Autumn Harvest

He is tall and lanky with cinnamon hair and eyes to match. He strides through his door in torn faded Levi's and a navy blue t-shirt. In one hand he carries a coffee mug steaming with a fresh brew. In his other he holds his current life blood, the force that keeps him going. It is a story of life and death, of love and heartache and all the grey between. Within the pages he finds the words that match himself so completely. He feels this is his life. His meaning. His story. He sits out on the cracked peeling porch against an old worn burgundy couch. He settles in amongst the cushions and glances out to the street. A car passes by, a young girl at the wheel. She looks his way and he feels her meet his eyes. His heart jumps and then she is gone.

She takes her summer green eyes back to the asphalt ahead. Her long white fingers fiddle with the radio dial, desperate for something to fill her silence. Her blond hair is pulled atop her small frame, pieces flying out as if taking a life of their own. She bites her full pink lip and frowns at all the talk on the radio. A leaf, golden as the sun, flies across her sight and she watches it dance with the wind. She wishes she could be so free. The talk breaks and the music takes her back to when she loved him and he pretended and he tried. She sings along, shakily at first, but growing strong with every word sung. Salt stings her eyes and they begin to run black against her cheeks. She is home and she glides out of her car, nearly colliding with a shadow of a woman who watches with slight interest as the girl stumbles up the stairwell to her door.

The woman stands in a fall daydream before continuing on her way. Hair the color of a winter's night whips around her cool calm face and she pulls her black coat collar tighter around her thin neck. Long legs strut hard against dusty concrete as she makes her way back home. She loves this time of year - the sky burning so blue and branches lighting themselves on fire, she can spend hours watching leaves take a ride with the wind as she sits in the thin crisp air. She believes this is the way life should always be. She makes her way down the walk and smiles perfect white at him sitting on their porch. He is immersed in his words and she kisses him softly on his neck as she makes her way inside.

He smiles distractedly and goes back to staring at the road laid out before him. Leaves crinkle past and he thinks he loves her but he wishes she had green eyes.