Finding Your Other

There was a stone fox in her.

Her fingers breathed feathers and her clever eyes blinked and stars bloomed.

Journeys of memories fast forwarded and the twitch of her thumb turned it off.

There were too many memories to sift through.

But her mind was elsewhere.

Her wild nature was feeling a little tame and she had to run it off.

She sprinted and leapt through the long grass and weeds.

The field brushed past her in streams of sunlight and shadows.

Her touch was so light the grains of dirt she touched barely moved.

There was a newcomer.

And she sensed it.

The air shifted in sparks of excitement and the barely perceptible sounds of insects buzzed infinitesimally that much more that the vibrations of their wings felt shakier to the feel of her skin.

She went to reach for it with her mind but found nothing - like the strange emptiness which seemed to happen each time this occurred.

She had never been this close before so she quickened her pace so that she could reach out and comfort it like a child.

She wanted to teach someone new the way of the Stone fox.

There was no real definition but that she was clever and wild and had a mane of crazy thoughts flowing through the strands of her hair.

The glistening rainbow of ideas cascading through the air ever still and catching while her pace pulled her through.

She came to an abrupt stop as the wind she caught while running, swirled around her and past her. She saw the figure of a man looking around confused. Gently she pushed a greeting to his mind and he looked around in surprise. She approached slowly generating a gasp of breath from his lips.

He lifted his hand to his eyes to rub them and looked again. Her eyes never left him.

He could feel her and he didn’t understand how that was possible.

Her thoughts brushed past his short grassy blond hair. He couldn’t touch a single one but felt the beauty of something carelessly sure and wild.

She was the most raw beauty he could ever remember seeing - which, due to the lack of his memories, wasn’t saying much. However, he knew with certainty that he wouldn’t find anyone else like her and was grateful for the sight of her- his fingers itched to reach out and stroke her shimmering strands of hair.

Her eyes dared him to do something wrong and he knew not to mess with her. 

She approached him not hesitantly but cautiously. There was no doubt in her mind now that she wasn’t to teach but to learn.

Someone with no memories and past wasn’t to be filled with new ones but to teach her of the present ness of now

It boasted intimacy and naivety but also moments that were completely new. Not felt since being a child and experiencing the world anew. She wanted to learn the silence of this childlike mind. 

He felt her thoughts again leaping through different cuts of ideas. It excited him and he wanted to know every single adventure that she had partaken and knew he never wanted to leave her side.

His certainty startled him. He had no idea where he was and he was pretty sure he was usually quite certain  in the life before he could remember.

It was a blank journey that he wasn’t sure he wished he could remember. 

How did he get here?

He both felt that question directed at him and his own thoughts generate it at the same time.

He looked into her eyes and told her that he didn’t know without breaking the silence. 

She nodded. This was the way it would go.

She reached out her fingers and grasped his in hers and pulled him along at a pace he wasn’t sure he could match. He watched her mane of shimmery rainbow blonde hair gallop through the air as he stumbled along barely keeping up. He felt her thoughts always at the very edge of his own like she was holding his hand with her thoughts as well as physically. He felt the tug on both and it was a wave of tug o war between them- him weighing her down of course. 

Her pace slowed down and he caught up with a jumble of limbs barely keeping upright. She stopped and he looked around finally checking where they were. He couldn’t see over the long blades of grass all around them and he was thoroughly aware of how alone they were and how close he was to her. Her eyes darted back and forth and then stared back at him. He stared and found flecks of gold and shades of autumn leaves in her eyes. He reached out with his other hand and went to stroke her face and she leant into his touch and closed her eyes. 

He was amazed someone so wild let herself be so comfortable with him. She opened her eyes and they stared into each other’s eyes. She shared a memory from long time past. 

Her feet were cold and the snow had made it slippery for her to journey through. She started slipping and sliding as she went out onto the ice of a lake. She remembered feeling out of her depth and very unsure of how to be and wishing she had had someone with her to hold her and not let her fall. She eventually figured out how to glide across efficiently but the longing for another left an imprint in his mind.

He came back to now and pulled her close and held her in his arms though he knew if she didn’t want to be there she would run away in an instant -but she stayed. And he felt complete.