Twenty Something

For a great friend of mine,

I closed my eyes.

It was a force that I couldn’t resist, embracing me like how the wind on my hometown beach holds me.

I used to often wonder why the sky is no longer blue when the sun is setting because when the glow radiates into my eyes with pink, purple, and orange, it tears me up. Not because it reminds me of anything sad, but because the way it looks makes me forget to blink for a very long time.

When I was still living there, back home I meant, I never for a second had to worry about anything because I knew Mom was a street away, probably standing near the window watching me. Now I close my eyes. That was home for me, a small town with houses painted white, hugged by mountains. We are the sons and daughters of the ocean.

So just like the ocean waves, I flow, and along the way I have encountered so much, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the blowing wind on that beach across my old apartment. It always, gently, brushes every piece of my skin, feeding me peace and longing.

How I would cave in to that place right now…

So I opened my eyes. The pink, the purple, and the orange are everything I see. Again, I teared up. But this time it is not just because of how beautiful it looks, but also the warmth it brings me. She smiled at me, like how my mother would smile and wave at me from the window. Then I closed my eyes. This is home for me, a girl with eyes that are flawless like the ocean. And she holds me, with a force that I couldn’t resist, embracing me like how the wind on my hometown beach holds me.

“Hi.” She smiles. “My name is Alina.”