A LEAP OF THE EARLY BIRD

Safe...

Should one trust the voice of their heart? That unbeatable voice that holds within it the hopes for tomorrow? A better tomorrow? Should one trust that voice, against all reason, all logic, and all reality? Should one really trust that soundless voice which no one else hears? That silent voice? Well, what if that voice is no longer silent, no longer heard just from within? What if it comes in a form of a whisper, and from the beloved one's lips?

Sanem saw the deepest darkness. She heard the spine-chilling silence. She felt the soundless pain. She was dazed. She was disoriented. It may have lasted but a mere few seconds, but to a heart filled with fear and trepidation a few seconds may feel like half of an eternity. And she was scared. But something called out her name. Or rather, someone. Though she could not see for that brief first moment she was falling back into consciousness, that voice calmed her down. It calmed her frightened heart. The voice continued to whisper her name with utmost affection. Sanem... Sanem...

She felt a hand on her cheek. Delicate and concerned. And her heart skipped a beat. The skin on her cheek recognized Can's touch before her heart recognized the sound of his voice. Then her heart did recognize it his voice. The peace she felt in that moment could not have been described by any words known to men. To know in her heart that he searched for her, that he found her, and that he was next to her felt as if the broken pieces of heart mended, if even in by a tiniest bit. Suddenly, the sharpest of pains shot right through her forehead. She was slowly coming back to reality. A reality where Can was right next to her. She opened her eyes, and saw Can's face, right next to her. She saw more in that face, and heard more in Can's voice than he would ever admit.

She saw his eyes, and within them she saw his soul. The depth of it. And all of it was overtaken by fear for her life. She heard his whispers. He did not shout. He wasn't mad or annoyed that yet again she had gotten into trouble. That yet again she wasn't careful. He wasn't irritated that he had to look for her. No... There was something in his voice that she never heard before. The concerned tone of it. The unspoken undertone of it. The words he did not say but his voice implied. He didn't need words to express how he felt. His eyes told her everything...

He whispered her name. She heard him well, but he kept repeating it, as if he were trying to chant her back to life. He helped her up, so she could sit up. Her head hurt, her reality was spinning. A thought ran through her that perhaps this was not reality, but only her mind's trick? How would he have known to look for her? How would he have known where to find her? But then... She felt it... Can's kiss on her cheek. His kiss. A kiss. That rushed her blood to her heart and shot any doubts over reality out of her system. It, in fact, WAS reality, and he really did kiss her. And that was no kiss of a friend. It was so much more. She took in all what she felt at that moment, and locked it in her heart. Friends, or not, he still mattered to her, and he always would.

Can advised her they would climb out of the pit, but he first had to build a makeshift ladder. She sat there, looking at him, while he rushed to build the makeshift ladder from tree branches. Preoccupied by the task at hand, he hadn't noticed that she kept looking at him while he worked. Nor had he realized that her photographic memory would imbed those images in her mind. Branch by branch, one stroke of the stone against the branch at a time. She had heard stories of his adventures, his lone photoshoots, and stories of his survival in dangerous situations when he was alone. All alone. She recalled the moment when he mentioned to her that he had to rely on himself on such occassions, when he kindheartedly tended to her bruised knee the day after she broke into his home. Now she got to see him in his element. In HIS nature. In HIS private life that no one else saw before, or shared with him. And she realized that she was as impressed by him as she would now be worried for him, if he ever were to go back to his photographer's life...

Can helped her up, as gently as he could. He told her they would climb up, and she had to hold onto him when they did. And... He kissed her cheek again. She could not figure out whether it calmed her down more, or whether that second kiss was something that Can needed himself to gain the strength he needed to lift her back up to safety. Whichever it was, it worked. She held on, and they climbed. And they climbed, and climbed. And they climbed out. He set his feet on the ground, and tried to set her down as well. But there was no way she could do that. How could she sit down, or calm down, with the fear for both of their lives so fresh in her heart? She rushed to his arms. Or he rushed to embrace her. Or they did so at the same heartbeat of time. That did not matter. He held her, and she held on to him. Heart to heart. Frantically pounding heartbeat to frantically pounding one. They hadn't realized that in that moment their heartbeats matched the same rhythm. But fate did...

As the emotions calmed down, Can sat by Sanem. He wanted to be sure she was okay. Needed to be sure she was. He told her she had everyone worried when she had not returned. She looked at him, with more love in her heart than he realized at first, because she read right through his lines. So, he did something his heart was pushing at him with all that it had. He broke through his fear for what his words could mean. He admitted that he was worried about her. And he watched her lips grin at him with a smile that shot right through his heart.

She sat there, looking at him, and she felt the same way she felt when he calmed her down after her nightmare. She felt safe. Safe, because he was there with her. Safe, because he was there for her. She just hoped he would one day realize how much that mattered and meant to her...