Blue Funk - 4

"Do you ever just stare outside and wonder about how amazing it is watching people go from point A to point B?"

It was raining now, the thunder playing that fun game with the lightning, trying to outbid the other in magnificence. In my opinion, Lightning was winning. I like lights more than thunderous noise, but hey, that's just me.

They were on the 21st floor, facing south, her eyes drinking in the amazing view of the clash between humanity and nature. Humanity with its persistent flood of concrete appendages upon that landscape owned by nature, and nature with her green arms of flora and fauna snaking through the buildings that were built. He put his camera down, wondering how to answer her question. It was a good question, as questions came, phrased well, the point not lost while at the same time making an opinion of her own, yet--

"Hello, are you listening to me?" she smiled as she said it, and he smiled in return. She was good at keeping his attention, but today was different. 

"It is, isn't it? Every pair of headlights you see through the gloom of the rain is another portion of the universe, experiencing itself like no one ever did. Countless memories that make up that one particular mind, and the countless interactions that mind has with others through the course of the day before finally getting into that beast on four wheels that carries them home. If one doesn't find wonder in that, one barely appreciates the joy of living."

She was watching him as he spoke, "You always had a way with words, but I bet everyone says that to you..." She walked towards the balcony doors, unlocked them with a click and drew them apart. The wind was always a blessing, now misty with the vapor of the heavy rain, floating in as if beckoned by the occupants to come and caress, embrace them. He watched her as she absently emptied her pockets, "You got a spare towel?" to which he nodded. She smiled that cheeky smile of hers as she walked out.

He didn't pick up the camera, but he captured every moment. She was graceful, probably pretending to be a ballerina, as the water, heavy and thick as God-sent as it was, bathed her blue. The colors of the moment were blue, blue, blue, slashing his vision with that occasional white as the lightning reigned supreme. Haha, pun intended, he thought. 

She was soaked now, her laugh pealing out musically as she spun around, a few cold drops gracing his face too. He couldn't help but smile, "Come join me! This is so much fun oh gosh!" He could hear the slight quiver in her voice as she shivered in the cold. For only a moment, he worried about her, and then the feeling passed. She stopped her dancing and looked at him.

"Why do you take pictures? I always wondered."

"Maybe for the art of the final product? Maybe for the feeling I get when I immortalise a beautiful moment, in a way which everyone can see and relate to, get their own meaning from." He took a deep breath, looking her right in the eye, looking for an answer. "Every time I have a session, I feel like I'm unravelling another universe, a universe with countless memories that make up that one particular mind, and the countless interactions that mind has with others through the course of their lives. What makes you, you? Nobody stops and asks these questions anymore, nobody cares yet they yearn for someone to care about them." He picked up the camera again, finding her face through the viewfinder, "And when I look through these lenses, I find something different everytime, something beautiful, something raw, something magical..."

Her eyes were soul-searchingly deep now, and in that moment he knew, he was the subject.

"Find me, as I am," she said, slowly gripping the bottom of her shirt. As she lifted it up, over her head, and then dropped it wet and heavy and thick onto the floor, he couldn't understand. The moment was pristine, the water coursing down the crevice on her chest in torrents as the rain kept falling, kept pelting her. Her hair was slick and flat, drawing an intricate map of paths from her crown onto her collar bones, some cutting across her eyes, hiding the gaze that deciphered his very existence. With hands that were free, she unbuttoned her jeans, catching him completely off-guard and vulnerable. 

"Find me, as I am", she repeated, and for the life of him, he could not tell if this was a dream or reality. The moment defied all logic, as the camera in his hand stayed immobile, his eyes only peering through the glass of the viewfinder. Here he was at the pinnacle of his inspiration, the game of the rain, lightning and thunder adding magic to all that he was feeling. Afraid of what he might find, with much hesitation he lowered the camera, blinked a few times as the mist of the rain hit his eyes, and watched her again. There she was , before him as she was, her chest heaving up and down in the motion of the long breaths she was taking. Her lips were parted only slightly, giving him the impression she wanted him to say something yet she had something to say too.

"Find me, as I always was." 

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The camera battery slowly winked out over the next few hours.