until she is standing naked and he is still fully dressed.  His eyes move greedily over her.  Her eyes are flat, the sparkle gone.  Her hair is dull and has no hint of color or life without the light.  She is a doll before him, beautiful and innocent, but somehow broken.  She lets her mind roam as he does things she does not wish to remember.  His breath is heavy on her neck as he lowers her onto the bed and murmuring words like, “Baby” and “Sweetheart”.

She does not want this.  She wants to be floating on the lake, weightless like a bubble moving across its surface; but instead, she is drowning.  His body’s weight presses against her as she tries to catch her breath.  They are as close as can be, and yet they are further apart than they’ve ever been.  She remembers he used to make her smile, but he can’t anymore.  She remembers they used to laugh together, but she can’t recall what they laughed about.  She remembers he used to give her butterflies, but now all there is, is this cold dead feeling inside.  Somewhere along the way they lost something, and she doesn’t know how to get it back.

He peels himself off her like dried glue on a tabletop.  She rolls on to her side and curls into a ball, facing the wall as he puts his clothes back on.  The room stinks of sweat and other things and the girl longs to be outside in the cool fresh air, smelling the sweet smell of the earth and the trees, but she cannot make herself move.  He lies down beside her, throwing a blanket over her naked body and laying on his back staring at the ceiling.  They do not touch.  The space between them is a vacuum, a blank hole that will suck them in until there’s nothing left.

“I love you,” he says to the ceiling.

Her eyes begin to shine again, only now they are full of tears, spilling over like the lake washing against the rocks.

“I love you too,” she says to no one at all.

Description
The sunlight bounces across the lake like a stone skipping on the water.  The golden rays reflect off the surface, illuminating the faces of a fisherman, a sailor and a girl.  The light lingers with the girl and reaches out to stroke her brown hair, streaking it with red.  The shine from the water mirrors the sparkle in her lake blue eyes.  The waves playfully lap against the rock on which she sits and the tree behind her bends in the wind, shielding her from the harsh weather.

In this space she is safe, protected.  For a few moments each day, she comes here to sit quietly and enjoy the silence.  Here there is no one to judge her or hurt her.  There is no silence to fill with awkward conversation because here the silence is natural and undisturbed; but as beautiful as this place is, she cannot stay.  Though the world seems to hold its breath for her and take pause, it cannot last.  She sighs as if exhaling with the world, knowing her time is up and she must go.

She makes her way down off the rocks to the bank and slips on her shoes.  She picks her way through the trees back to the path that will return her to her apartment and switches on her cell phone, the final tether back to reality.  A missed call.  She listens to the message as she walks the wrong way down the path.  Looking back at her safe place, she walks towards the thing that made her seek it out.  She reaches the door and waits for him to let her in, knowing he can see her from the window.  He opens the door and she follows him wordlessly inside.  Once in his room, she stands uncomfortably before him and feels his fingers along her collarbone as he plays with a necklace she wears.  This gesture used to send thrills up her spine but now, a shiver of nervous anticipation rather than pleasure runs its course through her body.

“Where have you been,” the boy asks, whispering the words in her ear as his arms snake around her waist.  “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I went for a walk,” says the girl, arms still limp by her side, the hint of a tear in the corner of her eye.

She stares out the window with her chin on his shoulder as his hands creep up her shirt.  This is not what she wants.  What she wants is out there, but she has never been strong and to say no could quite possibly cripple her.

The boy starts to undress her until she is standing naked and he is still fully dressed.  His eyes move greedily over her.  Her eyes are flat, the sparkle gone.  Her hair is dull and has no hint of color or life without the light.  She is a doll before him, beautiful and innocent, but somehow broken.  She lets her mind roam as he does things she does not wish to remember.  His breath is heavy on her neck as he lowers her onto the bed and murmuring words like, “Baby” and “Sweetheart”.

She does not want this.  She wants to be floating on the lake, weightless like a bubble moving across its surface; but instead, she is drowning.  His body’s weight presses against her as she tries to catch her breath.  They are as close as can be, and yet they are further apart than they’ve ever been.  She remembers he used to make her smile, but he can’t anymore.  She remembers they used to laugh together, but she can’t recall what they laughed about.  She remembers he used to give her butterflies, but now all there is, is this cold dead feeling inside.  Somewhere along the way they lost something, and she doesn’t know how to get it back.

He peels himself off her like dried glue on a tabletop.  She rolls on to her side and curls into a ball, facing the wall as he puts his clothes back on.  The room stinks of sweat and other things and the girl longs to be outside in the cool fresh air, smelling the sweet smell of the earth and the trees, but she cannot make herself move.  He lies down beside her, throwing a blanket over her naked body and laying on his back staring at the ceiling.  They do not touch.  The space between them is a vacuum, a blank hole that will suck them in until there’s nothing left.

“I love you,” he says to the ceiling.

Her eyes begin to shine again, only now they are full of tears, spilling over like the lake washing against the rocks.

“I love you too,” she says to no one at all.