Chapter Two: All our strength.

Mother Nature and I weren't the best of friends; she snows and I wish for warmth. The sun glares down at me, and I think fondly of December when the sun cooled down. I couldn't even spend half an hour outdoors in her embrace before said embrace began to feel more like a death hold and I retreated beyond glass windowpanes and wooden walls.

Mother Nature and I weren't the worst of enemies, either. When she sends pounding rain that drives itself against the house with the sound of a hundred pattering feet, I feel comforted and at home. Flowers bloom and butterflies bask in the glow of them, getting drunk on the nectar and I watch from a distance, longing for that grace and elegance.

Hurricanes and tornadoes rip their way through the land, yet while people lost homes and died all I could think of was what an awe-inspiring power that was. Earthquakes, mudslides, floods and lightning strikes and tsunamis all coming together to play their part in a symphony of ordered chaos, with her at the podium.

Everything humans are, everything we've been and will be is cared for by Mother Nature. We have a key role to play in her realm, if we could just find our scripts and get to working. As it is we're fumbling it all. As it is, we have become a terminal illness for this world.

Now, I realize, it's up to us to cure her.

If only to hold on to those winter nights where silence envelopes all, and fat white flakes slowly drift to earth, reminding us of her gentler side. If only for spring mornings when all of nature unfurls itself at once. If only for fireflies and peaceful sunsets and falling leaves, and purely selfish reasons.

We must hold on to her with all our strength.

Chapter One: That would be beautiful.

'It would be nice to be in love,' I thought to myself. 'Yes, it would definately be nice.' I nodded to myself, as if that would somehow confirm the reality of the statement even more. I even smiled a bit, thinking about how wonderful it would feel.

'But I'm not.' At that the slight smile slid off my face and crashed on the floor. 'I'm not in love, and the chances of me ever falling in love is slim.'

Sighing, I returned my attention to the book I was reading, attempting to push these thoughts away. It didn't work, but that was probably because I was reading a romance novel. Then, I began to worry. What if I really never did fall in love? What if I went about my life as normal for ages, but never encountered someone like that? As it was I didn't even have many guy friends; not to mention the chances of a background (secondary at best) character like me getting noticed by guys was slim.

I was a fan of being honest with myself, so I by my standards I wasn't ugly. Maybe a bit plain (and I hated how my chin crinkled when I pressed my lips together and those couple zits lingering on my forehead had to go), but not bad to look at. In fact, I thought my eyes were quite pretty.

Same story with my personality; it's not very outgoing, and I could be a bit annoying to people I know, and I was definately shy. Nothing was happening there that would make me noticed. In fact, even when it did get noticed people either liked to assume that I'm happy all of the time or serious to a fault.

That's why I broke up with Zed, I guess. When I was young I outlined the things I wanted in a boyfriend. He should be able to make me laugh, we should share most interests, and our personalities should compliment nicely. Zed didn't really; he was depressed and depressing, and while we did share most interests (and what we didn't share we managed to discuss civilly), I wasn't interested.

The problem with that relationship was that while all logic said that we should be a perfect couple, we weren't, no matter how much Zed saw it that way. I would never tell him this, though. I felt like an ass for breaking it off, but it's better than leading him on then rejecting his marriage proposal.

I blinked, then noticed I was crying. Wiping my eyes, I tried not to let this get to me as I returned to my book. Tears silently poured down my face as the man announced his love and the woman, weeping, told him the same. In my mind, I thought,

'Yes, to be in love like that would be beautiful.'