shortie III

My warm moistened skin rested against the glossy, immaculate porcelain-coated steel of the empty bathtub. I couldn’t tell the temperature of that hard material that limited my comfort in the antiseptic capsule. It was neutral, it was welcoming. Drops crowded the walls, the tiles, the plastic curtain that kept me from the air outside, but they remained static. It seemed as if all was at the border of imploding in a cloud of chloride, shampoo and infinite pieces of water divided into zillions of minute silver marbles suspended in the air. Regardless, my body was reluctant to get out of its own entanglement that made it fit into the tub. My head found its place at a rounded corner as my eyelids did nothing but try to get me to sleep in there. Half asleep, half  listening to some telephone conversation going on far outside that whole environment, I watched droplets run down as fast as the minutes I  spent secluded in my own private thoughts.

Her flesh was pale, as white, gelid and numb as the bathtub itself. She felt an internal void vacuuming her organs and her feelings. Her lips parted in the intent of letting a shriek go, though nothing but guttural sounds came across her teeth. She could hardly breathe and that was all that was left to her, unless someone, by chance, found her. Just a pathetic piece of white flesh.

The Journey

Bliss was the most prominent feeling, along with excitement, that this journey provoked in me. For the first time, I’d be travelling down the Scottish hills towards Edinburgh. I had heard of the weather being milder there, so I supposed it would be a relief from this piercing cold wind at the north of this country.

A breeze brushed what was visible of my face underneath the endless layers of wool and I knew rain was approaching. I stepped onto the train, and the railway station vanished. I found myself standing on a red carpeted floor, people’s voices flowing through my ears while jazz music in the background made me feel as if I were at home.

“Have you found your seat, Miss?

A soft voice tickled my ears.

“Yes, Thank you”

I walked down the aisle and found my seat, right next to the window. Just a crystal through which I’d be able to get carried away by the neverending green hills of Scotland. Sinking in the puffy warm seat, I sensed how the voices dimmed into the background, and the beat of the music helped me relax.

The train lurched off and the journey began. And so, it began to rain. My head found its place on the pillow and I gazed out the blurry damp pane, watching the hills wave and the houses get lost behind the moving machine. Droplets hit against the glass as if they were metallic marbles, liquefying and gliding down the transparent, cold surface. Hills and mountains turned emerald and the rain intensified the magical setting with a silver powder-like shower.   

I turned and the soft sweet voice tingled in my ear once more.

“Tea or coffee?”

“Tea, please”

She placed the milky and glossy porcelain cup on my small tray and paraded away with her trolley. Strawberry tea was my favourite and this whole relaxing and peaceful atmosphere let me feel its aroma stronger than usual. I brought the cup close to my face, and felt how the candy-coated vapour crammed through my nostrils as my lips touched the cold china and absorbed that alluring substance.

Again, my eyes got lost in the stardust storm outside, along with the emerald pattern that rushed behind my seat. At last I’d be going to Edinburgh and I’d be able to witness the most amazing festival in the country. I couldn’t wait to get there, but I wished the journey in this moving warm capsule lasted forever.

“Are you alright?”

This time the voice was deep and guttural, yet strangely pleasing. I turned to my left and saw a peculiar but attractive individual sitting right next to me.

“Sure I am!”

His hair was bright blond, glittering in the greyish light from outside, as if the shiny shower had stuck to his hair before he got on the train. His white complexion matched it, making him look like a milky, soft porcelain boy. I hoped he was going to the festival as well though I bet someone else was there waiting for such a jewel.

Two hours later, I opened my eyes, to find my face immersed in his golden string-like smooth hair. We had fallen asleep. I hoped he did not mind this, I really didn’t want to have to stand a jealous girlfriend moaning, or even worse, a slap. I leaned there for a few minutes longer, sniffing his almond scented hair. Promptly the train ceased the movement and so did the rain. Quickly, I sat up and arranged my hair before this interesting corporeal checked on my looks. But not a while passed before he had darted out of the train, and got mixed along with the crowd. I wondered if I had dreamed of him, if that gorgeous image of a man had been only an ethereal product of my infinite imagination. How disappointing it was. How upsetting and detrimental, to find such a creature in such a random way, and to lose him just as randomly.

I stood up, picked up my backpack and scuffed down the train, a bit exhausted, a bit sleepy, a bit disappointed. A white smooth hand suddenly took hold of mine. My eyes followed the hand, the arm, the shimmering blond straight hair and finally his deep blue eyes. And only then did I know who my new companion in my trip would be. It couldn’t have felt more comforting. I felt his arms embracing me and a minute later we  were walking down the damp, pitch black road. Clouds were still compressing the sky, and their colour just brought me to think that they were vaporous pieces of the road, intangibly forming a shell in the sky, and I knew stardust would be falling once more, bathing Edinburgh’s streets, parks, emerald hills and pines, and also my beloved’s glistening hair.