Your Love is Mine

The sun blew its rays upon me, leaving a trail of brown kisses along my bare skin. I revelled in the heat; it was beautiful. Birds flew overhead, their cries echoing through my ears while I lay facing the warped silhouettes entangled above me. Sun rays tried to evade the leaves that blocked the path to my face, dodging the twisted twigs and branches, the sun was determined to reach its destination. The sudden call of my name caused me to sit up to look for the person that matched the voice.

“Charlotte!”

I lifted my sunglasses and propped them upon my head. Bright red lips and long brown hair that seemed to follow the wind met my eyes after my brief encounter with the sky. She smiled, causing my mouth to follow suit. My eyes searched around to see three more girls come into focus, each of them in their own little world. I reached my arms out beside me and stretched out to wake up.

“Shall we cut the cake?” The red-lipped girl took a knife out of the bag and slowly grazed her fingers over the point of the object. Her hands trembled as she examined the size of the sun-stricken silver and I reached out towards her, reassuring her shaking fingers. I grabbed the knife and sliced through the spongy texture; purple, black, yellow—dashes of colour darted in and out before me, and everyone feasted on coconut and cherry cake while music gently filled our ears. I bit into the cake, the sponge brought down with my lip but soon bouncing back to its original height. My taste buds tingled with delight at the light, fluffy mixture. Contented faces surrounded me; all of them had been silenced by a single slice.

One of the brunette girls towered over me as she walked towards a similar girl, making it harder to determine who was who. Their similar features mirrored each others' as they both broke into cackles of laughter. Confused faces were exchanging looks of uncertainty. Faint crackling started to come into audio and a song began to play. The red-lipped girl then stood up and extended her hand towards me. I grabbed it and pulled myself up to stand next to her. Hands tightly clasped, my hips began to move, soon followed by my feet. She mirrored my actions—parallel in moves, our voices began to make statements too. As the beat quickened, so did we. Our entangled fingers broke and held onto new hands, pulling them to our surface of happiness, making their bodies copy our own and begin a trance of movement. Everyone was on their feet. The sun danced along our arms and legs while we danced along the ground. Laughter and smiles filled the air like a thick fog. Enjoyment of life compelled us. Bad dancing and staggered footing wouldn’t stop us. We reveled in nature and embraced it.

I made my way toward the tree that stood next to us and began to clamber up to the highest branch. I acted as lookout. Watching below me, I saw flowing hair and swinging limbs. It was a beautiful sight. A smile crept upon my face as I watched my friends enjoy themselves below; smiles wider than the expanse of the field below were rife among them.

The lyrics bounced around the branches as I held onto each of them tightly, finally setting my hands on the trunk. The solitary line of “the sun don’t shine without you” resounded through my ears, my eyes fixing on the people I held closest dancing beneath me. I decided to return after taking one more glance at the hypnotizing landscape. Everyone looked at me as I tried to elegantly descend the trunk, but I invariably ended up in a pile at its roots. We all laughed at my clumsiness, and I got back on my feet to join the moving bodies.

“Your love is mine…”