With All My Senses

the ones that shape us

stepping stone / noun

an action or event that helps one to make progress

towards a specified goal

Earlier that day. Jenna

My hands grow colder with every moment as I watch her occupied with her surroundings, mind moving a couple of hours back in time. We made a short stop at her flat, while she was frantically looking for her old camera and all sorts of lenses I had no idea even existed.

Do you really need all of that just to take some pictures?

Mmm...

She murmurs quietly, her mind apparently too distracted for the use of actual words.

Elle?

Uhm.. what? Oh, yes. I do need all of this, each one can come in handy, you never know.

She says as she pushes everything into her bag; the black heavy camera and all of those needed accessories, smiling at me like a little kid. I didn't know that part of her was even there, she normally hid it so well.

***

And now I watch her intently as she wanders through the autumn park, her heavy boots scraping against the sidewalk, and leaving dents in the mud as she moves closer to the trees. I watch intrigued, as she catches the scenery, grabbing it from different angles, shifting her body and gazing both through the camera's eye and directly at the space around her. Almost as if she's waiting for something, the perfect moment; taking photographs of nature and the few people that managed to stumble by in this chilly weather - the wind blowing mercilessly in the faded out sun, encouraging people to stay indoors, enjoying something warm to drink.

Elle?

My gaze follows her as she gets bored with the big scenes and focuses on the details, taking a picture of a bench, a picnic table from close up, or an interesting layout of dark leaves on the ground. I shake my head again and moan.

Elle? Eleonore, come on. I'm freezing here, we were supposed to get coffee.

She looks up at me, for a moment seems to be in some other universe, and then she grins at me with the most guilty and charming smile I had ever seen - and I can't help but smile as well. She grabs her belonging and runs up to me, slightly out of breath and with pink cheeks from the chill in the air.

Sorry, I got carried away. I haven't done this in a while.

Yes, I can see that. You should do it more often.

I can try.

Something changes in the air and I feel her mood drop a bit, so I just grab her by the sleeve and pull her to the nearest coffee shop that I like. She groans at me but follows anyway.

* * * 

Eleonore

I watch as she takes small sips of her vanilla latte, the sun filtering through a window and landing on her hands, hugging a heavy ceramic mug. My hands lift without thinking, and a click of my old Nikon camera breaks her focus. She looks up at me and grins slightly annoyed, her eyes sparkle and it seems that just her stare brightens the place around us. I push the button a couple of more times, shifting the camera slightly, trying out different positions. Oh, these will be great. Abruptly, the lens goes black and she pushes one of my worn-out work equipment away.