So Close But Yet So Far Novels & Stories

But the distance between us… it stays. The End.

Near in the way that had a specific and physical quality. Near enough that the lamp was equally between us, near enough that his contract and my letters occupied the same general territory of the table rather than the separate and distinct territories of a table with a significant distance down its middle, near enough that when I had looked up at the sound of his voice I had found his face at a proximity that was different from the proximit I had been maintaining in my peripheral awareness. I had been maintaining the far end. The far end was not where he was. I looked at him.

And closed the distance once more. Even if it was only a few steps.

This was not over. Not even close.

Closer. Much closer.

“You know, one thing I’ve learned…in this world, if you keep refusing to show up, they start deciding where you belong. And you won’t like where they put you.” I looked up at her then, the weight of the afternoon still pressing on my chest. “Maybe,” I said quietly, “I’m just realizing where I really stand.” “And why is that dear?” “Because…sometimes the closer you get to someone, the more you realise how far away they've been all along.”

“I don’t know.” And then, quieter… “But they’re getting closer.”

Not yet. The night was far from over.

Someone close. **

Close. So damn close.