The Bridge & Unfolding Love

The Bridge

She was so beautiful standing there, lost in her thoughts, like a Greek statue craved out of marble, a goddess, something a mortal couldn't even fathom to touch. Caught in time in a moment that seemed like an eternity, she felt an outlandish freedom, a desire to unfold her wings and fly into the horizon. There was nothing closer to the absolute than standing there, suspended on a piece of man-made metal, gazing at both the sky and the sea, infinite in their ravishing beauty.

"Maybe one day I'll learn how to fly. Maybe one day I'd become one with the sea and the sky and I'll see the stars up close" she whispered to herself.

"You talk as if you're in a fairytale, my dear" a husky voice behind her mustered. "I wonder just how people like you survive this world, so caught up in magic and fantasies, refusing to see the bitter reality of this world."

The girl turned around, startled by the stranger's sudden comment. He was tall and handsome, in his early 20s, with olive skin, dark chocolate eyes and soft brown hair, dressed in worn blue jeans and a checkered blue shirt.

"I'm Eve" she said with a smile that brightened her whole face. There was something timeless in her soft features.There was nothing about her in particular that caught the eye, but on a whole she was beautiful. Looking at those emerald eyes shining in the dawn's light, he felt a sort of ache in his chest, a desire to know more about this strange creature that stood in front of him.

"And I'm Mike. Sorry if I offended you earlier."

"Oh, no, you didn't. I'm the one talking to myself on a bridge at 5am. It's as weird as it gets. Question is, what is it you're doing here, Mike?" she said accentuating his name. Seeing how her question made him uneasy she added "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

He stepped towards the edge, leaning on the parapet besides her, watching the sun as it rose. "I guess I'm doing what everyone else that comes here does. Looking for something. I was at this party and just couldn't stand the crowd anymore, got a little high and started wandering the streets. I got here somehow and saw you there. I wasn't sure what you were trying to do..." his voice broke a little with nervousness. "Just hope I didn't scare you." he finished as he lit up a cigarette.

"Did you think I was going to kill myself?" she asked smiling with a faint sadness in her eyes/ "I wouldn't do it by jumping off a bridge, that's too much of a cliché. No, if I'd ever kill myself it would be something different, it would be art. Dying is the last statement we make in this world, so why should it be so bland and lacking?"

Mike looked at her with disbelief. He didn't know what to think: was she mocking him or was she serious? One thing he was sure of, she was made of something else. Her white dress was flowing in the wind and her blue hair kept getting in her face. "Huh, you seem like a carefree being, Eve."

"You do what you have to do when the sadness overwhelms you. Making up fairytales is my escape. The real world is cynical and bitter, just like you seem to be. I guess I'll have to show you my world. Who knows, maybe you'll grow to like it."

The words flew like a secret promise. He met them with a stern silence, not knowing what to say, but he knew that from the moment he set eyes on her something changed and his world would never be the same. Still, he didn't know what to say or do, he just kept looking at the horizon, the cigarette still between his lips, trying to make sense of her, of this Eve standing before him. 'Maybe I'm still high and she's just a figment of my imagination. I'll probably wake up in my bed, all sweaty and caught up in the sheets, with Danny banging on the door...'

Just as he was picturing his usual Sunday morning, her face popped up "What far away land did your mind wander off to?"

As the day brightened her face seemed to become even more beautiful, soft red dancing on her cheeks.

"Aren't you cold? You could come to my place and grab a cup of coffee. I'd take you to a coffee shop, but since it's only 5am.." he added nervously.

Her eyes lit up and the words danced out of her mouth: "Why not? I just hope you make good coffee."