□So you're a swimmer?□

promise

Stephen's pov

I stepped out on my school shoes before the ice-cream shop near my house. The air around felt nostalgic but was driven away soon by the excitement bubbling inside me. 'One strawberry ice-cream please.' I made the order, it's morrow and maybe today pink will fade to give red. 

Symbolisms. She is so amazingly poetic. I paid back and walked to school. So many thoughts were going on in my head. Whether the air of the pool room last evening has faded from my being yet I don't know. But I smell her scent in my hairs, the same shampoo fragrance I smelled while walking back home with her. My skin is whiter from yesterday maybe ready to smudge to pink and express. 

I am thinking of saying it to her today, whatever people say but it's a promise for me. The three words lingering in my heart, I would want to give it to someone I relate it with. 'I like you Lotus' and the words fly like aero planes inside my head.

I walk a little faster than my usual pace. I don't want to think if it's too soon or whatever, feelings are not a measure of time. It is what I feel for her. I am not scared of anything. Anything? My mind teases.

When I reach near, there's a crowd near the outside bulletin board. I can't see quite clearly what is happening but...I could hear someone crying. I hovered up and about to see what was it when I stepped near the crowd. I recognized one picture, it was of Lotus. 'I can't believe it', someone was in awe about what they read. My heart raced. 

I pushed through the bodies and stationed to face the screen. The three words, RIP, were evident in red. My heart stopped. I couldn't hear a sound. No one was here. There was some kind of heat in my head. My legs stopped moving and my body froze. 

Anything? 

I stood there until the bell rang, until the crowd dispersed, until there was no one around but me. I didn't blink. I felt the strawberry ice-cream melting.

It was silent like trees were clustered. But I just saw her yesterday?

It was dripping from pink to red through my fingers. But I was going to confess today.

How long is forever, my head felt like infinity.