ten feet below

the night we met

George's pov

"What's wrong?"

I froze, startled from the voice that had seemingly sounded from nowhere. I was sure I was imagining things now, I blamed it on the mentally drained state I was in. I stand up, not bothering to brush the leaves out of my hair that had fallen from the tree I was leaning against.

It was starting to get dark, I was tired, extremely tired and dizzy from the sudden movement after being sat on the grass for what felt like years. The stars in my head spun, burning balls of luminous light whirling around boundlessly in the deep echo of pitch black.

"Are you ok?"

The voice was in my head, I was sure of it. Being alone for so long had finally driven me over the edge, driven me to insanity. Though I was proven wrong as I strained my neck upwards in the direction of the voice. There he was, a dirty blonde boy with a dark-green sweater and converse, looking down at me with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine." I internally cringed at the way my words croaked out, giving away that I was obviously the opposite of fine. Letting my guard down was something that invalidated me, the fear of weakness haunted me, etching away at my soul, engulfing me in depreciating power.

"Wanna come up?" His voice was soft and it weirdly comforted me, I couldn't help myself when I was reaching for the branch a few centimetres above my head.

The boy was quite high up, scarily high. I didn't even know I could climb trees but the look this boy was giving me was somewhat encouraging so I continued upwards, trying to avoid getting hit in the face by branches.

"Need any help?"

"No." I reply, all while keeping fierce eye contact with him. But the way my foot kept slipping underneath me said otherwise.

He laughs, reaching a hand out to me. My hand extends from it's position on the branch to the side of me, lacing my fingers with his. My breath hitches at the sudden touch whilst I'm being pulled up onto a larger branch where the mystery boy is sat, legs dangling down, swinging backwards and forwards through the thick mist in a see-saw like motion.

"Hi." He says, with a wide smile on his face. I notice our hands are still intertwined and I quickly pull away, feeling my  face burn. The redness almost instantly colouring my face with hidden hints of embarrassment and burrowing guilt.

Why was I feeling like this? Deep down I knew though. Because sat right next to me was the most beautiful man I had ever seen.

"U-uh hi, I thought I was going crazy." I stutter without thinking, not being able to form a real sentence.
I mentally scold myself, hearing how stupid I must sound right now.

Get your shit together George.

He giggles and I relax a little, easing into the situation and almost melting at the sound, he has that sort of laugh where you can't help but laugh along to, like it's contagious.

"Crazy?" He questions. He looks confused but his eyes are still focused on mine and he has a grin on his face.

"Oh sorry, I mean that I couldn't tell where your voice was coming from and I thought I was imagining it." I say keeping the eye contact.

His eyes are like nothing I have ever seen before, a deep shade of emerald green, filled with curiosity and hidden danger. His hair is slightly drifted over them, but I can still see them glinting through the dirty blonde waves.

Then he does something I wasn't expecting, he lifts a hand to my face and wipes the tear that was slowly rolling down my skin, cold fingertips mixing with warm salt water as he traces the side of my face. I watch as he continues to pull stray leaves out my hair but I don't flinch. I feel comfortable around him, like I've known him forever.