Behind the glass

Ivan

"Are you okay?" Asked Nancy and tried walking to Gerald, but he pushed her.

His fun face had gotten all pale that Nancy couldn't get if he was really Gerald, or a stranger.

"I'm sorry. We shouldn't have done this."

Nancy was completely shocked with what she had just heard. She wasn't quite surprised that Gerald hadn't found her tired face pretty, but after leaning in to kiss her- it was too much.

Tears poured down from her eyes.

Gerald stood for a second and then left, leaving Nancy behind.

Nancy just watched him walk on the sidewalks, going to the opposite direction. He was moving slowly but the melancholy in his movements were gone. Gerald had no regrets. He had realized that his little game had went too far. Nancy wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She wanted suffer from hunger and freeze to death until her poor heart couldn't take it anymore.
A black bird, a crow, landed on the step Nancy sat and watched the pale moon on.

Nancy waited for the bird to go. But it didn't. She turned to the crow and looked at it in the eyes.

Never had she ever seen a bird with such beautiful eyes. She came closer to the crow and raised her hand to pat it.

The crow got a few steps away from Nancy. Nancy closed her eyes and managed to hold her flowing tears.

"Calm down," spoke the crow. This soothing, angelic voice Nancy had heard before.

Nancy opened her eyes to look at the crow. But there was a blonde boy, smiling at her with unexplainable sadness instead.

"You..." Nancy jumped on the boy holding his big hand. "You are the boy I saw through the glass!"

"Relax." Replied the boy, but he was staring at the moon. " I won't be leaving you tonight."

Nancy bit her upper lip. It was late and her mom was probably worried by now. But she wanted to spend time with this stranger.

He looked up at her and lifted her chin as if he had just understood what she was thinking.

"Just relax." He repeated, locking his eyes into her.

The silence was there, but it was not awkward.

"What is your name?" Asked Nancy, finally accepting that this creature was a human.

He smiled and squinted his blue eyes.

"Ivan."

Nancy sighed. "What made you come after I almost gouged my eyeball out?"

This sentence, in fact, was very disturbing. But Ivan didn't seem to be disturbed. He smiled wider.

Nancy continued. "Are you finally going to get me through that glass?"

Ivan's smile fell off his face, and he shook his head as fast as he could.

"No. I decided it's better for you here."

"Who are you to decide?" Asked Nancy, grinning. But she was burning inside. "Maybe I just want to get erased from this dimension for a while."

"For a while..." Mumbled Ivan, and suddenly jumped on his legs.

He was wearing a white shirt and black trousers underneath. Nancy thought he looked very much like a Slavic folklore character.

"So... Are you going to leave me like you always do? Like Gerald did?"

"Could you just stop with the questions?" Replied Ivan, as he held out his hand to her. "Have some respect for yourself. You're wonderful."

Nancy realized she had butterflies in her stomach when she looked at her reflection on the moon.

"God really took his time to create you." Said Ivan, pulling her hand.

And he is really taking his time to take me, thought Nancy. But was blushing so hard that Ivan hadn't noticed her creepy thoughts.

Ivan walked and walked until they came to a nearby forest which was not really a good place for trekking because of the wild animals.

As moonlight shined their path, they walked hand to hand deeper into the forest. Nancy couldn't see a sign of snakes or boars, just like they had disappeared.

Ivan patted her hair and carefully brushed each of her curls with his big hands. "Trust me." He said, "I know when a snake bites you."

Nancy didn't understand but she didn't want to. Spending these beautiful moments was all she needed.

"Ivan?" She called, realizing he was far away from her.

"I'm already behind the glass." He replied, looking a little bit embarrassed.

Nancy ran towards him but it was true, a thick layer of invisible glass was between them.