A Song For My Lover - Part 1 of 2

   Annie Kenyon stared out the window, watching the rain fall in undulating sheets onto the Berkeley campus. She was cloistered safely in her dorm room, perched on the edge of her long, narrow bed. Her feet swung gently to and fro, toes whispering across the carpet. Her charcoal gaze idly traced the rain, and she began humming a slow, lazy melody that followed each waving band. This was so like the day she had met Liza.

Liza.

Just thinking the name made Annie snap out of her trance. She ceased her absentminded humming and flopped back on her bed, a soft sigh passing her lips. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard from you, Liza,” Annie murmured aloud, mentally projecting an image of her love onto the white stucco ceiling. “It’s funny, but what I want the most right now is to sing for you. I want to sing songs of love and hope and happiness to you, because I know that everything that happened with Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer hit you really hard. It hit me hard too. But it never changed the way I feel about you, never made me question our love. Has it done that for you? Is that why you haven’t responded to any of my letters? Are you… Are you ashamed of me, Liza? Of our love? …Do you love me anymore?”

A lump rose in Annie’s throat, and she turned onto her side, curling up into a ball as quiet sobs began to rattle her shoulders. “I don’t know the answers to any of those questions, Liza,” she thought, feeling hot, salty tears snake across her face. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to sing for you again.”