The Eternal Abyss

Skates

Words drift in my mind. Questions I didn't know answers to. Scenes I didn't know I saw. Moments I didn't know mattered. An entire life I didn't know I lived. 

I thought it was all just unreal, fake, that it'd all vanish once I stopped caring. I thought everything was just a figment of my imagination. 

But as I gazed into his eyes, taking in the smooth skin of his face, the illuminating grin that filled his face, I realise, that not even my imagination could ever conjure up such...perfection. 

It's hard to say no to such a face. 

"I've never been there before," I admit, swallowing past the lump in my throat. 

"All the more reason to go," His bright eyes twinkle in the afternoon sun, his olive skin gleaming. "Unless...you don't want to go?" His head tilts to one side, amusement etched deep into his face. That bastard. 

"I do," I blurt out, heat creeping up my face. 

"After school?" He asks, struggling to hide the smirk creeping up his lips, "You can tell your brother that he doesn't need to drop you home,"

"Yeah, alright," I try not to focus on the butterflies fluttering about my stomach. I inhale deeply, past the sudden tightness in my lungs. 

He grins. "See you, then!" 

Inclining his head towards me, he flashes me a smile and walks away. My eyes don't leave his retreating figure until he disappears. 

***

"Are you sure about this?" I ask, my voice strained. I'm starting to regret agreeing; up close, the ice rink looks too intimidating. 

Plexiglass surrounds the even ice, semi-translucent. It was shaped in an oval, with goalposts resting on the U's. Stretched across the ice, red lines marked the sides of the court. 

The rink is...huge.

"Absolutely," he emerges from somewhere inside, hefting two pairs of ice skates in his arms. 

I swallow anxiously, watching him as he makes his way towards me. His windswept, chocolate-brown hair flops up and down as he walks, falling into his deep, gold-flecked jade eyes, offsetting his sun-kissed, golden skin. 

Dressed in a baggy, button-up T-shirt and loose jeans, he moves with a sort of fluidness I can't place my finger on. It's almost like he's floating. 

I clear my throat, looking away as he approaches me. 

"Reconsidering is an option," I say, my nervous voice betraying me. 

He smiles then, coming to a stop in front of me. Slowly, he lifts a hand to cradle my chin, turning my head to face him. His smile morphs into a flat-out grin as he kneels at my feet, reaching for a foot.  Hesitantly, I let his nimble fingers coax my foot out of its shoe, replacing it with an ice skate. He ties the laces, his movement deft and graceful. He's clearly done this countless times. 

I focus on my breathing. On anything, really, except the warmth of his hand on my ankle. 

"An option I won't consider," He replies calmly. I can practically hear the smirk in the deep timbre of his voice. 

"I urge caution, nonetheless," I mumble, "Once I'm in those skates, anything is possible,"

Nonpullsed, he eases my newly-covered foot onto the ground, moving to the next one. "Anything?" He asks.