our tale begins like any other

two people, desperately unhappy, give up on anything more

a tale as old as time really

it started innocently enough

a fool spilled his guts out to a seeming indifferent world after yet another failure

a curious woman stumbles upon him, reads deeply into his words, discovers the hurting is real

how many times could it have ended there

she reads, she shrugs, she reads another person’s words

a missed encounter, one of millions that happen everyday

but this was different

she read and grew curious

she reached out

it was not meant to be more than that, just checking in, checking on, before checking out

what is the harm in showing compassion

what does it cost to ask

surely no harm could come of it

it isn’t as if there would be a connection, some seed planted, a chance at hope

the fool responded, tentatively, guarded, nervously

yet she put him at ease

soon they laughed, shared, spoke openly, if carefully, neither seeking to offer too much, while somehow offering everything in the silences between words

the fool began to fondly look forward to her messages, gradually fell into unconscious flirting

his heart responding to her’s, even as both were unaware their hearts were speaking

the undercurrent speeding them along with no hint of movement

unbeknownst to either

the seed took root, began to grow as they pretended to not notice

it colored their words, brightened their days

a friendship became something more

see

our tale began like any other

girl finds fool, fool finds girl to be wonderful

but this time it took a turn

girl began to find the fool wonderful as well

while our tale begins like any other

it quickly turned into something few ever do

it turned into love

she and him, apart

became us

this

this is our tale, and it is just beginning