And like that, you step out of a metal trolley and gaze at the boulevard; serpentine rails slithering into the horizon amid palm trees and tired lamp posts. You listen to the cadence of your own heart slowly beating like drums. Isn't it odd how we make it against all odds? Her name flashes on the phone screen and with one gentle press the serenade of her soft voice creeps into my ears like a stream of sweet cherry wine reaching the antique corners of my memory. It's finally happening. The collision of famished souls after countless nights of anticipation. Every step feels like a thousand miles journey. Eyes searching among dark silhouettes to find that one familiar face. And there she stands. Pupils gleaming with a cornucopia of mixed emotions. We hug like magnetic meteors hell-bent on demolishing each other with unspeakable yearning. It defies all reason and baffles the senses. Suddenly a mental construction of a person becomes flesh and blood. An avalanche of new sensory data storms inside of me as my mind foolishly tries to register that unwieldy whimsical chaos. The sheer jouissance of our souls wrecking into one another at the speed of light turns every other living organism on the planet into a faceless blur. None but us existed at that moment. The sound of guitar solos coming from the hall next door sounded mute; a muffled crescendo compared to our incessant heavy breathing. Her lips taste like beer and youth. She passes me a cigarette straight from her mouth and I fill my lungs with poison while staring into two pair of eyes that haunted my daydreams for long. We share meaningful words and even more meaningful silences. Leaning against each other's burning bodies like pillars of some ungodly temple. Distant car headlights and traffic rush fade into the smog of the busy city; neon parades masquerading as something they have no right to be. The night is young and we wish we could pause it and give the middle finger to the tyranny of time. The hands of the clock spin like wild Sufi dancers when she's in my arms. And before long the eve draws to an end and Eve has to leave Eden and fall back to her mundane world. Yet, in the middle of deserted midnight streets and the intoxicated giggles we make silent promises to ourselves that it would be the first night of many to come.

boukhriss.zakaria