halcyonco
it was harder, in some ways--the waiting, rather than the doing. to let the time pass like the shadow of clouds over the green fields, far distant from the city. to let the rain erase the evidence of the passing days. peace did not become her.
one day you saw a stranger in the rain.
one day you saw a stranger in the rain. you thought it was a woman, but you could not be sure.
one day you saw a stranger in the rain. you thought she was in a hurry, from the way she ran into the crosswalk before the light changed.
one day you saw a stranger in the rain. she was in a hurry. she ran into the crosswalk with no care for her shoes and you knew at once, from one look, that she was hurried and impatient and unkind.
the observatory is open to the public every other thursday. you take the elevator to the fifth floor and climb a metal ladder to the room where they keep the telescope. it's the highest point on campus. you can see all the streets sprawl out below you like the spokes of a spider's web. the lights of the city bleach the edges of the sky and though the stars are a few stories nearer, they've never looked so far away.
There was so little to see, at first. Just a faint haze at the far edge of the sea. Only the air smelled different, earthier and heavier, the scent of mud and grass and living things, almost at odds with the salt on the wind. He leaned over the rail. He thought he could hear the sea-birds calling.