Stares that churn emotions

It was not even late. Sun bright enough for your eyes to glare. I saw a path ahead and three men with obnoxious stares. If that stare was an ocean, filth was every drop. Emotions of disgust churned in me. Any person from the outside would not sense one bit of fear; cause that’s how I was raised ~ to be loud, brown and fearless , but the truth was I was frightened, panicked and anxious every second. Every step felt clumsily brisk and I guess only good souls in this world could sense my fear. Suddenly I heard a boy scream :

“Hey, simran!! WAIT”

Dude that’s not even my name.

But still I turn back and this boy is running towards me, he seems to be of my age. I pause and look at him, wondering if it’s a familiar face ,after moments of thoughts , it was still a clear no. I didn’t know him.

By now he’s beside me and says, “come lets walk” and he initiated a lovely conversation . Oh wait, I doubt if I can even call it a conversation, he was the one talking and I was the listener [ which is not new for me] .We walked for minutes till we reached a busy road. His continuous talks faded out as we paused at this busy street . He stared into my eyes without a blink. ….. and this stare too, churned emotions in me.

Wait…

It was not the romantic stare

It was different and it felt nice.

This stare has compassion.

This stare made me believe that good souls still exist.

This stare seemed to whisper , “You deserve to be safe”.

This stare tightened the hinges of humanity.

Deep down I knew he walked me to that busy street because he had seen those three cheap men and had sensed my fear, but…

Whatever this was, it was marvellous.

An encounter with a stranger which wasn’t strange at all. It was not friendship, not love. It was a stranger thing. It was a kind of relationship that has never been defined so far and I’ll leave it that way, it’s beautiful when it is not defined.