Keith's Autumn Gift🍂

He looked outside his window to see the torrents of rain pouring outside. He smiled wistfully. He knew what this rain was. The last heavy rains that signalled the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. December. Winter. Christmas. He physically shuddered in sheer disgust. He didn’t know what the fuss was about but he loathed those three anomalies with a passion that had banished him from family dinners for the past five years.

Keith Davies didn’t care though. If he had his way, there wouldn’t be Christmas. Heck, if he had his way, there wouldn’t even be Christmas. And no, he wasn’t traumatized. He didn’t lose his parents or any of his loved ones on a Winter’s day. His parents were alive and kicking and were probably going to outlive him with how active their social life was. Complete with daily exercises, the whole shebang. And no the love of his life didn’t break up with him on a Christmas morning. It was already established that the whole concept of love and soulmates was a pathetic façade to hide the sheer weakness and fallibility man was. He wanted no part in it. Not before when he was a gangly teenager, with acne covering three-quarters of his face and certainly not now, as he was clocking 30 come December. Ironic, he knew.

There was something about the blisteringly cold autumn morning however and not minding the unfriendly weather, Keith made his way down the stairs of his portable condo and into the rain. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to act like a normal human being who wasn’t outside in the cold without as much as a jacket to keep warm. Yeah, he was normal. He just wanted to soak in as much rain as possible since he wasn’t going to feel the soothing drops for the next three months, if not more.

He stopped walking suddenly and looked into the water from the pavement on which he stood. He saw his blurry reflection in the water amid the brown autumn leaves and winced. Even blurry waters couldn’t hide the jagged, rugged look of his face. Even though he pretended like he liked it just fine. An unapproachable face to complement an even more unapproachable personality, he still found himself wishing for something different. Another him in another universe. A him that was everything he currently wasn’t.

_{Image by @wakeupkitty}

Squatting on the pavement, he bent to pick the wet leaves and found someone reaching to do the same thing from his peripheral version. He wrenched his hand from the water like a man caught in a childish act and glared at the woman still squatting beside him.

“Who. Are you?” He growled. Mentally, he cursed himself. Why did he always have to sound like a grumpy jerk? Oh, that’s right. Because he was. The lady however didn’t as much as dignify him with a response as she kept laughing and playing with the water.

“Did you hear me, ma’am?” He motioned to touch her but hesitated. “Why are you here?”

“The same reason you are.” She responded quietly, her head still bent. For some reason, her voice calmed him. Without thinking, he squatted back beside her and did what she did. Scooping the leaves from the water and dropping them back with a contented sigh.

“And why am I here?”

“To play. To enjoy the last rains. Isn’t that it?” She said a smile in her voice.

Her cryptic way of talking should have irritated him like everyone else in the world but he found his lips stretching into a smile. “Yeah, it is.” Impulsively, he stretched his hand towards her and added. “I’m Keith.”

“Karen.”

“Why wouldn’t you look at me, Karen?” He paused and then added. “You seem nice but it’s pretty rude to just have your head down.” Classis Keith. Arsehole your way through life.

She surprised him by chuckling still and slowly raising her head to face him. He froze. Staring at him was the prettiest, most delicate face he’d ever seen. And those eyes were such a beautiful shade of grey. So grey it was almost white. And still. Perfectly still. He couldn’t hold his gasp. She was blind. It was like scales fell from his eye and he looked beyond her to see the walking aid beside her. Something he should have noticed if he had his head on his shoulders.

She laughed quietly. “You’ve taken way longer with the gasp than most people. Points for you.”

“Uhmmm... forgive me,” he stuttered. “You have the prettiest eyes.”

She whipped her head to him like he’d struck her but then her face broke into a smile. “Thank you. No one has said that to me in forever.”

“Well, I’m saying it now.” She smiled in his general direction and went back to the leaves. Keith on the other hand was bamboozled. It’s like a depth had opened up right under him. A life-changing depth. He reached out and touched her hand. When she didn’t freeze, he held it and squeezed, smiling as he did.

“Don’t you want to play with the leaves anymore?” she inquired with a smile.

“Perhaps I’ve found something more interesting.” Damn. Where did that come from? He mentally facepalmed

She wrenched out her hand and chuckled. “Easy there, Playboy.”

He laughed with her and scooped the leaves. The rain had stopped then and he was tempted to ask her why she had been out in the rain. But he held himself. Something told him that there would be plenty of time for that later. See why Autumn was the best season?

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What I See: I see autumn leaves spread in a puddle of water.
What I Feel: I feel like it's a chance. A chance for redemption for someone.

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Jhymi🖤