Prompt 116: "The Second Hand Moved"
Inspired by the community "all_unwritten."
We ran around together like a locomotive of cargo, dragging little zippered cabooses behind us as we navigated through Narita airport. The noonday rush filled up every good restaurant, so we ended up at McDonald's. I apologized to him for it being his last meal in Japan. He just laughed at the irony.
From lunch to checking his baggage at the departure gate to last-minute souvenir shopping, I never seemed to stop checking my watch. The second hand moved like a knife, mercilessly slicing our last few moments together into pieces, smaller and smaller with every passing minute. I had an hour left with him, forty five minutes...
Thirty. We sat in a row of chairs next to his departure gate, holding hands. The rims of my eyelids were a faulty barricade, and my tears steadily flowed over them. The TV behind us reciting news in English, the Japanese couple across from us darting stares back and forth between our faces, the elegant bamboo arrangement at the gate that marked the New Year... All a blur of sound and gray-washed colors that melted into silence as my eyes focused in and out on my hand surrounded by his.
I tried to stop myself from looking to my watch. Its cruel, small face pulled my eyes to it like a magnet. Twenty-five minutes. A few weeks had gone by, the best weeks I'd had here, and it would all be gone in twenty-five minutes. I would once again lose my best friend to the length of the Pacific.
I felt as if the last few weeks were not really a part of my new life here. Someone had held the frantic rhythm of the city still, and I was hidden away with him in the warmth of a little rented room. With him gone, I would have to find the courage inside myself to put back on all my armor and battle through the months to come.
Ten minutes. What had happened to make the clock turn so? It was time.
We stood up together and began to approach the gate. We reveled in each other's faces, stealing away our last moments of one another and burying them safely into our hearts. We shared in a final hug.
Oh, hugs... Such a sweet and tender embrace that I felt I had almost forgotten until he came here. The warmth and snugness of his arms surrounding me. The pounding of his heart on my chest. The softness of his hair through my fingertips. The way my chin fit into his collarbone as I nuzzled my soggy face into his coat. And as we began to pull away, he hugged one last time. I felt the intensity of his emotions through the heat radiating off his body. I tried not to sob as I heard a hard swallow force its way down his throat. Not until I came back months later.. would I ever have a hug like this again.
Then I turned away from him and started to walk. And soon after walked backwards. We waved to one another. Then I would not look back. A numbness overtook me, and the escalator swallowed me up as I went down to the train station. "See you soon, my love."
We ran around together like a locomotive of cargo, dragging little zippered cabooses behind us as we navigated through Narita airport. The noonday rush filled up every good restaurant, so we ended up at McDonald's. I apologized to him for it being his last meal in Japan. He just laughed at the irony.
From lunch to checking his baggage at the departure gate to last-minute souvenir shopping, I never seemed to stop checking my watch. The second hand moved like a knife, mercilessly slicing our last few moments together into pieces, smaller and smaller with every passing minute. I had an hour left with him, forty five minutes...
Thirty. We sat in a row of chairs next to his departure gate, holding hands. The rims of my eyelids were a faulty barricade, and my tears steadily flowed over them. The TV behind us reciting news in English, the Japanese couple across from us darting stares back and forth between our faces, the elegant bamboo arrangement at the gate that marked the New Year... All a blur of sound and gray-washed colors that melted into silence as my eyes focused in and out on my hand surrounded by his.
I tried to stop myself from looking to my watch. Its cruel, small face pulled my eyes to it like a magnet. Twenty-five minutes. A few weeks had gone by, the best weeks I'd had here, and it would all be gone in twenty-five minutes. I would once again lose my best friend to the length of the Pacific.
I felt as if the last few weeks were not really a part of my new life here. Someone had held the frantic rhythm of the city still, and I was hidden away with him in the warmth of a little rented room. With him gone, I would have to find the courage inside myself to put back on all my armor and battle through the months to come.
Ten minutes. What had happened to make the clock turn so? It was time.
We stood up together and began to approach the gate. We reveled in each other's faces, stealing away our last moments of one another and burying them safely into our hearts. We shared in a final hug.
Oh, hugs... Such a sweet and tender embrace that I felt I had almost forgotten until he came here. The warmth and snugness of his arms surrounding me. The pounding of his heart on my chest. The softness of his hair through my fingertips. The way my chin fit into his collarbone as I nuzzled my soggy face into his coat. And as we began to pull away, he hugged one last time. I felt the intensity of his emotions through the heat radiating off his body. I tried not to sob as I heard a hard swallow force its way down his throat. Not until I came back months later.. would I ever have a hug like this again.
Then I turned away from him and started to walk. And soon after walked backwards. We waved to one another. Then I would not look back. A numbness overtook me, and the escalator swallowed me up as I went down to the train station. "See you soon, my love."