Honeysuckle Summer

It's night and I'm barefoot walking on the dirt as the warm smell of summer engulfs me in a wave so powerful I'm dizzy. Closing my eyes I can almost hear the music of parties gone on too late and the whispering of secrets I thought would never get told. We were young and invincible in the make-believe Summerland, where sun-filled days bleached our brains of worry or care. Quiet rustling fills the air as my friend the Breeze moves through the honeysuckle, bringing on another flare of summer smell. Thoughts of the boy who wasn't fill my mind and opening my eyes to see he isn't there physically hurts me. Imagined summers with him make me smile with a painful twist of my lips. His blue eyes squinting in the sun, his freckles melting into a sweet tan, his laugh being the only nourishment I would need for days. Us alone together but all we need to do is hold hands and sit with our toes dangling in cool water. My fingers running through his hair, and it's so real to me I almost reach out- but I stop because once again my eyes see reality and the reality is he's not here. He's somewhere else, thinking of someone else, leaving me with a hole in my chest, the pieces scattered across the ground spelling out his name.