The Listener

The Listener 

by: justmainey

I was awakened by a warm hand that slowly caressed my jaw, drove its way to my nose, up to my brows. A peculiar sensation consumed me as the hand traveled my rugged face. 

I heard a deep sigh, followed by a sweet gentle voice continuously saying my name-Kurt. That voice. I tried so hard to open my eyes but to no avail. My body was numb, or so I thought.

"Good bye, Kurt. I-" I heard her whispered as I rested my back on the bed, still unable to move.

"I missed you." And with that, my eyes automatically flew open, as if her final words were some kind of a spell, which caused my senses to come back to its function after a momentary hibernation. 

I immediately eyed the room, but she was nowhere to be found. I sighed and remembered everything that happened.

"I am Asuna."

"Uh yeah, you told me five times already. So Asuna, how may I help you?" I asked patiently on the lady who suddenly grabbed the hem of my shirt while I was on the middle of my walk to the grocery - which is only meters away from my house. At one moment, I thought she was a forgotten acquaintance, but then she whispered, 'Help' - and my very first guess evaporated.

I looked at her and noticed her features. She have this long orange-brownish chestnut hair that flows against her shoulders up to her waist, and gloomy hazel eyes that caused her to appear lost, sad and confuse - all at the same time. Nevertheless, she's beautiful.

I groaned in frustration and furrowed my eyebrows when I realized that she didn't bother answer my question. With losing patience, I told her to follow me to the police station - because police officers might help - but she didn't oblige. Instead, she closed her eyes and raised both hands. 

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked curiously. 

She flashed a small smile. "Feel the wind. Let it touch you inside out. Let the warmth of it be felt not only by your skin, but also by your heart. Life's beautiful, too beautiful to be wasted," she stated, her eyes still shut.

Her words, though sweet, were like dagger that stabbed my very soul. No, life was never beautiful. 

She opened her eyes then looked at me. "I am here to help," she asserted in a serious tone. I stared back, lips twitched. 

"I know everything about you, Kurt - everything," she added. 

I felt something tightened inside my stomach. How did she know my name? 

Her words disturbed and frightened me at the same time, so I pulled her on the arm and led the way to my bungalow house. I wiped my sweat as we reached my small house, while she did nothing but eyed the whole place.

"You're just trying to scare me, right?" I gritted.

She cocked her head on the side before she sat on the couch. "Sometimes, all we needed is someone who would listen. And Kurt Iris Tompkins, I could be that someone. Scratch that, I am that someone," she replied.

I was taken aback by the mere mention of my full name. I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it again.

"Still in doubt? Well, you're twenty years old, a painter, stopped studying since you were ten, a nocturnal, loves seafood, and-" 

"You're a stalker?" I butted in but she just laughed. I set my lips into a fine line. 

"Ugh, w-what else do you know?" I stammered.

"I know how sad and angry you are - to the world and to yourself," she murmured.

I felt chills down my spine. "I am not," I responded.

She shook her head and looked at me with those pitiful eyes. "You are. Your parents died from an accident when you were ten, they left you with nothing but this house," she stated. I was ready to say something when she continued, "You'd been working since then, you became a beggar when your house was foreclosed. Then, you tried to be a shoe shiner but it didn't work that much, until someone asked you to be a call boy."

I felt my knees weakened.

"You immediately agreed, you never thought twice. You were only thirteen back then - that young, Kurt, that young. When someone called you on the middle of the night, you'd go and play dirty. You did that for the how many years? Three years? Four years? Sleeping with women way older than you, letting them torment every piece of you. But still, you are smart, because when you obtained money enough for a living, you bought this house back and quitted from that job. But you didn't expect what you felt after quitting," she paused, but not for long because she finally added, "You felt empty, and before you knew it, you were in love."

I felt a lump on my throat, my lips quivered. "Stop," I stated.

"You fell in love, Kurt, but at the wrong person and time. You're just seventeen that time. She was twenty-seven and married. She was one of the women you used to pleasure at night, she was one of those who taught you how to fuck - that was your term, to fuck."

"Stop," I repeated. I felt like drowning, pain was consuming me. "Please, stop," I begged. 

"But Erica died." 

Her face swung left as I slapped her. I swallowed as I noticed that my palm left a mark on her face - her cheeks immediately turned red. I breathed heavily, tried containing both guilt and anger. 

I trembled and held back my tears as an image of Erica flashed in my mind.

"S-sorry," Asuna mumbled.

A loud thud filled the house as I punched the wall beside her. I walked towards her but she immediately took a step back - fear, fear was visible in her eyes.

"I don't know how on earth you did know everything," I said with gritted teeth. "But knowing everything doesn't give you the goddamn permission to talk about my life as if it was your life you're blabbing. Three years, I'd been doing everything to forget about my misfortunes for three years now and I'm doing well," My voice broke on my last word.

"I-I shouldn't have said that," she said but her eyes were fixed on the floor.

"Go home," I said authoritatively.

"I can't, not until I help you."

"Cut that crap! Just go get a life!" I shouted. 

Her eyes glistened, as if she was on the verge of tears. "Y-you don't understand, Kurt. I've been eyeing you for quite a long time and now's the perfect time for me to be here." She sighed before she continued, "You may or may not believe this but... I'm a sylph, an air spirit -the listener. I am one of those invisible beings of the air. And I can assume human form in order to guide, influence, listen and inspire human actions. Yes, I should be the one listening, but you are so stubborn that I needed to push myself to be the story-teller," she said in a small voice. 

I laughed at her spiel. "Sylph, huh?" 

She shook her head. "Of course you won't believe me, not until you see this." 

She closed her eyes, murmured something and a strong cold wind suddenly blew. I dropped my jaw as I saw Asuna floating in the midst of the air, with white fairy-like wings on - her long hair seemed like dancing. I blinked thrice to be sure that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me and swallowed hard. W-what the hell?

After seconds of astonishment, everything went back to its normal phase - the cold wind gone. I was rooted to the ground, my mouth wide open - she's goddamn real. 

"F-Fuck," I stumbled out of words, unable to process what I'd seen.

"I guess, you do believe now, Kurt," she said. 

"I-I didn't-ugh, I can't do this." I stammered.

"Go ahead, Kurt. Talk." 

I eyed her. Something was telling me to trust her - something I couldn't fathom.

And all hell broke loose when I started talking. "When... when my parents died, I swear I had also died with them. I didn't have anyone back then - not even friends or relatives to support me. I thought of giving up, that one day I would just die because of freezing or hunger - but it didn't happen. And yeah, I was asked to be a call boy and I didn't think twice.

"Maybe if you were on my position, you would also grab every opportunity -whether righteous or not- that would come your way. And so I accepted it. I did have sex with different women of different ages - without any other feelings involved except lust. 

"But... one of them seemed to care - Erica. She treated me differently, she was kind, sweet and loving, but I never gave a damn. My only focus was on how to drive my way out of that dirty job. And after four years, I gained enough money and quitted. But I felt empty. I thought I was just missing the feeling of sex and orgasms so I tried picking up girls but that didn't fill the emptiness I was feeling. 

"And then I saw Erica again - I felt my cheeks heated up and my heart pounded so loud upon seeing her. That was when I found out that she was the one I was missing. And I was so damn... in love. She loved me back - the happiest, yet the saddest part as well. Happiest because I felt being loved again, saddest because ..." I trailed off.

She gave me an encouraging smile. I turned my gaze away.

"Her husband had known everything. I didn't know how, but he knew. And because of that, he... he killed her." I closed my eyes to prevent myself from crying. "He stabbed her. He did that as if she was some kind of a wild animal. He killed the only person that gave me hope, the one that made me feel loved again." Then it happened, tears started streaming down my face before I could even stop them. 

"Kurt," Asuna whispered.

"I know it's so unman of me to cry in front of you, but I can't help it," I mumbled with broken voice.

I felt my heart thumped fast as she wiped my tears away. "Crying doesn't make you less of a man. In fact, you have just shown me your strong side, Kurt, and I am happy because finally... you voiced your heart out. I do hope you would be able to move forward - really move forward this time, with no guilt, sadness, or anger in your heart. You've suffered enough, don't let yourself suffer 'til your last breath," she murmured. 

Then, she leaned forward and enveloped me with a hug. I felt something strange when our skin touched. I hugged her back and cried on her arms - cried until I doze off to sleep, but before I could finally closed my eyes, I noticed a tear fell from her eye.

And when I woke up the next day, Asuna... was gone. 

--x

I came back to my senses when a strong wind blew. A month had passed and I was hoping she would come back - and she did. I didn't know what happened to her after she left. But one thing is for sure, she was here a while ago - I know she was here.

My eyes darted on the painting hanging on the wall. I painted it the day after she left - with the same features she had a month ago. Except that I made her ear an elf-ear, to emphasize that she will forever be the listener - my listener. 

"I missed you, too. Thank you," I whispered.

A warm wind blew around, as if it was hugging me. I smiled to myself.