David

Original Prose - 

It was the summer of 1983. Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.

David, blond hair like straw in the summer sun. His eyes deep blue like a still forest pool.

The day has passed, just two eight year old boys, exploring the countryside around their homes.

The crystal clear blue sky, the sun a blazing orb high above, no breeze for the wind was holding its breath.

We scrambled up an overgrown embankment behind the high school to an old air raid shelter.

Inside, the shadows cool embrace a stark contrast to the sharp caress of the sun.

The light shining through the empty doorway in an attempt to banish the shadows within, yet failing.

The smell of old concrete, powdery earth tones. Cold to the touch, refreshing after the summer sun.

We had spent the day talking about everything, school, homework, the latest episode of some programme that no longer mattered.

He asked me if I had kissed anyone. His beautiful blue eyes earnestly hoping for an answer.

I hadn't so he said we should try it. I had taken his hand and shown him to the long forgotten half hidden shelter.

We look each other in the eye and lean into each other. My best friend. Our lips touch, the quickest, almost feather like brush.

Searching his eyes for anything and finding only an innocence touched by something more that could not be named or identified.

Our lips meet again, a second longer, our noses touching, our eyes gazing into one another.

We draw our heads back and giggle. The shadows blanketing our discovery from the sunlight still searching for a way inside.

An hour passes, filled with innocent kisses and embarrassed yet excited giggles.

We step out of the shadows into the burning gaze of the summer sun still high above.

Holding hands we clamber down the brittle dry grass of the embankment and continue adventures on that summer day in 1983.

That was first time I had missed a boy and he had kissed me back.