The Secrets Within Pages

He Haunts Me

I let out a breath, biting my lip nervously. I grip the box contemplating whether or not to read it.

Something held me back.

My heart and my mind had isolated themselves, long since stopped coordinating. Every thought, every memory lingers, looming above the ruins of my soul.

He haunts me.

My body aches, feeling the absence of his warmth all too well.

My traitorous eyes drop back to the messy pile and I pick up the first paper, carefully tracing the neat, cursive handwriting.

'I was never one for romanticism. Ironic, I know. I don't quite understand why I'm writing  any of this down, whatever this may be, but too many thoughts race in my mind- I have to pour it all out somewhere. I keep going over the moment. It's a delusion.

A mere moment that has siezed my mind.

She has siezed my mind.

I must be the biggest fool.

In truth, seeing her in the corner of that bookstore, of course she struck me, but that's where I forced myself to end the thought.

I wouldn't let any woman into my life.

I couldn't subject anyone to that.

That's when I should've left.

But as her fingers trailed the spines of all the books on the shelf, reaching to pick one out, my legs somehow walked themselves in her direction.

Seeing her stand there, golden rays painting her face, sifting through her dark hair- I felt winded.

Then, she turned around.

Good god.

Her eyes.

Eyes that would put the moon to shame.

She looked like a rainy autumn day. Like a piece of history.

I wanted to know her.

But I couldn't.

I couldn't string someone like her into my twisted life.

As I forced myself to move away from her, she spoke and I halt at the sound.

She smiles politely, chuckling at whatever nonsense I uttered.

Her nose crinkled when she smiled, eyes curving into crescents.

This girl.

She held 'The Phantom of the Opera' in her hands and I make the mistake of rolling my eyes.

She was beautiful but if the peak of her taste in literature was 'Phantom of the Opera'...

Well, perhaps I'll slide her a list of finer recommendations.

The absolute shift in her stance. The arch of her brow as she sized me up. The curve of her lips as they curled.

The next string of words that escaped her mouth, I'll treasure forever.

I stifled my laughter under a smirk.

She was funny.

She was brilliant.

She intimidated me a little, just a smidge.

I never really desired company. In fact, I hated being in any situation where I had to interact with a person longer than a minute.

People were so dreary.

Humanity had lost my candle of hope a long time ago.

But something about her...