Suddenly she was looking into the eyes of the boy from her vision this morning; same eyes, hair, skin tone, everything that Ayalet could remember, not a hair out of place. Seeing him in real life, she could tell that the spectacular tan also came with a side of long muscular arms and legs; making him a good 6 feet tall. He was built averagely, not too thin but not bulky like what you would see on a football player. His body was built like a soccer player. Moving back up to his eyes, she noticed his intense gaze on her. At first she couldn’t make herself look away, his eyes drew her into them. She felt like she was losing herself, while also in a way understanding herself better than she knew she could. As if something clicked in place somewhere in the depths of her core. Embarrassed and confused, Ayalet looked down at her book and pretended to read; the entire time, fully aware that his eyes never left her face. The teacher finished introducing him to the class and he returned to his seat; his chair creaked again as he sat down. She then felt a tingling sensation on the back of her head, as if someone was trying to stare into her brain like an x-ray; to figure out her thought process or what she was thinking.
A few minutes passed and the feeling slowly subsided. She made an attempt to guide her attention back to the teacher, but failed miserably. Her vision went out of focus as the teacher’s voice faded. It seemed like her mind had stopped working but at the same time jumped into overdrive. Nothing around her seemed important enough to drag her back to class.
Despite the fact that her mind was screaming at her to pay attention to this lesson, a bigger part of her didn’t care. As she stared down at her desk, through the corner of her eye she could see strands of her hair moving in the air. The air around Ayalet felt electric, like if she touched something metal she’d get electrocuted. She didn’t dare test that theory though.
All around, students were doing different things: sleeping, jotting down notes, reading, and staring off into space. Attempting to act natural, she pretended to slowly itch her cheek on her shoulder and nonchalantly look to her side to steal a glance. She noticed the new guy behind her leaning on his hand, looking up at the teacher as he lectured the class.
His eyes suddenly jumped to her face and they stared at each other. His gaze was so strong she couldn’t help but stare right into his eyes. It felt like a black hole drawing her in, so strange yet startlingly familiar. His facial features gave nothing away as to what he may have been thinking. As he stared at her, it felt as though his eyes were looking right through her. Her heart sped up, her hands got all sweaty and she kept feeling herself glancing from his eyes, to his desk and back to his eyes. Growing uneasy and uncomfortable, she looked away only to find herself looking into Tyanne’s eyes. The glare from her was so intense it felt like her heart stopped. Tyanne had never been fond of Ayalet, in fact she’d always been rather cold towards her. The look coming from her now was oozing hatred and she didn’t know where it was coming from at all. Not being able to process her reaction to Jaison or what she could have done to Tyanne, she turned back around. The rest of class she continued to fail at paying attention to the teacher. She felt a pang of regret at not paying attention in class and hoped it wouldn’t affect her during the next test.
Next thing she knew the bell was ringing, off to second period, Gym. After changing into gym clothes, the entire class lined up to get ready for stretching. Thankfully it didn’t take that long, just the usual arm and leg stretches and a few jumping jacks here and there. Then the class had to run a few laps, Ayalets favorite part, although she wouldn’t complain if they ran outside instead of in the gymnasium. The gym was always so ridiculously hot at this time of year that it felt like being in a stifling vacuum. The temperature outside was so much better at about 70-80 degrees with a nice cool breeze constantly blowing.
As she ran along the outer basketball line on the court, she attempted to remember what lap she was on. Per usual, she lost track of the lap number and decided to give up trying to guess and just enjoy running. As everyone slowed down, she decided to finish up the lap she was on before she approached the group of girls getting ready for volleyball. It’s the end of the year, so the teacher let everyone do whatever they wanted; today the majority voted for volleyball.
Over to the side of the court, Tyanne glared at Ayalet before whispering to her friends. Ayalet sighed as she wondered what Tyanne was saying about her. . . Since her parents vanished, she found it hurt her heart to be around others. She didn’t feel happy connecting with people; seeing others happy made her feel empty inside. What light used to be in her heart, disappeared with her happy home. Now she was forced to live in a place that made her feel nauseous every time she walked down that driveway to her aunt’s house; knowing that the only person she had left in the world found her to be nothing but a burden and a nuisance. If she spent time with people, she’d begin to care. But caring about her parents killed her inside when they left and she couldn’t give herself the opportunity to care about someone again.
A recent rumor from early high school didn’t help her in the friend department either. It started shortly after she got partnered with one of the school's addicts, Andrew. In middle school, he got good grades, played a lot of sports, and he used to be a really nice guy. Until around the beginning of high school, Ayalet heard he was having family issues. His grades started dropping and he was getting into trouble a lot more often. The first time Andrew got caught with some pot and steroids in his locker was right after they got partnered together. Ayalet never understood why Andrew chose to blame it on her, but the cops and principal started questioning Ayalet about her own involvement.
It was shortly after she got called to the office over the drug incident that other students started rumors that she was on steroids. She overheard some kids saying once that it explained why she was always so far ahead of everyone else athletically. Ayalet was always able to run extremely fast and jump exceptionally high. Before she had a chance to try out the coaches would pull her aside and ask her if she was doing drugs of any sort or if she’d had her physical. Apparently, even the teachers had heard it from someone. Which was probably why they stopped asking her to join any sports. She’d always wanted to join, but she was scared of what they would say about her, or if they’d reject her. So it was just easier to not try out at all.
When it came to P.E. sports, Ayalet was usually picked last from the class. When she thought about it, it wasn’t really a bad thing because it ensured that she didn’t have to hear about how unfair it was when she did play. Today was a bit different; the guys were playing with the girls, unusual. Coach looked up from his board and quieted everyone down so they could start the game. Looking out at the class, he instantly picked Crystal, the captain of the volleyball team. After what looked like careful consideration, he then chose the new boy, Jaison.
Crystal didn’t even scan the students in front of her, instead she called out, “Sharlene.” Sharlene may not actually be on the volleyball team, but everyone at school knew how competitive she was and the determination she had to NOT lose. As well as the fact that Sharlene and Crystal had been best friends since elementary school.
Then it was the new guy's turn to pick, he looked over at Ayalet and as he lifted his arm to point Tyanne broke from the crowd and skipped up to him. Jaisons face contorted with confusion and turned to say something to the coach when he directed Crystal to choose again. At that moment Tyanne shot a smug look straight at Ayalet.
Crystal chose Cody from the crowd and the choice returned to Jaison. Again, Jaisons eyes met Ayalet and he called her over to his side of the court to the dismayed look of Tyanne. Walking over to his side of the court, she sat down on the bench. Even from here she could see some people giving him a funny look. As Crystal was choosing her next person, Jaison turned to Ayalet, smiling and asked, “Hi, what’s your name?”
His smile was almost overwhelming with the sincerity and happiness, it was like staring into the sun. Shielding herself from her unfamiliar emotions she turned away a bit and responded, “Ayalet.” As she said her name, Tyanne at that moment shimmied in front of Jaison with her hand extended to introduce herself, “My name’s Tyanne by the way.”
Jaison seemed to ignore Tyanne and as he walked past her, he said over his shoulder, “It’s nice to meet you.” As Jaison was turning his head to face Ayalet again, she saw behind him Tyanne’s face was filled with shock and frustration. Next thing she knew, Jaison was standing next to her looking into her eyes, “So, do you have any good recommendations for cool places to hang out around town?” His smile was so sincere as he patiently waited for her response.
She struggled to divert her attention from him. “Not really, I don’t really hang out with people after school.” As she broke eye contact with him, she looked over at the crowd of students feeling distant from them all. If she tried, maybe she could close the distance, be a part of the “crowd”. No. She mentally shook off the unwelcome feelings and shut them away.
After she responded, the coach indicated it was Jaisons turn to choose again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him face the crowd as he scanned his options. From what she could tell so far, he seemed like a straightforward and happy person, a little intense for what she’s used to. His smile when the other students started joking and laughing with him, it gave her such a warm feeling. It seemed so effortless for him to talk to people. He moved in a fluid way; he was a little awkward, but it was a young man not yet knowing his own strength kind of awkward. His hair was soft looking, and for a boy her age his skin was surprisingly immaculate except for the barely there gentle sweep of freckles across his nose. He had angled features, but still a little bit of roundness in his cheeks giving away his youth.
At first, she chose to sit on the sidelines of the game. Jaison asked her multiple times if she wanted to play but it wasn’t until the coach came over and told her to join them on the court that she did. The first few times the ball came to her she was pretty clumsy, she missed the ball a couple times. Other times she hit the ball so hard it went out of bounds into the bleachers overhead. Finally, when Jaison took a seat on the bench about midway through the second game, she started playing better. She felt less distracted. She was able to make a few kills, some digs, and various other moves catching the team back up. After getting taken out again she made her way to the water fountain to quench her thirst. She loved playing volleyball. She didn’t know why, but she got this feeling when she touched a volleyball; like all was right in the world, a lot like when she was running although different as much as the same.
When she turned around, she caught a quick glimpse of the volleyball before it smacked her squarely in the face. At first, she was merely shocked. She’d never been hit in the face before during P.E. Suddenly, she was aware of a dull pain coming from her nose and what she guessed was her nose beginning to run a bit. Using the back of her hand, she wiped underneath her nose. When she looked up, everyone was staring at her and whispering. Curious, she looked down at her hand to find blood; her nose was bleeding! SHIT! She raised her hand to cover it, hoping to keep it from staining her shirt or even worse. Ayalets blood was slightly different from everyone else’s; it’s the normal blood red color, but there were streaks of silver in it. The blood itself had an iridescent tint to it; and when it was exposed to the open air, it froze. No one outside of her parents had ever seen her blood before, so this problem had never occurred. How could she have let herself become so careless?!
When she was five, she had a peculiar love of climbing up high in the trees near the garden. One of the trees she was often found in had thinner branches toward the top. One afternoon she was in a particularly daring mood and decided to test out some of the thinner branches among the canopy. Little did she know, the wind had begun to kick up and while reaching for the uppermost branch, she lost her footing. She remembered little of the fall but the parts that she was able to recall stuck with her. One such memory is her collar bone snapping when she collided with one of the larger limbs on her way down to the earth. She was scratched up really badly and had what her parents thought were a couple broken bones. Her parents freaked out and sped to the hospital. By the time they got there, her scratches were gone; they told her the doctor took an x-ray of her right leg and arm. Upon his return, he said she was fine and that they didn’t have to worry about anything. Ayalets mom on the way home said she distinctly remembered Ayalet’s bones poking at odd angles in her leg. Countless times after that her parents noticed how quickly she would heal as well as her crystalized blood. They feared someone would want to abduct her, and conduct tests on her so they consistently avoided doctors and nurses outside of simple physicals.
Glancing up from her bloody hand, she saw Tyanne grabbing Jaisons arm and heard her say, “She’s fine, she’s just being dramatic. Let the coach handle it, there’s nothing you can do for her anyway.”
In response, Jaison wrenched his arm away and said, “The coach is busy, I’ll help her.” The new guy then ran up with a towel, held it in the water fountain until it was damp, then offered it to Ayalet. His face was filled with concern as he reached for her hand. She took it, mumbled a thank you and headed in the direction of the nurses’ office.
For a second it looked like Jaison was going to follow after her but the Coach called him back onto the court. On the way there, she made a detour to the girl’s restroom, so she could see how bad it was. Avoiding her eyes, she walked up to the mirror to find that the bleeding was not as bad as she thought. Just a few frozen drops had fallen onto her shirt; however, there was quite a bit on her face. Using the towel, she wiped the remaining blood away, peeled off any ice shards to find that the bleeding had stopped.
Deciding her face was clean, Ayalet headed through the bathroom door only to run into something. Looking up she realized the wall of person she ran into was Jaison. Looking at his face she realized how familiar he seemed, but from where. Sweeping those thoughts under a mental rug for later, why was he here… again.
As she was lost in thought, his long fingers gently tucked her hair behind her ear as he inspected her nose. “Oh.. um hey, I’m sorry. I noticed you didn’t have your stuff and came looking for you.” As he spoke, his eyes moved up to hers and remained there, unmoving.
Was he ashamed at all that he was about to walk into the girls room? Then again, it was during class, so the chances of someone other than her being in there was unlikely. Ayalet teased, “Interesting place to bump into each other.”
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Seeming caught off guard, he stammered, paused for a few moments then blushed as he stood there silently before responding, “Um, well, you see I figured it was uh . . . all right, because I wanted to make sure you were okay.” They stood there in silence for what seemed like a solid minute or two before he raised his shoulders nonchalantly and said, “I was walking through the hall looking for you. I know this is the girls bathroom; I swear I was only going to peak my head in and call for you. You just left so fast I thought you may have really gotten hurt.” Shoving one hand into his back pocket he raised his other hand to anxiously rub the back of his neck in a shy but masculine movement making her notice the muscles bunch under his t-shirt.. He then turned his face to the side brushing his cheek on his forearm giving him an almost childish pout, his eyes looking off down the halls.
When he interacted with everyone else he seemed really confident in himself yet right now, he seemed a little flustered. Was he nervous? Maybe of being caught going into the bathroom? Or maybe, just maybe she made him nervous.
A small smile adorned her cheeks as she thought about the idea of him being flustered because of her. No no no no no, she wasn’t going to let herself get excited over him. He would move on soon and it would all be for the better. “I’m all right, it’s no big deal, just a nosebleed. And it’s already stopped; so no worries.” Smiling, she tried to get around him.
“Wait,” he said, breaking her attempt at escape and continued talking to her. “So I know I asked you earlier about hangout spots, but I meant, is there any place YOU like to hang out? You know like coffee shops, or places that someone who just moved here should check out?”
“Why does it matter where I like to spend my time? I’m not trying to be rude, but it’s pretty obvious that the places I go aren’t going to be places where everyone else goes…”
Before she could finish he suddenly blurted out, “THAT’S exactly why I want to know though, those places where everyone else goes aren’t usually anything special or unique. It’ll be the same as the last place I lived. Under some bridge or some trendy new coffee place or something. They’ll even talk about the same stuff and probably have the same drama... you know?” His voice trailed off, realizing his outburst she could see a little red creeping onto the skin on his cheekbones.
“... No I wouldn’t know anything about that…” She said in almost a mumble.
So badly she wanted to open up to him, but fear overwhelmed her. The tremors of anxiety began to quake deep down. Trying to control them, she pushed past him and tried to break off their conversation, “Thanks for checking up on me, but I like to keep my spots to myself. It gives me space and a place to think.” She gathered herself and took a slow but deep breath before she started down the hallway. Why did she have to be like this? She didn’t know why, but she just wanted… no, needed to get away at the moment.
Feeling her control breaking she felt tears begin to form in her eyes. She then briskly walked a few feet and sped up into a run to get to the girls dressing room before the bell rang. Right before she reached the gym doors she wiped her eyes, tilted her head back, took a deep breath, and pushed open the doors.
The rest of the day Ayalet went to the rest of her classes and tried not to think about anything, not wanting to risk crying. It was a bit of a struggle; a few times it started to cross her mind, and she could feel her throat tightening. Every time she slowed her breathing down, closed her eyes and focused on listening to the teacher. Finally, the last bell of the day rang as she slipped in between people, jumping to the side and sliding by sideways to avoid hitting anyone before she pushed open the outer doors. She then continued running as the wind brushed against her cheek, like a small kitten begging for attention.
Ayalet ran as hard as she could, by the time she caught her breath, she realized that she hadn’t had her books most of the day. Actually, the last time she remembered having them was at the gym. Damn it. . . She’d have to remember to wake up early to go and get them on Monday. Running her hands through her hair she lifted her head and noticed a big tree above her. She then looked around and noticed that she had unconsciously run to her parents’ graves. It had caught everyone in town off guard when they disappeared; most people think they just left her based on how the house was abandoned. Years of cruel rumors, and whispers were forced on her by those who she had once trusted. For those that believed her when she said they died, some tombstones were made to represent their deaths. Ayalet was really glad they let her choose the spot to place them. She decided that she would put the tombstones under the oak tree about a mile down the road from her old house. It was peaceful and people rarely ever came over here.
Tired and with nothing to do, she sat under the giant old oak tree and listened to the birds chirping as she slowly dozed off. She dreamt of times when her parents were alive, the things they used to do. The montage of memories played through her mind like an old movie: She could feel the cool air rushing past, her father laughing behind her as he pushed her on her bike before he let go for the first time without training wheels, her mother cheering her on in front of her.
The dream continued and suddenly they were all riding their bikes through the windy mountain roads. She grew tired quite quickly, so they got off the bikes and her dad began to carry her as they walked back down the mountain. They hadn’t ridden that far, so it didn’t take long to get back home. But for the entire walk back home Ayalet, Mom, and Dad all sang songs and laughed together; it was one of her most treasured memories she was reliving in dream form.
Fading, it was suddenly Christmas, the three of them were walking into the forest to cut down a Christmas tree, laughing and belting out Christmas carols and talking about what toppings they were going to put on their hot chocolates that night. Her mother would say all sorts of silly things like anchovies, and cucumbers. Skipping like a record, it was now New Year’s and they had bought a small fir tree to plant in the place of the one they cut down on Christmas like they did every year. Her father always explained how important it was to replace what you took in nature. The dirt in her hands from digging shimmered into little chocolate bricks. Valentine’s Day, her mother was reheating the water on the stove that was keeping the chocolate they were making for Dad from getting hard. Her mother humming handed her a spoon to lick, it was just a little sample compared to the bowl her mother and her always shared after they were done.
Slowly the dream faded and her younger self was left alone in a void of darkness crying. Even though some of the memories were more memorable than others, they all held a place in her heart. In the distance, someone was calling her name, they sounded worried and frantic. She then felt something touch her face. Reaching up, she felt nothing, but suddenly remembered she was dreaming.
Forcing herself awake, she opened her eyes to find Jaison standing over her...again. “What are you doing here?” She mumbled groggily. What was his deal?
Sounding hurt, he responded, “What do you mean, what am I doing here? You ran out of the school in a mad dash. Not to mention that you were crying, just as you are now. I also wanted to mention that you left your school bag in the gym.”
Reaching up, Ayalet noticed that there were indeed tears trailing down her cheeks. Pulling her sleeve down over her hand, she attempted to wipe them away. More seemed to replace them just as fast as she wiped.
Concern pierced through his eyes. He seemed like the type of person to always keep things together, yet why show concern for her? His arm lifted upwards then stopped abruptly. Ayalet wondered what he was wanting to do. His eyes slid downward briefly before returning to her face with wonder in them. “By the way, you run extremely fast, how long did it take you to get here? I ran after you and the second you ran out of the doors, I couldn’t see you anymore.”
Tilting her head to the side in consideration, “I don’t know . . . 10 minutes? . . .” His concern threw her off, what reason did he have to care? He hadn’t even known her more than a few hours at this point, not even her Aunt would go this far. What could be his ulterior motive? “Why did you run after me? And how did you find me?”
“Well, I didn’t run, I took my bike. You literally ran out the door, I had your backpack and tried to call after you, but by the time I got my bike unlocked you were gone. Anyway, I was worried about you, you seemed really upset and I didn’t think you wanted your stuff left in the gym all weekend, so I asked the office for your address. Your mom said you weren’t home, and told me to go away. I just happened to find you on my way home from your house.” She then looked over and saw his bike leaning against the other side of the tree. Did he just say mom?
Disgust filled her heart at the thought of her Aunt being her mother or having someone think she was her mom. “She’s not my mother!” she snapped. But how would he have known that? Composing herself, sheepishly she added. “You met my Aunt.”
“Oh, why is your home address your Aunts house, why not your parents’ house?” He added carefully, a little quieter than before.
“My parents are dead, so I live with my Aunt.” She looked into his eyes as he looked away. Not wanting to hear the usual sympathy, she quickly said, “Why are you asking so many questions?”
Pausing, he seemed to be pondering what to say next. “I don’t know actually. But the second that I saw you in class, I felt something weird about you. It’s kind of hard to describe, but it made me curious. Geeze… saying that out loud makes me sound like a creep,” he laughed. He seemed to be the type of person that let his emotions clearly run across his face. Did he always say what was on his mind and not hold anything back? Not many people were like that at school, heck not many people were like that in general. She found that to be an admirable trait. But is that a good enough reason to trust someone?
She remembered feeling the same way, strangely drawn to his presence; like a magnet or an insect to a flame. Though what if just like the insect, she got burned. Being so drawn to him, would she get hurt? He’d probably have more fun with someone else. “I’m sure there are lots of people you could hang out with at school. Crystal is really nice, Tyanne seems like she wants to be friends. They’d probably be more entertaining than me. I don’t really socialize much.”
Staring at her, he responded softly and kindly, “Do you not want to be friends?”
Times had always been tough, and she’d never had anyone that cared about her, well, besides her parents. She was scared that if she let someone in, she would get hurt. Having a friend was something she really wanted, but she’d closed herself off so much that she wondered if she could truly let someone into her heart again. The attraction she had for him scared her as well. How could she give someone that much power over her?
Almost like he knew what was in Ayalets head, he said, “You’re alone most of the time anrt you. You look so unhappy, and I just thought I could try to get you to smile.” It both scared her and made her heart flutter hearing him say that he cared enough to notice her.
Emotions were swirling in her heart, worry, fear, hope, desire, and longing. Tilting her head downward, she rested her chin against her collarbone. Jaison took a step closer, bringing himself right next to her. His knees were resting against her own. Suddenly his hand was holding her chin, pulling it to face him. “Ayalet,” Her heart jumped in her chest. His face was so close to hers, she didn’t know what he was going to do. She could feel her cheeks burning up as his eyes intensely stared into hers. She felt like a doe frozen to the ground as a truck steadily drove closer.
Before he could even finish, she pulled away from his hand and smiled up at him. His abruptness freaked her out so much she couldn’t help but feel like there was some other motivation behind it. She didn’t really have a good reason not to be friends, and she didn’t want to let fear run her life. But she couldn’t tell if her gut was telling her to avoid him or if that was fear stopping her from taking a risk. If she wanted friends she had to try, she couldn’t just keep shutting people out.
Suddenly he plopped down next to her, “Sorry, I can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. I’m not trying to be pushy, I honestly don’t usually act like this. I just, I don’t know I… I just want to spend more time with you.”
“Why?” She asked, completely baffled.
Looking thoughtful for a moment, he responded, “Why not? I’m new, I don’t have anyone I can talk to, and you seem like someone who is a good listener. I’m really tired of fleeting, fake friendships.. And I get the feeling you're real. So, why not?”
Ayalet just sat there, unsure of what to say. Why not? She couldn’t really think of a good reason not to; no reason she wanted to say anyway. As she was looking down, she noticed his hands fidgeting a bit. His toes were tapping to some unheard beat. Then her eyes jumped to his thighs which were resting against her own. How did she not notice earlier that he was touching her? If she moved now he would notice, but it was making her self conscious. No one touched her. What should she do? Did she like it? Her blood seemed to heat up in her veins, breathing seemed difficult. These feelings, were they good or bad?
He cocked his head down to the side, his face tilted down into her vision, “What do you like to do for fun?”
“What?” She stammered. “Um, I like gardening and running. . .”
A smile spread across his face as he sat up against the tree, “Are you a part of the track team?”
“No” Her eyes left his face to rest upon her lap.
Again, his hand reached over to her chin and lifted her face. “Why do you look down so much?”
She kept expecting his hand to drop but this time it lingered all while she was looking at him. She tried to pull away but instead his grip remained, unaffected. She instead tried to look away, but he just moved his head into her vision again, “Why aren’t you on the track team if you like running?”
Thinking about it, fear to be honest. She had worried that she would get rejected. Instead, all she responded with was, “I don’t know, I’m just not.” she mumbled.
“Then how about this, if I join the soccer team, will you join the track team? Both of us can get out and make more friends?” As he mentioned it, worry and fear clouded her mind. How would the track team respond to her trying out? They technically hadn’t started the tryouts yet. Could she? If memory serves her right, Raina was on the track team. She’d always been nice to her and had even chatted with her a bit when they were around each other. Would Raina even want to be her friend? If she wanted to prevent fear from controlling her life, she couldn’t keep avoiding it just out of fear of rejection. In response, she nodded her head.
Next to her, she felt his legs twitching about. She looked down to see a snake slithering up his shorts leg. Before she had a chance to tell him it was there, he jumped up while shaking his leg ferociously. While he was flailing about, he emitted this squeal like whimper sound. The snake dropped out of his shorts the second he got up and had since slithered back into the nearby grass but he continued to swat at his legs.
Not being able to control herself, a gurgle of laughter erupted out of her belly. Leaning over her knees while holding her stomach, her laughing grew in intensity. By this time, her laughing had gotten so hysterical, it was practically contagious. At some point while she was laughing he stopped freaking out and walked back over to her.
“What? Why are you laughing? It’s a legitimate response, besides, snakes give me the creeps,” He pouted with a funny grin on his face; which did nothing but make her laugh harder.
Finally her laughing subsided, “Wow, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.” It made her a little sad when she couldn’t automatically recall the last time she’d laughed that hard. Her sides hurt as she caught her breath. She didn’t know why she laughed so hard, it wasn’t that funny. A lot of people were afraid of snakes.
Sitting down next to her while laughing a little himself, he said “It’s okay, I like your laugh.” Blushing at his compliment she thanked him, paused for about thirty seconds and looked down at the ground in front of her feet. Thinking back to how he kept grabbing her chin and touching her she lifted her head and looked out at the fields nearby. It was sunny today, the fields looked like gold.
He trailed off as they both looked up into the sky, their arms grazed each other lightly. And just like any other time she let her mind wander, she saw visions of unfamiliar memories before falling into the dark depths of a swirling whirlpool of visions.