The air was as crisp and cold-
Goosebumps rose along my arm as I rolled up the passenger window of the car,
Shivering as the last bit of air circulated through the cabin before I blasted the heat.
Memories of haunted houses force their way to the surface-
I’d asked you to go with me but we spent the evening laughing instead,
Blue eyes initiated a spark between us.
I still haven’t figured out how to extinguish it so I let it burn dormant in the back of my mind.
And your laughter was quiet-
It didn’t echo off walls or warrant noise complaints from neighbors,
It was intimate in the way that things are when they’re meant for just two people,
I wanted to put the moment in a bottle and place it on my bookshelf.
I wish I’d known how.
And the leaves are changing like we did-
The trees fade into shades of red yellow and orange as the road in front of me starts to blur,
The smell of damp earth and rain that once reminded me of you aches now so I roll up the window.
The air is already as crisp and cold as the distance between us.
I don’t need it bringing your ghost with it, too.
