Sunlit Sadness

The street was quiet and the sun was soft as Micheal took in the neighborhood around him. He had made a rule that from now on he would try to get outside at least once a day. And he had to admit that he did miss the early morning light and the dew that covered the windows and grass.

He rolled up the sleeves of his long sweater and adjusted his glasses on his nose. He stood on his porch, having not yet been able to find the motivation to walk any further. A cup of coffee was secured in his hands, the soft steam warming his face.

It was still early in the morning, too early for anyone in their right mind to be awake. That was exactly the reason Micheal was awake. He might force himself to go outside and see the world, but he was not yet ready to see people. Micheal hated people. He always had. There was only one person he ever trusted, and that person was gone. So there really was no point speaking to others.

Micheal forced himself to look out onto the street, the closed stores, the houses with the shades pulled, the birds flying from one tree to the next. All of it seemed so average.

He took in one more breath of fresh air before deciding that was enough worldly interaction for the day. But right as he turned to walk back into the saftey of his house, something caught his eye. Something that made Micheal forget about not wanting to leave his porch, something that made his coffee fall to the ground and stain his shoes.

Ignoring the rational side of his brain, Micheal ran from his porch and out onto the empty street. He ran quickly towards the end of the road, where he had seen the figure before it had dissapeared.

He turned the corner, but just like his own, the street was empty. Micheal ran his hands through his hair in anger and confusion. His heart was pumping and sweat was forming between his brow.

He would have sworn on his life that he had seen her.

Don't be stupid Micheal. Of course you didn't see her, she's dead.

Micheal shook his head, questioning his sanity. When he turned back towards his house, he wasn't facing the empty street. She was there. The girl that had filled his dreams and nightmares for the past six months.

Her dark hair was flowing in the non-existant wind. Her dark skin glowing in the sunlight and her brown eyes looked more like gold than brown. She didn't look exactly like Micheal remembered. Her hair was longer, she was thinner, and her face more sullen than he remembered. She was wearing a white dress that fell to her ankles, her feet bare. The makeup she usually wore was gone as well as the rings that used to live on her fingers. She looked so naked like this, and Micheal didn't understand.

"Talia." Micheal whispered. She was staring at him with sad eyes and he didn't understand how this was real. Every house on the street was quiet, no one realizing that a girl had just come back from the dead while they were sleeping.

"Hey Mikie." Talia smiled, neither of the two moving closer to each other. It looked like Talia was planted in place, and Micheal was too stunned to move.

"How- how are you here?" Micheal stuttered, furrowing his brow. "You were dead, I was there- you died."

"I know I did Mikie." Talia said solomley, but she still didn't stop smiling. "Thank you for being there with me."

"Of course I was with you, I loved you. I still do love you." Micheal insisted, running his hand through his hair again as the shock faded and all of the emotions he had been burying since Talia's death slowly arose.

"You aren't real." Micheal whispered, shaking his head.

"Of course I'm not real Micheal." Talia looked at Micheal with a pitying expression that she knew he hated. No. She didn't know that anymore, she was dead.

"So then this is a dream?"

"I never said I was." Talia shook her head slightly. Never once had her golden brown eyes left Micheal, even when Micheal's panicked eyes looked everywhere but her.

"Then I'm going crazy." Micheal conluded. "I wouldn't being seeing dead people unless I was going crazy."

"Greif isn't crazy Mikie." Talia leaned foward, like she wanted to move from where she was and reach out to Micheal, but it looked like she was glued to the ground. Micheal looked down to see that her feet were no longer there, instead they were sinking into the concrete like quick sand.

"I don't have much time Mikie." Talia whispered, her eyes glazed as she looked desperatly at Micheal. "I'm risking a lot to be here."

"Then why did you even come?" Micheal asked angrily. "You left me alone in the first place, why would you risk coming back? You obviously don't care about me."

"Oh baby, please don't think that." Talia cried, the tears finally spilling down her face. "Of course I care about you! I've always loved you Mikie."

"No you haven't." Talia was now up to her knees in concrete, but she didn't seem to care as she stared up at Micheal. "You only said you loved me once, in that fucking note! You hadn't even said it out loud. You didn't really love me, you just felt bad for leaving me."

"You know I loved you!" Talia screamed, the tears falling faster now as she fell up to her waist in the cement. "You know I couldn't say it out loud, but I did love you. You were my entire world Micheal Peters and you know that. I loved you since we were seventeen-"

"Then why did you leave?" Micheal cried. He didn't realize he was crying, but he could now feel the hot and salty tears on his cheeks and the stinging in his eyes.

"Because I was tired Mikie." Talia whispered. "I was so tired. And nothing could wake me up."

"I should have been able to make you happy." Micheal sobbed, wrapping his arms protectivley around himself. "I should have been enough to make you stay."

"You were enough Micheal! Why do you think I stayed around so long?" Talia asked, staring up at Micheal with a meaningful look that he couldn't understand.

"I love you." Talia said, "And you were enough."

And just like that, all of Micheal's willpower to fight whatever illusion his brain had created faded and he ran to her. He scraped his knees as he kneeled on the ground to where Talia was sinking into the cement, and slammed his lips into hers.

Talia kissed him back, her hands lacing through his hair and his hands on her back. The familiarity in that one kiss warmed Micheals' enire body as he felt something he hadn't felt for almost six months.

But just as soon as it started, it ended. The warmness that filled Micheals' heart soon spread to his hands and lips, where he was touching Talia. When he stepped back, he saw that Talia was fading away, like an illusion of the light. Her skin glittered and Micheal just watched, helpless, as the love of his life faded away. Again.

And only Micheal was there to see it.