He had been having a love affair with her hair since the moment he met her. There was something about it that just absolutely intrigued him. Maybe it was the way it seemed to disappear into the air itself as if it was interweaving with the fabric of reality. Possibly it was the ambiguous color of it which never stuck in the memory like other blander hairs. Whatever the case, he knew one thing for certain: it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Well, that is, other than her.

They had met several months ago; a chance encounter wrapped in a curious happenstance. He had harbored a certain knowledge of her for a couple of weeks before finally meeting her through a friend who knew a friend. Initially, he had not taken a large amount of notice in her; from a distance one would not realize the extreme voracity of spirit that she possessed. As he grew to know her better, his interest in her grew in turn. However, his immediate closeness to her friend, an individual who was initially charming but began to grate on the nerves over time, overshadowed this attraction until it was too late. She was always there but never received the spotlight he should have given her.

And then she was gone. The time and place of their initial meeting was lost to the ages. Miles apart, he and she returned to their normal lives; the memories of their time together forever ingrained on their collective memory.

It was all too soon for him. He sat alone, thinking only of her. This was an activity he repeated daily, regret washing over the crevices of his mind. He should have spent more time with her, he should have gotten to know her better, he should have gone to the park with her when he was invited, he should have sat with her instead of with another, he should have noticed her earlier. He should have done all of those things but he didn’t. This fact struck him harder than any actual pain could.

They met again many months after their initial departure. Just as with the first scenario, they bumped into one another by pure chance. Each had traveled hours to a seemingly random locale in pursuit of a common goal. The conversation between them lasted mere minutes before she had to leave once again but they were the most enjoyable few minutes of his life.

She marveled at how long his hair had grown out and how different he looked. They talked about going to college each telling the other their preferred schools. They talked and laughed and then it was over. He felt regret. Had that been their last encounter with each other or was it simply one of many to come? Why had he not said more? Why could he not speak as eloquently aloud as he could in his mind? Why was he afraid?

His every waking minute was populated with such questions. he wanted to be with her, hear her laugh, drink in the melodic nature of her existence. Everything about her was perfect but her was unsure if he would ever encounter this perfection again.

Summer became fall. Academic work and art soon consumed his life but she was always tugging at the back of his mind. The thought of her gave him strength throughout the day. The hope that they would meet again allowed him to ignore the shortcomings of his present existence. No matter the activity, he took solace in the fact that somewhere out there she was smilng, laughing, and enjoying life to the fullest.

His father always taught him to live in the present and not focus on things that he could do nothing about. He tried in earnest, blocking her memory from his mind. Trying to eliminate the pain and the yearning that her absence caused him to experience. In the end, his efforts were fruitless. She was always there, always smiling back at him.

Life is inherently a network of choices and circumstances that accumulate into the final product. They had each gone done a road at random and met one another along its vast expanse. somewhere along the line their paths had diverged and then met up again. Would this cycle continue? Were their lives linked in such a way that they would forever keep bumping into one another? He could only hope, he could only hope.

Her memory was fading day by day, her face a fog and her smile a distant dream. He tried to keep the memory sharp but he could only conjure up a shade of what it had once been.. Out of everything he could remember, only her hair remained fully present in his memory. He didn’t know what it was about her hair that stuck in his mind but he didn’t care. He grasped it tight and never let go.