devil

alternate ending one

Feeling the cold gust of wind as the doors slid open, Lauren could feel the blood rush through her skin, immediately turning the tip of her nose and cheeks rosy.

With one quick inhale, she was met with the familiar smell of the city she had slowly learned to love.

There was an earthy smell to the subway in New York City, like the scent of the clear rain hitting a dirt pavement. It was so distinct that she could know exactly where she was even if her eyes were shut.

There was also the usual chatter of people going about their usual day.

Some on cell phones carrying brief cases, some holding newspapers in their free hand, mothers with their daughters, fathers with their unshaven stubble, individuals carrying shopping bags around their arms, and those who seemingly looked lost like she.

It was soothing knowing that in a city full of movement, these little things had a habit of staying repetitive.

Those were the things she loved the most.

It was such a strange thing though, that even though she noticed every small detail of the not so ordinary world, Lauren's mind was stuck elsewhere.

It still lingered on her, the one she herself named Camila.

She could live to be 93 years old and swear on her grave that the sole of her boots were cemented down to the floor and that she seemed to have lost control of all her limbs.

It was like all her human senses traveled in a specific direction.

Though she had lost every control and motion, her senses seemed to be focused directly on absorbing every last mindful image and detail they could gather.

And although her brain could not send signals to her legs, she found herself slowly turning back to face the one her mind was so heavily occupied on.

Everything was elevated like never before.

Her taste; it could gather the strong coffee that seemed to awaken at the tip of her tongue.

Her touch; it could feel a slight tremble at the fingertips. There at her hands, she felt a static sensation that made the hair on her arms rise. Her hands were aching to run her fingers among a lower bottom lip.

Her smell; the wet pavement was suddenly forgotten, all that surrounded was the light scent of perfume that traveled down her nose and warmed her insides. It was a perfume with light flowers and lemon, full of freshness and youth.

Her hearing; that was the one that seemed the strangest to her.

Though her senses were heightened to their maximum, this was the one that experienced the complete opposite.

All the sounds of the echoic walls, unimportant conversations, muddy footwear creating dirty footprints, snap of the gum, music blaring from earphones, it all turned numb. The sound was similar to being underwater, except everything was silent and in depth to one direction.

Where could she begin with her sight? It was the one that had the highest acuity. It seemed as if suddenly, the world began to shine in more color, more focus, and more definition.

Especially in the moment their eyes met.

She was sinking, so slowly...

Her fingers ached to reach inside her back pocket of her black pants and light a cigarette and release some nerves, but it was stronger than that.

Time seemed to freeze for what felt like a short-lived eternity, but not really, since it was still the Fourth of November.

Granted, Lauren knew that the story she had imagined throughout the subway ride where she kidnapped the woman she named Camila was a mixture of all the horror films she had binged watched in her apartment the night before.

But still, she was fairly intrigued by that female... though she'd never lay a finger on her nor image ever placing her in that scenario.

As the subway doors slide open as a rude awakening that her own stop had arrived, Lauren forced herself to take one last look at that angel before she stepped out of the one thing that connected them in the same place and area.

She memorized her rain stained jeans, her soft yellow cardigan that kissed her slightly tanned skin, the umbrella that she leaned on that left a small puddle by her black boots against the ground. Especially that wet brown hair that seemed to stick out in every direction, but mostly her eyes.

If she were to ever forget a specific detail of "Camila," she knew she could never learn to forget those eyes.

As Lauren stood outside the exiting doors, she vaguely stared in through the window by that same exit/entrance.

Lauren had a strong realization on how strange it was to take a minute for granted.

Everyone waits a minute for the coffee to finish brewing, another minute to call our mother back, a minute to close our eyes and take a snooze before class, a minute to get into our car.

Everyone spares a minute and sometimes it's given with no real purpose.

And really, what Lauren would give for one more fucking minute.

One more minute, sixty seconds, 60000 milliseconds.

It was like it still continued to be a dream...

"Camila" was still conversing with the people around her, but it was almost like she felt the intensity of Lauren's eyes on hers because she stopped mid-sentence and looked at her for the very first time.

The both stared into each other's eyes and Lauren held her breath without even noticing.

Neither smiled, neither spoke, just simply stared in some sort of silent agreement and realization with one another.

Those soft brown eyes, they seemed to know everything about her. Just in the same form that her own green eyes knew about that stranger.

Lauren stood in the same spot frozen when all of a sudden, those sliding doors shut like a jail cell closing as they robbed her of a dream she had never even realized she longed for.

She felt like a foreign stranger to her own body as Lauren rose her hand to touch the door, almost begging the world to place itself on pause for just one minute and open the door.

But it didn't.

Instead they both continued to stare, absorbing those few seconds while they were still in somewhat reach of the other.

The brown eyes stared with full curiosity as the subway started to move and slowly pick up speed.

As both their silhouettes began to disappear from afar, Lauren watched as "Camila" leaned against her umbrella with a smile tugging at her lips.

She almost looked like a figment of her imagination, completely surreal in her eyes.

Anyone's darkest enemy could admit that "Camila" was full of beauty and mystery.

Lauren just wished she knew what that smile was for.

Did she feel what she felt? Could she feel the intensity building up inside her?

A million of questions began to circulate her head, but there was a specific one she wished she could ask.

"Who are you?"

She'd never know the answer to that because in just a snap of a finger, the subway moved along and she was gone like an apparition.

That was it.

Lauren stood there in the same spot for a few minutes not really understanding what she had felt nor why. The moment had been so intense... she wished she could relive it.

She was aware that she would probably never see that sweet brown eyed girl with whom she created a fictional story with in her mind, but as intense it was, she strangely realized that she was fine with it.

It was the perfect ending to a story that had never begun.

And so Lauren turned and walked towards the nearest exit laughing softly to herself and shaking her head in slight sadness.

At least she was left with a vivid dream of that stranger that she could hold on to forever.

the end of alternate ending one