Hello
567 Words
As I stepped off the plane and walked into the terminal, I saw him. Amid the bustling crowd, he stood out as if I had known exactly where to look. It was him— Ray. Exactly as I remembered: dressed in a black trench coat, with deep brown hair, and a smile that met my eyes.
No one had told me he would come to pick me up. I had expected to take a cab to the address I’d been given. But he approached me, and a strange sensation washed over me— I couldn’t quite name it. My heartbeat quickened, my whole body felt warm, and sweat formed on my skin. Yet, I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t experiencing interference, mental contamination, or an attack. All I could be sure of was that this feeling was linked to him; the closer he came, the more intense it became. My senses seemed to go wild, and “I” fluttered around me in agitation.
On the way here, I had considered how I would act upon meeting him. Expressing my anger and hatred seemed pointless. From my interactions and the rumors, it seemed he was indifferent to the misfortunes he had caused me and only interested in the prospect of our bond. So, my plan was to calmly greet him with a “hello.”
But he didn’t give me the chance to say “hello,” nor did he say it to me. He came right up to me, opened his arms, and embraced me.
The peculiar sensation peaked as the pressure of his embrace transferred to me. I felt a sense of chaos, or rather, an overload of sensations bombarded me. I “heard” my heartbeat, “heard” his heartbeat, and “heard” our heartbeats perfectly synchronized. I “saw” a dark shadow emerge from behind him—his spirit animal, so huge. It extended its tendrils towards "me", enveloping "me" as it had when we first met, but this time, I didn’t feel “my” fear. Instead, I felt remarkably at ease. "My" agitation subsided, and the heat on my skin faded. I even felt a desire to lift my arms to embrace him, thinking it would be comforting.
And it wasn’t just comfort. I felt a return to that omniscient sensation I’d experienced when I first awakened. My face buried in his coat, I “saw” everything: the knowing smiles of passersby, assuming we were long-lost lovers reunited; his half-closed green eyes, finally satisfied; and "him"—floating in midair, fully expanded, enveloping us overhead, with tendrils cascading and swirling around us. It was a gigantic black jellyfish, its bell illuminated by a glowing orb that cast a mysterious and exquisite radiance on its entire form. The glow and "he" seemed to merge perfectly, as if it were a part of "him".
That glowing orb was “me.”
I also “saw” him extend his glowing mental tendrils. He wanted to penetrate me, to link, to bond. But it was too noisy, too crowded, unsafe, and against the sentinel code. A pity. He had to restrain himself and wait. He sighed.
He released me, and “he” released “me.”
“We’ll go get your luggage,” he said.
So, no “hello.” He felt I was already his. Always had been.
*
- Writer
