A WALK IN THE CLOUDS

First, it was a teddy and a unicorn blanket. Then, a bottle. Then, older men. Now it’s Jamie, much younger, though, but I can’t help it. I attach myself to people and things easily. We fell in love by chance but when we look at each other, we see the one we were meant to be with.

The drowsy rain kept us inside last weekend, the milk-white haze having gulped down the last of the rooftops. I didn’t mind. Inside, the sky is blue with a few wispy clouds.

“You’re my baby,” he says, resting his head on my lap.

“I am, aren’t I?”

“You are, and we’re in for fine weather. Your voice is a breeze blowing from the sea, your breath the heat of the sun in my lungs. Your fingers feel like slim branches kissing the air, warm and fluffy like cotton candy. You spin me through minute holes for hours before letting me cool and re-solidify into fine strands. A rainbow in my cloud, that’s what you are, and I’m floating in the sky, forever lost in your starry eyes. When I’m with you, I get the urge to start running, and I would run faster, as far as my feet carried me, till the thrill of speed beats death itself.”

Jamie gets up, using his body weight to lean forward, but the moment he begins to run, I notice his shoulders slightly drooping as if after manual labor.

“Baby, are you alright? You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

“I relished a few days of calm, and will now enjoy the fall.”

His breathing is getting heavier, the clouds lower and thicker.

A WALK IN THE CLOUDS

“Hey, what the f…?! You can’t do this to me! Get up, you hear me?”

He swallows hard and shakes his head, “Sorry baby…crashing. Press OK to Accept.”