Gold embraced the pavement.
Manhattan’s skyline pierced the clouds, swarms of gulls drawing sutures between buildings.
Icarus could have flown unscathed across the horizon, if only he had adjusted upwards a couple degrees.
I’m glad you asked.
Category: Stories
Flutter
Rain pours down the windows in sheets. Sustained notes drift out of the speakers, flowing over the cabinets and onto the floor, leaving warmth in their wake.
I’m lying on my back for five minutes before I need to leave.
A door shuts outside my apartment, somebody vanishing into the storm, perhaps for another somebody.
My heartbeat quickens in the darkness, a twinge of euphoric anxiety crawling across my skin.
The two empty water glasses on the bedside table remind me why.
The clock tells me five minutes have passed. I put my boots back on and turn the music off. Wind tears through the gaps between buildings, shrieking at the streets, the rain at its mercy.
Hood up and headphones on, I close the door behind me, and step out onto the sidewalk.
Just somebody vanishing into the storm for somebody else.
Specifically – you.
_
I used to focus on the blackness between the stars.
Now I want to burn brighter than a supernova.
Fog.
I was late at the office, shivered more than I should have on the walk home, cursing myself for not wearing a sweater.
I didn’t have anything in mind for the evening, but the fog was beautiful and I figured fuck it, why not, mounted the 35 1.4 and went back into the haze.
The night was dense…a blanket of fog covered the Brooklyn waterfront; empty streets and quiet corners were too tempting.
I felt a tap on my right leg close to midnight.
“Want any company?”
I wouldn’t say no.
“I feel the need to take a walk”
I’ll meet you outside your place.
Branches brushed my shoulders as I passed the church across from her apartment.
Her lips met mine as we said hello.
I didn’t think I’d see you tonight.
“I felt spontaneous, which is unusual for me.”
I wasn’t complaining.
She’s going to laugh at me when she reads this.
I really don’t mind.
Christopher Lange. 