Endings Are Beginnings

She sat on a broken rail. The shadows from an unkempt lantern splayed over her like grabbing hands. The rail was old and rusted. Its gross auburn color took over the once shiny, bright silver. The bolts were tight in the odd angles age had given them. There was no sky above her head. Only arching, aging concrete that blocked her sobbing cries a long while ago from being heard by comforting ears.

Bare feet were callused heavily, and scars of cuts unattended too littered her legs and arms. Grime had its place too on her haggard clothing, and the girl's once kind face. In her hands she held something broken, something she had tried to sow and mend herself, with no knowledge of how to do so. The patchwork was horrible, but it was the best she could do to stop the bleeding.

Her heart lay limp in her small, hard hands. It needed warmth that she couldn't give, not anymore. The stitches were too far apart, for it let the organ seep when the remnants of what was left needed to be kept safe and close. Tears shed silently, having learned and known for too long that crying aloud was no use. She'd adapted, but the girl didn't want to become hard and cold. So tears were shed because they needed to be, and her heart was laid carefully on the rail she had sat upon only moments ago.

With her head low, and her shoulders hunched, the girl shuffled her feet, but careful not to drag on the wood for fear of a splinter; funny how she was more afraid of little things then the things that needed to be afraid of. The lamp and the seeping heart was left behind, now only an empty shell, the girl wondered in her abandoned tunnels.

She was sitting again years later, though time had lost its way in the old subway systems, when a foreign sight came upon her.  The girl watched as her old lantern swung by a hand to a face she couldn't see. It rocked back and forth in the air, dangling. Light casted over the clothing of a thin, strong leg, and the tall ceiling. Her eyes locked with the lamp, her body not daring to move an inched for fear it was just another one of her apparitions. The taller figure came closer, a whistle staining the air around her. It held a melody she had never heard, and yet it was the most beautiful nose ever to graze her ears.

"Hi," the voice startled her as she turned and looked.
The lantern was held up against the man's face, and a crooked grinned touched his lips. She couldn't help but smile back. He held out a warm, tender hand, and she looked at it, wondering what on earth he wanted her to do.
He chuckled. "Is this yours?" he asked. Pulling from a pocket, the man opened his hand and shown her something that pulsed. It was nearly doing flips. With surprise she stepped backward and stared at the man, blinking at him.

"Where… where did ya get that?" she questioned, not taking her reflective hazel gaze off the beating object.

"Found it," it was such a simple answer, and that was all that was needed. She walked over to him, and held her heart in her hands. It recognized her sudden warmth and melted back into her goose bump covered flesh. The man stared at her now empty hands. "Guess it was," he smirked and looked up at the girl.

He pulled the lamp up high to get to see her better. Her flesh was pale, and deep rings from lack of sleep haunted beneath large, broken eyes, which were like glass and easy to read. She couldn't lie, at all. She was shorter than most girls her age, but her back stiffened and straightened her taller when she realized he was looking at her more closely. Her figure was hard to figure. The clothing the girl wore was loose and baggy. The young lady had a slightly crooked nose, and what skin he could see had either cuts or bruises damaging it.

"Uh, thanks… I guess," she tried to say coldly, but a smile took that frigidness away. She glanced at the lantern and sat down, waiting for him to do the same. The man awkwardly watched her, wanting do know what she was doing, thinking. The girl was different, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Only when she patted the ground next to her, and gave him a look did he sit, placing the light source between them. "Hi," the girl started, waiting for him to answer.

"Hi," he nodded, and the girl smiled at him though she hardly knew the lad. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.