a shot gun and an apple tree

His dark brown eyes looking into my soul as his soft lips brushed against mine. I looked up, as he stood over the top of me, he told me “I love you”... Love? Did he love me? Or did he love the features and curves of my body? Did he love the thought of showing me off or did he love the inside of me that cannot be touched? I looked at him and replied “I love you too” knowing I wasn’t sure if it was a truth or a short response to break the awkward silence. As I got into the passenger seat of my sister’s car those words couldn’t leave my head. As soon as I got home he texted me “meet me in the orchard”. The apple trees? That’s an odd place I thought. My father was a difficult man, a very old school and old fashioned one. Stay in your race, don’t leave a trace, and be home for supper. My love was not Caucasian he was African and my father would never approve. So instead of worrying about him, I followed my heart. Time to go apple picking. I know what I was doing could get everyone fired up but my heart belonged to him. He was the one I wanted, the one I thought of at night, and the one I longed for. 8 o’clock time to head that way. I grabbed a piece of bread and told my dad I had an assignment to do. At midnight I was assured everyone was asleep. The milk crates stacked in the corner were now placed in front of my window. The ruffles on my autumn dress were plumped over the window and I was on my way to the orchards. The television in the living room was at 25 not too high not too low. Father was watching the house on the prairie as I crawled past the windows. The only thing I could think of was him, the man I believed I loved, the man I wanted more than anything, the man I’d give my life itself too. The uncertainty came when he’d ask why I love him and, to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure. Maybe it was the way he smiled at me when I was feisty, the way he picked me up when I was laying down, how’d he’d hug me with all of his strength and how warm his touch was, maybe it was because everything I’ve ever wanted in a man finally came true. Although maybe it was because of the night he said: “I love you”? This man had me falling in love with him emphasized on the falling part. As I snuck along town avoiding all neighbors and family friends my heart was pounding through my chest. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and orchard. Orchard was the street where all of my problems would go away with the touch of the one man I’ve lived for. My white shoes slipped into the grass and alongside the tree’s I walked. How would he find me? I remembered the necklace he gave me an apple-basket on the outer corner of the emblem. Was this a clue? I ran around the walkways in between many many trees. Finally, a tattered white shirt with cut off shorts was surrounding the body of the one’s arms made from steel and touch warm enough to cure a cold. A basket was lay near the edge of his bare feet. I ran faster than I had ever run before, faster than light, and faster than any misleading children’s characters have run before. He was right there in front of me sure enough picking apples and laying them in the basket. But as I started to run he started to become farther. I was staring at a trail of apples picked from the apple tree running alongside trying to just reach him. My eyes were filled with water as I just kept screaming I’m here!!!! I sounded like a maniac who couldn’t get his attention. The world did not move but my feet were not in place. Did he not want to see me? Did he not understand the sacrifices I just made with my father to be here to see him? He meant everything to me and I was being blown off as if I didn’t exist to him. I shouted, I threw apples, I bit my nails, I stomped my feet, I pulled my hair, all while tears running down my frozen cheeks. A ringing began to fill my ears louder than I’ve ever heard before. Bright lights were flashing in all different directions. My hands felt like ice while my feet felt as if they were in cement blocks. I couldn’t breathe nor could I move. I could feel my heartbeat slower and slower and the sight of my other half suddenly started to disappear. Sirens began; The tornado sirens were turned up to the fullest amount possible. The lights began to flicker. Eventually, they began to dim with the slightest and slowest amount of flickering. Till everything stopped. One sound was left in my ears; bum bum, bum bum, bum bum ,bum bum. Till eventually, that stopped too.  Darkness not a flicker of light not a flicker of sound. As I opened my eyes again I saw a girl, a girl in an autumn dress in an orchard. Beside her lay the man she loved and the man she never wanted to see this night. Her father sat beside them both screaming NOOO!!!! YOU DID THIS he screamed as he looked upon the sky. Soon enough I realized a red puncture in my dress as the liquid began to pour out and a shotgun in my father’s hand and a beer in the other he began to sob. I felt a cold breeze around my shoulder and as I looked up it was him. The man I loved and wanted to spend eternity with. Nothing could stop us now.