Innocence

She woke up in the dead of night, sweat running down her face and back, as if she had just ran a marathon. The light from the moon shined so bright into the window penetrating her eyes and it made her flinch and turn away. The dream felt too real, the sweat felt like the pouring rain and it was cold. It must have been the window cracked in the room that made her own body feel like a cold dead, stiff body in the night. All the more reason she was unable to move to close it, but managed to do it still, then climbed back into bed, weary of another dream. Nevaeh tried to reason with every detail she had in her mind to believe that there was still some sanity left within her. Then she flashed back to the dream again, running down a street she was not familiar with, and it was dark, cold and rainy. Bits and pieces of details running through her head and she couldn’t decipher them. She could only remember herself kneeling on the pavement in the road with her hands clutched to her face, the rain pounding down on her, like razor sharp knives piercing her soul. Then she would wake up at that moment, with no more resolve than before. She then laid back down trying to get what was left of the hours of sleep before going to work the next morning. The morning came too fast after a long night of tossing and turning. She walked over to the bathroom mirror and struggled to open her eyes all the way, and of course another day of dark patches and red eyes stared back at her. She lightly smacked the side of her face, “Nevaeh, you look like you have been up all night clubbing, get it together girl.” Her daily routine consist of washing her face with anti-aging wash followed with cream, flossing, brushing her teeth, then a hot comb to straighten out the overnight kinks in the hair. It was the same routine day in and day out. Sometimes she would wear her hair wet with mousse in it and let it air dry, making a statement that she could look like a different person. Nevaeh owned her own shop downtown in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, were she grew up. The shop sells handbags, perfume, jewelry and shoes from different designers. She went to different cities to get her supplies at wholesale prices and then sold it cheaper at the store. It was the only store in her little town that had a shop like that, so business was a hit. Her father was in the military and his last duty station was in Louisiana so that’s where her family settled. It was quite beautiful here, just hot and sticky in the summer. A small town for a small town girl she always said. It was a small town for her, yet big for tourism. The city has grown a lot over the years and now has become a hot commodity. She always dreamt of more and has been trying to leave and see the world since she was a little girl, but never had the courage to leave her family. She walks into the kitchen that feels smaller than a closet, grabs a piece of fruit and heads out the door to meet her best friend and co-worker, Aleandria. Aleandria and Nevaeh have been best friends since she was practically out of the womb. Their fathers were in the army together and stationed everywhere at the same time. They were born in the same hospital, sharing clothes and boyfriends by the time they were in high school. Aleandria was a catch and she still is. She has blonde hair and bright blue eyes and long killer legs, slim and dainty as the day she was born. She is more of the valley girl, outgoing pom-pom type, to Nevaeh’s being reserved and closed off. She is the ying and Nevaeh’s the yang, black and white. She loves her to death and there isn’t a day that goes by that they are not together. Nevaeh jumps into her car and starts the engine and right away the fine tunes of Tori Amos come out of the car. Tori is her cup of coffee in the morning or her wakeup call so to speak. She has been like Nevaeh’s mother since hers was not there for advice. It’s interesting how a person can turn to music for a night off, a friend, or for problems in their life. Everyone has a song they can relate to when they’re feeling blue or red, to turn it up loud where nothing else in the world matters. She heads in to work for another long day of inventory. She passes the streets and rolls down the window for the fresh New Orleans morning air. The morning dew is almost sweet smelling in nature today, like jasmine and a hint of rose. She never smelled the air so clean and crisp with that smell before, it’s fulfilling and excites her nose. She sees the peat moss hanging from the trees and passes the old buildings heading down the streets. It’s so beautiful here, and she can’t quite understand why she would ever leave such a serene place. It’s peaceful and decadent all at once. She pulls up at the store and enters at the rear entrance and parks. Nevaeh gets out of the car and walks toward the building; the sun is rising slowly but hasn’t reached its full potential yet, it’s still peaking through. She fumbles through her purse to find the keys and of course they fall, as she has a million things in her hands. She hears something swooping over her head like a bird. It seemed so loud and close that she could hear it like it was right in her ear. She looked up and saw a shadow flying above her head. As she begins to squat to the floor, she sees feet beneath her hands, which startles her. She falls back, hitting her head on the building and she is out cold. She was out for what seemed like days. When she came to she peered up at the most beautiful face she had ever seen in her life. The richest looking skin ever, eyes bright as the blue sky and his breath…his breath was the sweet smell of jasmine and rose. The same smell she was intoxicated with this morning. His hair was a dirty brown color and impeccable flawlessness in the light. I thought what kind of conditioner does he use? Her mind was spinning out of control, her head was pounding, but she couldn’t tell if it was from the building smacking into her head or this fearless man towering over her. I think it was a little of both. then he spoke. “Are you okay? Can you get up or do you need to lie here for a few more minutes?” he looked down into her eyes. She then realized that she was in his arms. This man was holding me in his arms and I was speechless. “Okay, Nevaeh say something you idiot. “ I shout to myself. “Yes, I’m okay to get up, I think. What happened exactly?” she sits up and looks into his captivating eyes. “You dropped your keys and I may have startled you. Then you hit your head and before you know it, you were out like a light for a good five minutes or so.” he helps her to her feet. She finally gets her bearings and gets up to a standing position, with her two feet in front of her, she looks down to see that she still has all her things on the floor and hesitates to go back down to get them. He sees her face with doubt that she can’t handle the mission. “Stay right there, he holds his hand on her stomach, I’ll get this for you.” he bends down and collects her things and he rises back up to her sight again. At last she can see his ever pleasurable face again. “Well, thank you for this and I really should get back to opening the store.” she turns her back to him and fumbles with her keys once again. I can feel his eyes penetrate me from behind and it is a refreshing sense that I don’t want him to leave, but to somehow stay. “Is this your store?” He asks. “Yes, I own it.” she says as she opens the door. “Would you like to come in and see it?” she says while thinking to herself. Please, come in and tell me your name. “Yes, I would, by the way, my name is Gabriel.” while holding his hand out to her in greeting. “I am Nevaeh, It’s nice to meet you, come on in, and I’ll show you around just let me put this stuff down and switch the lights on.” Before she could put her things down, the lights flipped on.