Just A Touch – A Snippet from Chapter 10

The eighteenth-floor elevator button illuminated when Tey’s finger touched the key. The upward travel seemed unusually slow this evening. His clenched fingers stung from an unconscious grip, and he thought about the last time he and Kalana came here. They used the seclusion of the elevator cab to kiss, fondle, and grope. It was a bold gamble that the doors wouldn’t open on the way up, and upon leaving, they giggled like adolescents as they dashed to his studio.

He pushed the door and envisioned her standing on the balcony, and then he imagined her sitting on the floor, a take-out box with katsu in one hand and chopsticks in the other. She’s smiling and waving at him to come over, to sit and have a bite. It’s a dream, a mirage, and her smile taunts him.

He found an envelope pushed under the door. His name was written on the front, but there was no stamp or return address, and he recognized the pen strokes as Kalana’s cursive.

I want to remind you that I’m thinking of you and how much you mean to me.

In these few weeks, you have become a part of me. I miss you already.

This is serious, Tey. I want us to be serious.

I dare you to fall in love with me.

There it was again. The last line. An invitation to walk through a portal and into her world. He felt like a caged beast, searching for a way out of a nightmare that taunted him. His breathing was quick, and his hands were cold. He imagined her opening the door, welcoming him home. They would embrace, and he would enjoy her fragrance. Her mood and her passion let him explore inside her soul. She was a woman who dazzled without effort.

He struggled to breathe as he opened the door – hoping she would be there, only to find himself alone. Tey sat on the stone tiles of the balcony and wrapped his fingers around the metal balusters. Looking between the metal pickets, his eyes fixed on the boundary between sea and sky, and he wished the hallucination would end.