her body was a monument to depression. scar tissue gathered like dead leaves on her arms and legs, fresh cuts appearing to replace those which faded away. hard strips of rubber seemed to be inserted into her skin, contrasting with the soft yielding flesh between, beneath the light pressure of her probing fingers. time seemed to her like incredible wind, moving nothing, oblivious, leaving everything behind.
they sat on the bed, nearly motionless, the second hand punctuating their discourse so sluggishly that they started at every drawn out Tick. she allowed her gaze to roll about in the eternity of his eye, lazing through his molten iris. he formed a last syllable, and studied the pulse falling in her throat.
he worked in a sisyphean supermarket job stacking empty shelves. his mother was a friend of the family. five years before, after their neighbour's father died, his mother sent him round once a week to cheer her up. he would have gone more often, but he never knew what to say. her house had a tidy air to it, like a hospital.
Tick. there was an awkward silence, broken only by the sound of souls entering heaven. a stray hair came loose from its customary place behind her ear, and began lightly to fall in an arc towards its eventual rest by her left eye. unaware of this, she watched a bead of rainwater creep down the hollow of his temple.
summer crept up on them so stealthily that by the time they realised it wasn't merely a spring heat-wave, half of it had already elapsed. he stopped taking his life into his hands on railway lines, after she expressed disapproval, although he didn't tell her so. independently, they both forgot to worry about forever, and it began to seem far more remote.
Tick. his eye followed her arm as it moved towards him, taking enough time for a thousand endings in its passage across the bed. he exposed his palm to receive her, transferring his gaze to meet hers. their fingers slid together, until his fingers were lying side by side with hers. they held hands. at exactly the same moment smiles began to spread across both their faces. this is the first time they have touched.
