Love Me Again

20

LISA

When I was young I often think about what love would look like. Whenever I asked my mother she would say it is what I see when she looks at me. Love is a picture of my dog wagging his tail whenever I am around. It is the image our head creates as we reminisce what matters.

And no love was greater to me after all these years than Jennie.

If I was her rock, she was my ground. If I was her sky, she was my horizon.

Of course, we weren't always happy. There were days when we said more than we should, we've caused pain to one another, we made each other give up.

But all those days did not matter as long as through the nights we endure. We did not believe that silence can speak a thousand words. We spoke so little, yet it is the love we shared that translate.

And now it is pitiful how things have come to this. Where do you find love when it leaves?

9 PM.

I saw my woman's silhouette ever-so alluring beneath the moonlight. Her hair was bouncing against her svelte figure as smoothness reflects, her eyes as dark as the night. Jennie was wearing the same dress she wore on the lunch we had.

She told me before, it was her favourite. It started when she worn it on our first date.

The dress was a flowing vermilion, as Jennie is a goddess of maroon. She had always carried shades of this color as though the day of her birth marked the beginning of her owning it. In red, she was fiery, she was rich and strong, fire cannot hold her if it tries.

Before her hand reached on the shotgun entry, she turned her phone on and swiped through it.

Did she read my message?

Or did she ignore it as usual?

Did she receive from somebody else,

And if so would she have read it first?

Seconds after, she threw the phone on the passenger seat and positioned her body comfortably while staring at herself on the car's mirror. Her fingers removed pieces of strand that fell dearly on her face.

I used to be that person until she decided to not need me.

Soon the engine sounded, the wheels moved. I still wonder where it would lead us. I was behind her car subtly following in every direction. The night was calm but my heart wasn't.

Jennie was moving slow, I almost tell myself to come back, my instinct vulnerable as ever. But I remained on her tracks, until forty-five minutes of drive led us on a two-storey house along an alley.

We're still on the city, but somewhere hidden from plain sight.

The house appeared as piles of oak wood. I understand why Jennie would choose to come here, it seemed peaceful and free not away from the world yet far from its noise.

In front was a humble garden of grasses below the length of knee, there was a single branch seen at the corner.

I stayed on a safe distance where my wife would not see but I will.

Before her body left the car, I tried to call. It took me three rings for her to answer.

"Lisa?"

"Jennie..."

I heard her hum as I respond.

"Where are you?"

I saw her hand brushed over her head as she emptily glance at the dim sky.