@redtres : ❣ but its their reunion ;-;
three antiquated hours bogged against the putrid wood body of the deadcart since the sun had set in the western hemisphere . lined shoulder to shoulder && held by a frayed rope with their stiffened feet jostling where they hung from the open backdoor of the wagon && the man piloting crosslegged from the box && pale as his baggage must’ve been a fourth before cheating the hangman’s job . the old bark tires bounced on each solitary brick of the road && between each indentation scattered chips of fossil bones plodded to anonymity . passing a lamp stoned blind && then into the wink of another skins turn yellow with cankers . then swinging into a nameless alley jonathan watches until the stretch of its shadow has swallowed itself whole .
a yellow bellied cat watches from the balcony with an upturned pink nose twitching with the city’s fecal && polluted air && he looks back at the ivory fence of the yellowcoat’s proudshouldered perch . a mongrel breeding self preservation only to have a brain atrophy with the first whiff of priggish eutrophication && the only eyes attentively scalding his back when he turns into hazy goldlight of the next street suspended in breathlets of fog . the homeless have stamped into cribs of potted trees or the shadows of brickwalls downpaved with neglect && there a streetcorner reserved for tenebrous conduct crouches a beggar-fiend bearded && broken nosed beneath a red blanket hood . the next turn is the alleyway that turns left to the bar && it’s empty save for the inimical hands stretching through the vermiculate pattern of the floor to grasp at any ankle able to be dragged into malevolence . he has made it up to here with the intention of seeing a friend from afar. among soulless faces as a faceless soul . but nearing the end of the pathway he abruptly stops outside of the taloned - hand’s reach. there were no words he could’ve prepared && certainly none to be fostered on an impromptu notice .
if your heart stopping did not bring death soon after , i imagine what i felt there was equivalent to the prolonged pain of it doing so . worse yet that it had not felt as if time stopped nor as if i had frozen in place , rather the seconds passed the way they always do . i wasn’t a deer caught winded by a hunter’s gunlight but a person dispiritedly at loss for what to do .
their surprise looks equal but she doesn’t bring any presumptive vitriol && he brings every sentiment of being caught for a guiltless crime . he clears his throat && considers stammering over a deserved explanation . when he thinks to open his mouth && giving it he finds himself beat being pulled into an embrace . without the thought to do so he returns it . only then does he realize the breath he’d been holding && how few times existed where he could recall being so overwhelmed with relief . ❝ i didn’t think you’d be headed out yet . ❞ from over her shoulder echoes a crescendoing march of hooves && distant still the coughing trolley . the city’s paranoia fetters with his own && with the same alertness of a curled streetdog raising an ear he looks upwards && tugs her further from the weatherworn entrance . ❝ i didn’t want to risk bringing trouble . ❞
