A Story written line by line.

A Secret


Sh! It's a secret she said, skipping into the rain away from him, dropping her umbrella behind her. Hey! he said. He jumped up and started following.

Pouting, he reached for her, running and grabbing at her but could not catch her. She darted into the door of storefront smelling of dust.

She looked around laughing, hiding behind bookshelves and turning off & on an old lamp. She snapped her fingers and whistled, tricking him. She was here she was gone.

Hello nurse, she said. He hid behind an old grandfather clock and watched her wave money under the young woman's nose. You think $5 will be enough?

he sneezed, & she threw her head back laughing then skirted by him down the steps, breezing by him as if on air. The steps made no sound.

They ran for an hour, through the park and the garden, the light was getting low. He grabbed at her and said I am no longer a boy!

Make a wish! she said, looking at him deeply with her bright eyes, lashes wet from the rain, her hair dripping. I have no candles he said.

tears started running down his face in frustration. Why are you running? he yelled. Stand still for a minute so I can see you! I want to see you!

Time seemed to drift slowly after that. There was a bridge, and and old man & woman. Laughing and crying. Things began to get difficult.

The lights went on and the city streets were illuminated. The cobblestones were gray and bumpy. His head began to throb & his nose bled.

Still she laughed, & ran away again & again. The weather was hot & humid, damp. He felt feverish and began to shiver. His boots were wet. His toes were cold.

She looked beautiful in the dusky light. Her hair was both sticking to her face & billowing like a cloud. She could not stand still.

Little electric lightening bolts were bouncing off her, & it was as if she was dancing even when she was standing still, gracefully poised.

They ended up at a house at the end of a long lane. The street was dark, but she was light-filled. He grabbed her hand and said STOP, Please

He was gasping as if he were drowning. He felt his lungs exploding, he brought her close to him and felt her chest heaving up and down. STOP!

He whispered in her ear I want you please I want you right now. He smelled her hair, her neck, she smelled like grapefruit and honey,

like Christmas morning or 4th of July. Stop he whispered and began to unbutton her blouse, stop. She looked into his eyes and slowly began to fade.

The lines of her head and arms and legs appeared to erase before him, her hair becoming lighter and lighter her face whiter & whiter.

Until at last the only thing left was her eyes and fingers and her belly where his arms were wrapped around her. One by one her fingers

disappeared and then her burning eyes one at a time closed and were gone, lastly her lips, where he kissed her and then in a flash she was gone. He stood alone in the street, dark and eerie.

The wind started softly howling, whipping up around his feet, and away in the distance he heard laughing and the tinkling of glasses and a snapping of fingers and quite distinctly in his ear he heard Shhhhhh, it's a secret...