Twenty-six Steps with Easton

zero

T S S W E

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ZERO

enthrall

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to capture one's attention exclusively

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almost one year ago

SHE CLUMSILY MADE her way through the crowd, tightly clutching the books to her chest and managing weak smiles to those pushing past.  Her small, petite figure made it increasingly difficult to walk amongst the abundance of people looking down at their phones or loosely paying attention to where they were heading, and with every step she took, the more likely it became for her to trip over her own two feet.

Mornings were always Paloma's favorite part of the day, despite having to deal with the traffic on her way to university.  She loved to bask in the early hours of day, where rays of sunlight filtered through the windows and birds chirped softly in the background.  She could close her eyes and take in the smell of fresh air from the porch of her apartment, cherish the peaceful morning before chaos erupted.

She smiled as she thought of mornings and the calm they brought her.  With the incessant elbowing and unfriendly expressions being sent her way, it was easy for her to become extremely irritable.  However, it was important she remained as collected as she could, for she refused to let the rude nature of others ruin her day.

That was, until a sharp pain suddenly jabbed her left side, causing her to lose her balance and collapse on the ground.

It took Paloma moment to realize what had just happened and another to notice her books and other belongings were in complete disarray.  Random pages, pens, a few coins, and her books were sprawled out on the cement, shoes just barely stepping over the items.

She quickly dusted herself off and hurried to retrieve her belongings before another could step on them.  She made a mental note to repair the pages that had flown out later and to disregard the coins, seeing as her books and pens were far more important than some loose change.

Soon enough, she was back on her feet jumbling the mess she'd just picked up.  Though, it didn't last long before a passerby rammed her shoulders, running past without so much as a simple apology to her.  Luckily, an arm reached out in time to steady her, and had it not been for the help, she would have taken another nasty fall with her books.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Paloma turned to the stranger who'd caught her and smiled.  Upon meeting his eyes, she paused and the words of gratitude died in her throat.

Before her, stood a boy not much older than she. He was stunning but in a way that went unnoticed by most.  Light freckles dotted his features in a delicate, almost hidden way; there was a crinkle by his eyes as his lips turned up slightly; and he smelled of freshly laundered cotton. His dark brown eyes danced with a familiarity she couldn't decipher, but it was gone in an instant.

It took every ounce of strength in her to keep her balance, for a third fall was just asking for it, but as she glanced once more at the boy in front of her, she noticed a stack of white envelopes in his hand.  In what seemed to be his own decorative yet messy handwriting, she tilted her head to read the label of the envelope facing her:

for the one who needs it most.

Her mind filled with curiosity and awe of the boy in front of her, but before she could even utter a thank you for earlier, he was handing her a card of her own and walking off in the opposite direction of where she needed to go.

She wanted to shout wait!  but it was too late, his figure disappearing around the corner of a nearby bakery.  This was strange, right?

She shook her head and decided to spend more time thinking about the encounter at a later time.  Looking down to the envelope in her hand, she saw that it was yellow, which was different from the others he'd had, and unlike the one she'd seen, this had a different set of words. Written in black ink and simple lowercase letters, it read:

why not?

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01 june 2018

cont.