Forever

Clunk clunk clunk. I hurried down the small hallway my feet brushing up against the dirt floor causing a cloud of brown dust to powder behind me.

The bamboo beam door made a very hollow sound that i rarely got to hear because so few people visit this small secluded island.

This strange visitor could be the answer to my prayers and I would finally get the chance to leave this small island where the population is 27 people. Or it could be my worst nightmare and the thoughts that go through my mind make me shudder.

I pushed the wide bamboo door open a crack. The sky was already dark and the stars were clear and bright as they always were and the moon had a light mystic haze around it. The scene of the brilliant night sky always takes my breath away no matter how many times I see it. But this time my eyes didn’t go toward the heavens. this time they went to the small figure standing at my door.

When I say small I don’t mean a child I mean an adult or possibly a teen who is of very slim proportions. Although the moon and stars were bright and shines brightly it wasn’t enough light for me to make out the face of the person. So against my better judgment I let the person in. “Hello, my name is Java, welcome to my humble abode. I do not know why you have come to me but I invite you to my hut. What is your name?” The girl crept into the light of my hut. Although the oil lamp on the table was a mere flicker I have spent twenty seven years living off of the oil lamp and my eyes are very well adapted to the dim light.

The girl had her head down as she walked in but I would say she was only about 5 feet tall and very slim. Her hair was a shiny black ebony, the same as mine, and it lay just under her shoulders. Her head was still down as we walked to my table and her thin dress swished at her thighs. Her dress was a very fine material and had flowered embroidery along the edges.

“Would you like some tea?” I asked already expecting a yes and preparing the tea leaves anyway. The girl looked up from the table and I could finally see her face. “Yes I would.” A small voice replies that wasn’t weak but wasn’t loud. It was a steady calm voice that was captivating.

As I prepared the green tea leaves and started making the fresh tea I examined the strange visitor. I knew she was not from my island but she looked familiar, as I tried to put my finger on where I had seen her my mind went blurry and I couldn’t think straight.

Her skin was the same as mine a pale brown or tan color that almost looked golden in the right lighting. Her black ebony hair was shorter than mine and lay neatly and framed her face. Her face although very similar to the other islanders was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

Her eyes were brown but they were not like the coffee grounds color brown they were like a sparkling lagoon that glistened and danced. Her lips were a very soft pink color and looked as soft as rose petals and were so small a dainty. Her face was round but not pushy and she had a mystic beauty about her that even in my head couldn’t be explained let alone in actual words.

I poured the hot tea into my thin glass cups. “Do you take sugar with your tea?” I asked. “No, I like it bitter.” The soft enchanting voice replied. I froze almost as if in a trance, the girl stared me straight in the eye and her glittering pupils locked with my own dull eyes and the trance like thing I was in broke and my mind became muddled again. But I just shook my head realizing I hadn’t asked the girls name. “Forever.” She said.

“What?” I asked puzzled. The girls expression finally changed and instead of the strange mystique haze it had, it was replaced with a look of distress and possibly something that I couldn’t quite call anger but not sadness either.

“My name is Forever.” She said to me in that strange tone. Oh. Wait I didn’t ask her name, did I? No I’m quite sure I didn’t. I must have been to focused on one of her unique features that I forgot what I said. In the back of my mind I knew that wasn’t quite right.

“What a gorgeous name, so unique.” I said. “I could say the same about yours.” She replied wistfully. “Where are you from? Certainly not form here.” “Oh I travel, I go with the wind. Some people even call me the wind.” She giggled the most melodic giggle and she stared out my open window and I saw her gaze fixed in the direction of the moon that was now a clear crescent that held the attention of the world. Or at least the attention of Forever.

This was very strange indeed. The whole encounter was. We sat silently on the soft pine stools. Sipping our tea and I suppose we were observing each other. Once the tea was gone and the silence ran longer than I like, but Forever seemed fine with it, I asked “What’s your favorite color?” This question popped into my head and I suppose I couldn’t control my mouth so I just blurted it out. In my mind I was going to ask something more heartfelt and sincere but it was too late now. “I like the color of the wind.” She said, sounding half asleep and dreaming. But I was starting to think maybe she was in a dream, or perhaps I was. My mind became muddled again and I shook the feeling off and she continued “ I love all the colors the wind can carry and all the melodies, and harmonies and aromas and tastes it can wave around in your face and then blow away just to be forgotten.”

She sighed and looked out the window again.

This was the second time she mentioned the wind. Peculiar. Then she looked up at me from her wistful gaze and something in her gleaming eyes told me something wasn’t quite right. But my mind started to swim and pool with memories and they all bleared together and became a collage of thoughts that couldn’t be pulled apart from each other. I tried to shake off the feeling but nothing happened. And I sank further and further into a pool of thoughts and my eyelids closed  and the stranger who knocked on my door faded away like the wind. Forgotten Forever.