March 2016

The taste of her lips couldn’t leave his body. He lay down on the floor of his
best friend’s guest room. The lights were all off just so he could see the glow-in-thedark
stars on the ceiling. His hands were unsettled. As he spread his arms, he brushed
against a hard wooden surface. He sat up and tried to find it with only the moonlight.
He stumbled upon it again but this time, he grabbed it before it could escape his
grasp. He held it close to him and softly outlined its edges. He recognized it even in
the lightless centre of the room. It was their kite.
The kite lit up a small memory in his heart. The sky had been bright and clear
with not a single cloud. They went to their favourite dating spot: the park. They lay in
the shade of a big tree looking at the sky. She suddenly sat up and yelled “I’ll go and
buy something to play with!”
He smiled at her suggestion with an amused look on his face and watched as
she skipped to the shop. He shut his eyes and dozed off for a second and opened them
to find her running around dragging a wooden object with a thin nylon string. Adam
ran to her and helped her with letting the kite fly.
He told her “You need the wind.”
Alkira glanced at him with a worried look but Adam just giggled and replied
“Don’t worry, a good kite held by a good string won’t be blown away, even by the
strongest winds.”
Then, she laughed back at him and, together, they flew the kite high enough so
the heavens could see it. Suddenly, they were interrupted by grey clouds that brought
rain. The kite struggled to keep flying but the string snapped and gravity dragged it
down. She ran for cover while he continued searching for the kite. When he found it,
it was broken, there were splinters sticking out of the kite that was now in two pieces.
He remembered putting them back together with just tape. He rubbed his
fingers across the surface of the kite and found the thick layer of duct tape he used to
try to put it back together. His quiet reminiscing face turned grim and a tear fell out
of the corner of his left eye.