TWELVE

It is almost midnight.

The soles of her sneaker

brush against

the soil and gravel 

of the ground.

It is too dark, 

to make out what is around her.

His hands brush against hers

as he walks past,

as if to lead the way.

But it was  too dark

and he had disappeared,

once again.

So out of habit,

she 

   reaches 

            for him

only to grasp nothing

                 but empty air. 

Something catches her foot,

and she topples over,

only to land

in the arms

of the boy she once knew.

Maddie breathes in

the warmth

in his familiar scent

of jasmine flowers and cigarette smoke,

and exhales in relief.

"You fucking macaroni baboon,

you don't lead the way

by marching off

into the effing darkness."

He releases her

and she instantly

feels the coldness

prickle her skin.

"Was that supposed to be a thank you?"

They wander the rest of the way

in silence,

but this time,

he lets her hold onto

the corner of his sleeve.

The air smells sweet and kind

and so 

so

familiar.

There is a break in the darkness,

and there,

in front of them,

glittering underneath 

the silvery glow

of the moon,

is a field of jasmine.

"Where...

why are we here?"

Maddie tugs on ash's sleeve,

her eyes drinking in the sight

garden of little white 

starry blossoms.

Ash does not meet her question

with an answer "Aren't they pretty?"

"Yeah."

The air smells so wonderfully

sweet,

and 

her heart continues

to tug in her chest.

"Two,

drink in

the sight

of a million 

blossoms,

check."

There is nothing

but the sound of their soft breathing

and the sound of leaves

brushing against one another

in a gentle embrace.

He inhales, 

before sitting down 

onto a clear patch of grass,

in which she joins him.

"Before my dad

poisoned himself

with cigarettes

and

alcohol,

he used to inhale the beauty 

of the stars in the sky," 

He plucks a white jasmine

and places it in her pale hands,

"and the stars on earth."