Shift Valley

Chapter Two: They Wanted to Be

6 am

November 1st

I could feel my eyes well up with potential tears as I felt all these sweet feelings for a man who didn’t want me. All I could do was stare at him as he laid on the side of me sleeping soundly. I stared at him with a blurred vision. It was a very cool morning. He had the window open and I could feel the frigid air seep through the open window and graze both of our shoulders. I shivered a bit before pulling the covers up to my neck. I looked back at him and decided to pull the covers over his shoulders as well.

I didn’t want him to be cold.

I gazed at him some more, now finally feeling the tears stream down my face. I moved closer to him. So close that I could now feel his breath on me. I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to contain any sounds I might have made. In the distance, I could hear the faint sounds of a train. It sounded so pretty and I imagined hopping on that train and vanishing away from here. Away from all of this...

dead weight and missing love.

I was in agony. So I let it rock me to sleep.

I opened my eyes and I felt the softest breeze on my skin. My eyes were looking up at a clear peach sky. I had a hard time blinking because of how beautiful the scenery was. I then had a sudden urge to sit up. I sat up and was immediately struck by strong winds. These winds were fast yet rather sweet. But still too fast to keep my eyes open completely. I had to squint, but it didn’t stop me from seeing that I was in the most beautiful green space I’ve ever seen. It went on for miles and I could not see anything but pretty green hills. It was absolutely breathtaking.

I stood up abruptly and let the wind blow violently into me. I didn’t mind. This scene was worth every bit of discomfort.

After a few seconds, I realized that there was a figure in the distance. It stood still at the bottom of the hill I was standing on. I squinted my eyes a bit more to get a better look but to no avail. I slowly began walking to it. The figure transformed about three times as I walked towards it.

As I walked further, the image started making sense in my head. It was just a man, he was just sitting down eating some sort of fruit.

I wondered who he was.

I knew he could hear me walking toward him but he didn’t look up, not even once. He just continued eating.

As I stood before him, I got the chance to get a good look at him. His skin was warm and honey-like. His hair was rich jet black and his ears were sort of pointed. His lips seemed a bit mischievous and were a bit wet from the fruit he was eating.

His hands were quite interesting to look at as they had tiny red little welts and cuts all over them. But his nails seemed perfectly manicured. On his left wrist was an expensive looking watch. He had pretty attractive hands and I watched them as they groped the pieces of fruit.

And his eyes, though I wasn’t able to see them before, were now looking at me.

His eyes were bright and serious. They looked like glass... or more like small mirrors. They almost seemed as if I could fall right into them.

He gazed at me for a bit, letting his eyes wander all over my face.

I kept thinking the same thing over and over.

He’s a very pretty man.

I clasped my hands together waiting for whatever would happen next. I watched him as his mouth began to form words.

He then put his eyes back on his fruit. “You’re back.”, he said softly.

Feeling puzzled, I just stood before him without saying anything. I just watched him for a bit as he kept eating his cantaloupe.

“Back?”, I replied finally after realizing that he wasn’t going to speak again until I said something.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”, I continued while still intently watching him.

He looked back up at me with a serious face. It seemed as if his eyes were searching my face for something. He then stood up, pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket to wipe his hands and mouth, and then stuffed the cloth back into his pocket.

He walked a little more toward me so that he was standing directly in front of me.

He was rather tall and my eyes were lined up with his chest. I felt the urge to touch him for a second but then I thought against it.

He looked down at me and I looked up at him. He grabbed me close to him and caressed my hair. “I wonder how long it has been for you. I’ve missed you.”, he said.

His touch was so gentle and sweet. There was some sort of familiarity about it. It was the most real thing I’ve felt in years. I knew that I didn’t have any idea what was going on. I believed this to be just a beautiful dream. I knew I had no recollection of this man or our time together but...

I wanted to know him.

“I’m sorry, I uh... don’t remember you.”, I said feeling more and more ashamed as the words came out of my mouth. He stopped caressing me and turned his back to me, looking at something that seemed to be in his hands. “Yeah, we knew you wouldn’t.”, he said earnestly.

I bit my lip and walked towards him again. “But I want to. I want to remember you.”, I said softly while staring at the back of him.

He turned around and blinked profusely as if he was trying to wake up. “Yeah?”, he queried.

“Yeah.”, I said quickly.

He smirked slightly and I clasped my hands together just watching him. His eyes were now on me too.

The air was so light and sweet. We stood a few feet from each other in silence as the warm breeze maneuvered around our bodies.

I felt so grateful to experience whatever this was.

“Do you remember this place?”, he asked not really believing I would.

I shook my head and said, “No, but I don’t know how I could forget such a place. It’s beautiful.”

He chuckled a little and changed the subject. “That’s a pretty dress. Did you make it?”, he asked. I looked down at myself and indeed the dress I was wearing was very beautiful. I ran my hands over the little pink buttons. “I’m not sure.”, I said honestly.

He chuckled again and then began walking away. “Come on.”, he called to me.

I immediately ran behind him. When I caught up to him, he grabbed my hand and we walked in silence.

As we walked, I took in the environment. There were so many green pastures, I thought that it might have been heaven. “This is shift valley. You’ve been here before. Many times actually.”, he says breaking the silence. I just nodded and enjoyed our walk, wondering where he’d take me. It seemed like we were walking for a while when suddenly he stopped. I looked at him and then at what was before us. It was a vast field of baby blue roses.

“Wow. Are those roses?”, I asked him.

“Yeah.”, he answered quickly.

“That’s impossible. There’s no such thing as blue roses.”, I told him.

He blinked profusely once again before saying, “Go to them.”

I gazed at him and walked towards them. I kneeled down to admire the flowers.

They were indeed roses and they also were indeed blue. “How are they this color?”, I asked him while still looking at the flowers.

“Because they wanted to be.”, he said seriously.

I looked at him as he was now hovering over me and I gave him a slight nod.

Because they wanted to be. I kept ruminating on that in my little mind.