Richard sat on the park bench, the dulled pigeons hopping round his feet, hopefully eyeing his anorexic supermarket sandwich. They’d come to recognise him, and his inability to force his throat to swallow those last, dry crust corners. That was the problem with the prepackaged sandwiches, the filling was only in the bits you could see.
He’d been eating his lunch on the sheltered park bench since he moved to the city six months ago. He couldn’t face the canteen in that office, the staff, caught up in their inane wash of conversation. The waves of pitch and laughing crashed stiflingly around Richard, sat as close to the door as he could manage, adrift in a sea of people.
He lived like this since he moved here, human connection lost in the swell of city life. Loneliness cracked down his throat, catching his words as he fumbled for the right thing to say. Yet all he found was insincere moments passing by as ships on a distant horizon, Richard had never felt so alone. Parched of companionship, he took comfort in the soft coos of the birds in the park.
They flitted around his feet, rising and falling like leaves in the wind with each passerby. Suddenly, a frightened wave rippled through the pigeons, tones of grey and purples washing over him as they scattered, footsteps following their wake.
Glancing up at the figure, Richard saw her. He couldn’t tell if her clothes were too big, or if that was the fashion, but something about the shine of feathers, plaited into a thin braid running through her hair caught his eye.
“You always eat alone here…”
He took in her face, searching for recognition in the soft locks veiling worn features.
“... it doesn’t need to be this way you know..”
Her clothes stroked against the winds, the waves rippling elsewhere; yet Richard’s eyes were preoccupied still on the flowing hair that danced with the whistling winds. The clouds soon covered the sun, and so the shadows blanketed the area. Yet Richard’s eyes welled with such a sight so covered, her hands only opened up as her body neared. Her smile, so smooth on the face and without tension, had made his eyes well up even further. To the point that his mind ached but his voice-box failed to even respond.
Her eyes catching the stress of the adam’s apple had made her let out a slight chuckle, his ears catching the noise and feeling a tinge of awkwardness. Getting closer, her hands touched the outer edges of her hair and twirled loose strands with her fingers. A small whistle, like her voice, echoed and pervaded the air as his ears were all to receptive of such.
Something about the soft sound drew him to her, as the tide is pulled by the moon. She stepped closer, her voice lilting with the rustle of the breeze.
“You don’t have to be alone…”
Richard found himself looking over the woman, she didn’t have the gaudy accessories of a street walker, nor the lacquered face.
“Aren’t we all alone, in this sea of people?”
“And we don’t have to be..”
She reached out a hand, fingers peeking from an oversized sleeve. A tiny grain of revulsion writhed inside Richard, yet he couldn’t stop himself stretching out, taking her hand, rising to his feet to stand beside her.
The usually suffocating swell of people, slipped away, lost to him.
“Have we met before?” Richard asked, certain he would have remembered her if he had, but unable to shake the sense of familiar comfort in her touch.
She smiled, a playful spark flitting cross her eyes.
“Haven’t we all?”
She began to walk away, glancing down, he saw she had not let go of his hand, and before he had chance to think about it, he felt his feet following hers.
His mind began chasing all the thoughts buzzing: where are they going, why is she going, what did she want to do and who was she? Yet her giggles and steady pace allowed his mind no rest nor comfort of relieving him. Their feet began picking up the pace, his lungs slowly begging for a rest as her heart only pumped faster. With lack of air going to his mind, his thoughts began to feel fuzzy and acceptive of what she was doing.
Having the sheer boredom of work, nothing to do, noone to hang out with and alienated from species-essence. Yet ‘twas the beginning of her ritual as her mouth let out the chains of giggles that soon became a comfort to his oxygen-deficient mind. His body soon flying to the air before gravity yanked him back down, he had been pinned to the wall of an alleyway as she closed the distance. Impossibly still hidden to his eyes, her eyes saw all her mind wanted to know as her fingers began slowly grasping his shoulders.
She sank her nails between the bones, pushing the sharp edges of bricks into his back with the force of her embrace. The gentle graze of her lips caught the bone of his chin as resolve flooded from his legs. He weakened into her, her hands sweeping the contours of his body.
Confusion swirled through his mind, like fragments of a wreckage sucked down a whirlpool. Her presence, her passion, was intoxicating; he barely remembered getting here from the park.
Her breathless kisses traced a path to his lips, words whispered between each one.
“There’s a place… i want to show you… will you meet me... in the park again tonight?”
A soft gust swept the alleyway, her warmth slipping from his hands as she eased away from him, vanishing around a corner.
Richard knew he shouldn’t go, to meet a woman he hadn’t known twenty-four hours in a secluded park in the dead of night, seemed like the most stupid, reckless thing he could do. Pulling his coat over his jumper, he realised, he didn’t even know her name, but part of him knew that was half the allure. He had to find out.
I have been seriously off the radar since last week, I am house sitting for my bro and it really isn't easy to get online but promised to post this. This is a cowrite with the wonderful @theironfelix - we took turning writing bits in this one, and it was so very much fun to do. I would highly recommend cowriting, as it really gets you thinking about your writing, and make sure to head over to read the latest tales from the talented @theironfelix <3 as well as check out their version of the post here <3
This is a cowritten entry with @theironfelix for the @freewritehouse contest We-Write
Photo Credit by Photostream user Bernd Thaller
Feel that in the wind? Adventure is a-calling in this play along story
Read the story, taking on the role of the main character and along the way, find the hints hidden in the episodes. Use the hints to find the secret episode, await the appearance of the mystery riddle, and solve it to win a grand prize, but that's not all the bounty to be won, there is a haul to be distributed between participants with the best comments along the way. So head over, follow the trail and leave your mark on the wall. I wonder how many of you will turn down any of the dark paths I had a hand in...
ADVENTURE UPDATE: Have you found the riddle...?