TINKLE

Beaming at that grey leather seat from that 6 A.M. of every morning. The strong bouquet of expresso or latte tickled her olfactory sense, the day had just risen with some heavy eyes roaming around, the aroma right from the tumblers was justified I guess. She buttoned the beige sleeves of her coat. Skinny rays through clear window glass flexed her arms and her rough palms lidded those lids. It was a random day of the days, she would eavesdrop on the faint little chit chats of the soft pink cherry petals, when they hit those windows on wheels, as if they said, "HWAITING!"

Her deep black eyes were ingesting the savor of those tiny blithe things but wait, something delicate and snowy came along. Dandelions? She tucked her wavy hair behind her right ear. Let's take it as a slowmo, rounded little upper lip barely touching the peripheries of the white dandelions. The bracts stuck to the mole right under the lower lip and the one barely noticed on the nose. Rounded doe eyes curved at the delicate dandelions, the gold streaks from the sun dived into the shallow dimple right on the left and those gentle nose scrunches reminding of an adorable little bunny with a tiny pink nose. The entire bus? Nope... even those little kindergarteners on the zebra-crossing stopped right there to sneak a peek. The cherry petals suddenly appeared purple to her simpering eyes. Spring didn't feel the same... Had dandelions always been that beautiful?

Another sunrise, the quiet breezy bus stop, Sun was taking too long. Not even knowing which stop was that or would she be able to see that all again, she stood frozen waiting for the bus. That bus horn had never made her that happy before. She was faster than the driver and the brakes. Gripping on her books, she hopped on.

Rushed to the seat from that day, a sigh of relief and the brightest smile ever lifting the dark lip corners, sitting next to the same window. The sound of her unzipping her backpack disturbed the couple on the back who had just fallen asleep I guess. Her neck rotators helped her whisper some apologizing words to them followed by a slight smile.

The wheels on the bus went round and round, she wiped the window glass eagerly waiting for something to appear, fixing her pitch-black face mask.

Finally, the brakes sounded like the sweetest music ever to her eardrums. Maybe that was THE stop finally. What a weird part of the whole route, a stop where neither she could get off nor he could step on, what in the world was he doing there. Was it unintentionally for her or her everyday travel? His eyes were wide open that morning, brown rounded eyes pointed at the bus.

Keeping her eyeballs still at the freshly wiped clear glass was getting tougher, her heart was hitting on the sternum, those ribs couldn't stop it for long. She moved her clenched eyes away from the view and heard something.

"Like that soft breeze breezing, 
In the soothing sunlight of springs,
I long for the day...
She'll be around and I'll hear the warm tinkle..." (In his own language)

He sounded very clear, even through the glass! Those petals passed his moving lips by. A language unknown yet it made her heartache, taking it all out through the eyes. As her tears dropped, his lips took a break and he moved his eyeballs to the left. What or who was he looking at, she had no clue. His face looked fond of what he saw, "Maybe... that's the one who would ring the bells and he'd hear those tinkling..." she lowered her wet lashes, "I couldn't do that anyway..." the glass reflected a vague image of her stoically smiling lips.

Firmly, accepting that she was the one who could see through the glass, no one was looking back at her, it doesn't look the same from his eyes, she still waited for the old driver to brake the bus at that stop, ignoring the scoffs she could here from somewhere around her, apparently meant for her. Those sounded like nothing to her. She looked at her bitten nails, messed up hair, and then at the window glass sighing every single morning.

Time does fly in fact with a speed higher than a falcon or anything but she was still stuck at the bunny with dandelions she saw that day when years had gone. But yeah, there did exist a day when she didn't look forward to that stop but another.

She slowly stepped out in the freezing rain. She was smiling with her violet shivering lips with no umbrella, maybe she had one but left it on the bus. It looked like it would start snowing and she'd be covered in little snowy crystals. Her nose was frozen, her hands were losing all the warmth, the ligaments in her knees refused to get along but she kept on running. Where was she headed?

The jewelry shop, "EUPHORIA", fortunately, the board said, "OPEN" She let a clod breath out and entered with her wet body wrapped in a dripping overcoat. Her body's temperature could compete with the snowflakes out there. But she wasn't feeling that at all, her heart had all the warmth she needed.

There it was! Ready to be on the second last finger of her right hand, tanzanite carved into a little bunny fit on a platinum-plated ring. She almost snatched the ring; a tear fell on the tiny tanzanite bunny. She placed it close to her heart, the "lub" and "dub" echoed in the silent store.

Her shaking hands slowly slid the ring down her finger. "Hey, fingy! It's not for you... It belongs... somewhere else..."

She placed it back into the velvety purple box and danced out the shop. It was pouring even more and fierce; she didn't care but the ring... she wanted to keep it in complete protection. Her feet wouldn't move forward, waiting for the clouds to slow down for a bit and Mr. Sun to show up for a moment.

An hour passed or two, she didn't move a bit, imagining unreal things and the chime. A few more seconds and through the heavy droplets, a streak of light hit her iris. Maybe she could ask for a lift.

Her trembling feet moved forward, she tried to wave. Bad guys or good? No clue...

A bike, it didn't seem that it would stop even for a second but it did. The man! He would happily offer a lift but to the ring only. She started to scream her lungs out, hiding the ring behind her. Was it the deadly weather or something else, she couldn't free her wrist neither did any human show up to assist?

Her weeping eyes begged; she was ready to give up on everything but that ring but he had the opposite wish. Should I call it lucky enough or not, he got the ring and set her wrist free too, pushing her whole body in the middle of the road which apparently wasn't busy but a huge garbage truck came out of nowhere.

Those were the last tears she could shed, along with the crimson blood from her twisted ribs and helpless arms. Her lifeless eyes wouldn't be able to see the stop again, "I... knew that... I knew that I couldn't make him hear the warm tinkle of the bells...Mhm..." the last few cold, heavy breaths and the flowing blood mixing up with the pouring rain on the dark road, those pair of eyes witnessing that, I'm jealous of their courage.

The funeral parlor with no colors is the ultimate end, a bunch of varieties of white tulips and roses...

He had stopped stopping by that stop. He didn't feel like doing that anymore. Stepping out for long walks was what he did, his body grieved for a reason he was unaware of. Walking on the road where the funeral parlor was, he heard the Japanese wind chime.

His black boots halted, did it hit his eardrums or heart? He was confused. "The tinkle... this chime... I guess... this is it.." he looked around ran like crazy. Checked every store, his throat ached as well as his legs, "Where are you..." his eyes started getting wet. His body collapsed and something rolled down to his knee, the tanzanite ring, followed by a police officer. "Do you know anything about this ring sir?"

"This ring..." he was tearing up, it ached right there, where a lung lacks its lobe. "Officer... I... think it belongs to me..." he put it on the second last finger of his right hand.

A soft breeze was breezing in the soothing sunlight of springs, the day he longed for had arrived... she sure was around and he heard the warm tinkle...