Chasing

When looking back he couldn't exactly remember why she had started running...just that she did for some reason.

Not that it was unimportant...rather he just knew that there were times that he needed to follow after her and there were times that he didn't.

He remembered how she startled when he had arrived, like a surprise.  But without a smile.  And looked around quickly even though he was the only one around her...it was in the side room off the main portion of the church.  He though he might find her there...an odd intuition but one that he followed and walked up the long driveway until the white steeple came into view.  He saw no cars, but knew that in that town you could walk anywhere.

He opened the main door and looked into the pews...dust modes were in the air as bits of light streamed in from a sun low in Fall.  There was nobody there.  He heard the sound of steps in the adjacent room and turned towards them.  He crossed the doorway and she looked at him.

There had been a lot of words before...shared, crafted...in a close-held moment.  Like water draining from a massive tub they unloaded upon each other until there was nothing left to say...just a little echo.

But the emptying of anything can plague you long after...what new words can be conjured?   What new feelings can be felt?  He thought he knew the answers, felt he could create and keep the freshness of her in a delicate balance...a plucked flower that stayed beautiful long after it should have bent and collapsed.

He was of course very wrong.

And so when she looked up at him and was surprised, she still had nothing to say.  Nothing more to add.  So she departed.  At first she walked slowly but picked up speed as she neared the door...it was the farthest thing from him so he saw her back, her hair swaying slightly side to side...she walked like a model.

She never closed the door but as the grass outside gradually descended towards the road she gently picked up speed until she was in a bit of a loping run.  She ran like she was running from something.  She ran like she never wanted to turn around.  She ran like each step was a word that only increased the distance between them.

He didn't chase her.  She wouldn't have wanted it that way.