Silence

Its heavy fumes settle in the space between us. My breaths slowly strain, and I begin to count the seconds since our last words. Motionlessly suffocating, I mentally gasp as if for oxygen and grasp for something—anything—to shatter the cementing muzzle.

I frantically search my frazzled mind, but its cacophonous voices merely swell, urging and inciting, goading and pleading. Choking back a remark on the weather, I finally glance at your eyes.

Your eyes. The warmth emanating from their fluid depths slices like a fiery arrow through the cobwebs enmeshed between us. Your lips gracefully pirouette into a half-smile, and I melt.

It’s a comfortable silence.