The departing

Untitled Part 2

The next day I woke up feeling heavy. I opened what I thought were my eyes, and I looked around the room. The walls were made of mud and straw to contain heat. Then I heard the door creak and then the old woman that had seen before came in, and remembered that she was my mother now.

 

“Joseph! This is a miracle! We thought we lost you!” I somehow managed to sit up straight as she put her arms around me and I felt warmth for the first time. After all these years, I still can’t describe how it felt. After she released me, I stood up and went out the door into the field. I’ve seen all sorts of things before, but never like this. It was as if the whole world had changed. The smell of grass was sweet to my nose; the touch of mud was smooth and slimy. Then I saw the man who was my father. He dropped everything he had in his hands and ran towards me with tears of joy in his eyes.

 

“Father, I am alright!” I exclaimed as he hugged me, and I learned what happiness was like.

 

I went down to the lake to look at my reflection. I was a thin boy, very pale, with blue eyes, high cheekbones, and I had freckles on my face. I could tell that I was a very  handsome boy, and felt proud of it.

 

In the afternoon my father took me to the market. He said that while we were gone, my mother would make my favourite meal (my first meal). After a while, we arrived at the village. There was a lot of people, rushing back and forth, buying and selling things. With all that chaos, time suddenly stopped, and I saw her, the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen in my entire life. She had thick, red hair that came down to her shoulders, beautiful blue eyes that made you melt when she saw you, a perfect smile, her teeth white and straight, and pale, freckled face, just like mine.  Then she turned around and everything went on faster than expected.  When I got home I went into my room and just stood there thinking about her beauty.

 

I knew that I needed to talk to her. I had watched many men try to approach women of different types, so I had no doubt that I would be successful in winning any woman's heart. Any woman's except her’s. She was different. Not even death could carry her in his arms.

As I sat at the table, I saw all sorts of different vegetables. They were different colours, but mostly green, red and orange. I inhaled through my nose, and experienced the sweet smell of fresh bread. It was so satisfying that as I cut myself a piece, I could hear it crunch, and when I took a bite, I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. Bread was amazing. I chewed for a long time because I didn’t want to waste a single moment of its taste by swallowing it too soon.  After a minute or so when I was sure that there was no taste left, I swallowed. Now I understood why people could be fat. Food tasted delicious.

 

After eating my meal and helping clean up, which was far more dreadful than what I remember people doing, I went upstairs to my room. I heard a knock on my door, it was my father.

“Joseph, are you alright? Who is the girl?” he asked.

“I’m fine. What do you mean?” I replied, confused about how would he know.

“Please tell me son,” he insisted

“Well, I saw her in the market today. She is beautiful, Father. She has the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and she has long, red hair, almost the color of blood. She is wonderful.”