She’s got dark red hair, like the color burgundy. It’s so rich and beautiful; I just want to stare at it. And her face is prettier than her hair. Her green eyes stare into and through my brown eyes and I see her smile. Just where a dimple is supposed to be, a wrinkle forms and so do the laugh lines around her mouth. “What?” she asks in a high pitched voice.
“Scarlett…” I say remembering that her name is even prettier than her eyes, or hair, or face, or anything else.
She looks up at me like a child and waits for the words to come out, but my mouth freezes and can’t move.
“I guess I’ll go now,” she says before I can stop her. She turns on her heel and walks away. I know she’s crying because her head is down and she doesn’t look back. And then I look down the street. A black car, probably one that costs more than a small house, comes speeding down the street. The woman behind the car is crying because her boyfriend cheats and drinks. So her tears blur her vision, and she doesn’t see the red light.
And a yellow taxi comes from the other direction. Being driven by a fat man, who is eating a turkey sandwich, and not paying attention to anything on the road. And Scarlett doesn’t see this as she’s still looking down.
And coming across the street is a short woman, probably in her 40s. She has a family, two children and a husband waiting at home for their first date night in a long time. She’s talking aimlessly on her blackberry and fixing her pinstripe skirt while walking across the street.
And within a second, there is an impact between the woman, Scarlett and the two cars. People scream, and I stood where I was, unable to move. If only I had said those words. “I love you…” I whisper to no one in particular.
Then she wouldn’t have been walking while crying with her head down. And if only the woman hadn’t ripped her skirt at work today. And if only that girl’s boyfriend had waited another minute to confess his sins. And if only that taxi driver had decided to go somewhere else for food.
Then Scarlett would be in my arms. And I could look at her beautiful smile again. But within the flash of a second, anything can happen.