Scintillas ; phan au

To Me & You, 1500 Years Ago

The second time I met you was when you were a small boy, only fourteen whilst I was twenty-three, a lawyer. We both lived in a coastal town in the South West of England. You went out everyday with a box of flowers in hand, you charged a shilling per flower and I would buy one from you every Saturday on the way to work.

After a long time, I started to wonder why you were out selling flowers anyway, even as a boy, you should be getting education. You were working class but still could afford education. It wasn't until I asked you one day why you weren't at school you told me your mother was sick and you had a younger brother to look after. Despite that you were in difficult family situations, your eyes still sparkled and you kept working everyday selling flowers so you could buy food for your family. Soon I then suggested that I could pay for your education since soon at fifteen you would have to leave school anyway.

It took a few weeks of you refusing over and over until you finally accepted. It was then arranged that every Sunday at church I would hand you how ever much you needed for a school fee as well as enough money for food. I was glad I could help you properly unlike your previous life. That was the burden of being reincarnated over and over, you knew about your past life as well. However I didn't mind as I could see you again, healthy and smiling.

After church every Sunday I walk you down the beach and buy you an ice cream. We'd take our socks off together, holding hands and would paddle in the sea. The cerulean waves would overlap and blanket our feet as we splashed each other gently. Then when nobody was around I gently kissed your lips. I saw your cheeks blush heavily and I giggled at your reaction. You then kissed me back quickly before splashing me and running along the beach further.

The next Sunday I took you on the train to London, the train ran along the coast line and past various circuses which ran through different villages. When we arrived in London I took you to Buckingham Palace where Queen Victoria lived, soon it would be her diamond jubilee and I offered to take you to the celebration in here when it took place. You grinned and pulled out your pinky finger which followed was followed up by a pinky promise. I ruffled your hair and we walked into the main streets of London. A girl similar to your age was also selling flowers so I bought one of her for you and slotted it in your hair. The pink colour standing out compared to your dark brown and grey clothes. On the way back home I watched the sun set on the train whilst you were under my arm sleeping, utterly knocked out from the busy day.

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When you turned fifteen you left school, you were fairly literate and could use basic maths skills. So I decided to take you on as my helper when I was working in my office instead of going to court. It was incredibly helpful and we both got to see each other daily. This almost meant you were a great distraction to me as well. One time you sat on my desk and begged me to pay attention to you rather than organising my files, another time you managed to cut yourself on my typewriter and I had to fix you up. Although all of these incidents just made me love you more.

Finally, the diamond jubilee arrived and I took you to London as promised so we could see the Queen and celebrate together. There were stalls along the streets, merry-go-rounds and various small rides on every green we walked past. You tugged my arm, pointing at a merry-go-round which was pure white but etched with gold. The horses were smooth and looked like china, their faces designed to precision. I asked you if you wanted to ride on it and you nodded back enthusiastically. I handed a two crowns to the male running the merry-go-round and sat on a horse next to the one you had selected.

Yours had purple reins to signify royalty whilst mine had red reins. I watched you as you almost clung to the horse once the ride started, you were eccentric - or even ecstatic. Seeing your eyes fill with joy and your smile so large made my heart warm. The ride was almost magical, it was as if the horses were carrying us both away from this world and into our own paradise as my mind was cut off from the rest of the world. When the ride has ended, I take your hand and we walk to where the Queen was apparently going to be making her speech about her diamond jubilee.

The crowd was huge, I was thankful that I had your hand in mine because I felt like I would lose you. The Queen's speech lasted a long time and afterwards we all sang the national anthem together. Your voice was youthful and sweet, I adored it and squeezed your hand tighter as you sang along with everybody else. I wished that I could hear you sing more.

On the way back to our seaside town you fell asleep on my shoulder again and when we arrived at my house I slammed you against a wall. After that we kissed for a while until you told me you had to get back to your mother, I didn't want to let you go and neither did you. Our kisses were blissful, sometimes even needy because we felt like our time together was so limited. Your lips were soft and silky, our lips always danced perfectly together.

This reincarnation, I considered us both lucky. Everyday brought more bliss because I could hold you close and nobody would keep us away, I could do what I wanted, I could stay with you. I could kiss your lips, stroke your hair and sleep next to you. People just thought we were friends. I was grateful for your mother keeping her silence about us both. I knew from now on, through this constant cycle of being reborn, we were always connected. Despite this we always held each other close, every second was precious and seeing the end of our days together peacefully was our eudaemonia.