The Girl with the Sunset Eyes

By: Allison Glaser

The girl with the sunset eyes and the boy with hands like glass.

He fell in love with her because she was so beautiful when she cried.

He hated to see her in tears, but when she cried, streaks of blue and orange and yellow and pink fell down her cheeks.

She was always embarrassed when she cried and she thought she looked like a mess of too many colors. But he didn’t see it that way. In his eyes, she was a work of art with just the right amount of colors.

She fell in love with him because he was gentle, as he made sure not to damage his glass hands. Sometimes he tried to hide his hands because he was embarrassed, but she always reminded him that glass is strong.

Then one day, the girl’s eyes became faded and drained of all color. And the boy’s hands were becoming chipped and scratched.

They slowly drifted apart and the boy with hands like glass met a girl with fire beneath her fingertips. He fell in love with her because she could make art with her fingertips that lit up with bright streaks of orange and yellow, and sometimes blue.

She fell in love with him because he didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that the glass on his hands was chipped and scratched. He told her that he wasn’t embarrassed of his glass hands because they were strong. But he didn’t tell her that it hadn’t always been that way.

Then one day, she tried to hold his hand but her fiery fingertips began to melt his hands. Glass puddles formed all around them. She tried to put his hands back together but she only made it worse. His mother always told him not to play with fire, and he should have listened.

He stares at the puddle and he begins to cry. He thinks about the girl with the sunset eyes and he wishes that she were there to remind him that he was still strong, but he had never felt weaker.

The girl with the sunset eyes has met a boy with eyes like the ocean. She fell more in love with him every day because he was wild and unpredictable, like the ocean. He fell in love with her because, together, they created a beautiful masterpiece.

She was so mesmerized by the boy with the ocean eyes that she rarely thought about the boy with the hands like glass. She hoped he was doing alright. But what she did not know was the boy with ocean eyes wasn’t perfect. He had thorns beneath his skin that someday she would find and they would cut her open like glass.