Strangers

Takiyah Douglas, Staff Writer|February 13, 2017

About the Author: Takiyah Douglas (Creative Writing, Class of 2018) hopes to turn her love of writing into a career one day. Her best friend is food and her favorite opera is Trapped in the Closet. She can be found locked in her room creating play scripts, short stories and, very rarely, poems.

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Strangers

by Takiyah Douglas

I’m not a person accustomed to strangers and honestly, I don’t really like them either.

But here in the shared apartment, stood one staring back at me.

He was 6’2 with a husky build – wide shoulders. I knew he always kept his dark hair cut short right above the ears. He hated when the curly ends tickled them. And his eyes. God his eyes… light green mixed with brown tones just like the Earth. They were usually filled with amusement, but now they seemed unfamiliar.

I don’t know where this stranger came from, but his name couldn’t be Derek. Because Derek always welcomed me home with a bear hug that lifted me into his hard chest and a deep kiss that tasted like premium hot chocolate. You know, the kind that warmed your body from the center and tingled your toes.

He would have dinner ready for me when I got home on these late nights. The usual smell of something spicy but sweet would cause my mouth to water instantly. Even if he didn’t cook anything, there would be takeout laid out on the table with lit candles. It was his way of making fun of our alternative romantic ways.

But there wasn’t any takeout anywhere and I didn’t see nor smell something spicy or sweet coming from the kitchen.

There was something very similar between this stranger and Derek though; both had the most expressive eyes I’ve ever seen on a person. They were beautiful pools of emotion, usually filled to the brim with love and happiness, now replaced by aloofness, arrogance, and apathy.

And I think this is why Derek was a stranger. Because he wasn’t doing everything he did before. Because he wasn’t looking at me the way he did before.

Because he just didn’t love me anymore.