Those Brown Eyes

XXII. Heartbeat (Those Brown Eyes II)

Honk honk.

Thump thump.

Like a pounding of a drum, like clockwork, over and over again.

He waited for the flatline, the end. It wouldn't matter if his life ended right in that moment or some time down the road, not then it didn't anyway. Nothing penetrated his heart of stone, not even the fear of death.

He didn't offer even the slightest flinch as he skated out of the vehicle's way and into the sidewalk.

What would she have said if she'd seen that? A scoff; it didn't matter. Why were thoughts of her always intruding his mind? Every time it happened he felt a spark of some kind of emotion flicker in the back of his mind, but only for a moment, then it was gone again.

Her. It had been two years since he'd heard from her, but that was probably his own fault. He'd shut her out, made sure she couldn't get in contact no matter how hard she tried...and she had tried.

He neared his house, that familiar brown two story building where nothing special ever happened. The beat of his heart resounded through his ears, never changing, never ceasing.

Feet hit the concrete, hand that she'd once held pulled open the front door. No one greeted him. No one to glance in his direction as he dragged himself through the house. He felt like a zombie, dead on the inside but still functioning on the outside. There was nothing for him here.

His feet tripped on the staircase up to his bedroom. She had kissed him there several times, had embraced him there as they both discovered what love meant.

His eyes closed at the doorway, the place their lips had met for the last time. The memory passed over him like a fog, hazy and dense. He still felt nothing, that numbness never ending since the last time he'd seen her face.

Upon entering the room, his emotionless brown eyes met his own reflection. His shoulders hung down like an old curtain, hair covering his eyes like it always had. Those lips she'd touched, those eyes she'd looked into. No one had been able to look at them, not until he met her.

He turned away, knowing that the only thing that could make him feel again was her and that he'd already pushed her far enough away that she wouldn't even think to come back. After all, he was the one who left in the first place. He didn't care, but at the same time he did.

It had begun to rain outside, the skies crying the tears he could not shed himself. What was this existence?

He looked down at his empty hands. She would have fussed at the state of his nails, and once again he shook his head and wondered why she kept making her way into his mind.

A soft knock came from downstairs, and he dragged his aching body to the door.

Why live like this? Why live this life as a sack full of nothing? No emotion, no ambition. Might as well just end it--

...And there she was. Green eyes staring up at him as rain dripped down her small, shivering body. A spark of emotion rose in his chest, his heartbeat quickening just a bit.

She just shook her head, uttering no words as her hand reached for his. He allowed it, and as her cold fingers met his warm ones, a feeling ran up his arm like electricity to wake up his soul and charge him from within.

Tears formed in his eyes, and he fell forward into her arms, where he belonged all along.

Shit, I've been inactive for a while. It's hard to keep up with my writing now days. But I hope you enjoy this soet of sequel to my poem Those Brown Eyes 💙