These Eyes Like Gems

During my early years of education, my class went on a trip to the ‘Museum für Naturkunde,’ the premiere natural history museum of Berlin. I think I’m very likely to remember that experience for the rest of my life. The many exhibits decorating the massive halls of the museum sparked, inside of me, a curiosity and reverence for the natural world which still dominates my waking thoughts to this day. I can close my eyes and find myself standing beneath the massive skeleton of a long dead dinosaur, or walking among a seemingly endless number of animals from the far reaches of the globe. The exhibit that I remember most fondly, however, has nothing to do with any animal, living or dead. The exhibit that has ingrained itself deepest into my memory is the extensive catalog of minerals that the museum has on display.

Beautiful quartz formations that look to have captured mist and ink inside of a chunk of glass; iridescent stones that shine like rainbows; and chunks of gold, silver, and diamonds. This room made me feel as though I was looking through humanity's most prized possessions, if not the treasures of the Earth itself. I walked around inside that room for as long as I could, stopping and admiring the way the light played on the gemstones, mesmerized by colors more vibrant than any I had seen in my life. I had continued through the exhibit, entranced, until I found myself before an enormous amethyst.

The way the purple hues seemed to emerge and recede beneath the surface of the gem, the way the sharp, smooth edges reflected the light, the billowing galaxy of color, light, and shadow inside of this gem was, to me, as the most fantastic magic might appear to the layperson. An utter brilliance that held my mind so firmly in its facets that any world outside of that display case simply did not exist. I think back frequently on that gemstone, that most beautiful sight.

And here I sat, finding my eyes gazing once more into that maze of light and shadow. Two brilliant purple gemstones were glistening at me, set in the face of the girl reaching her hand down to me.

“Fine, just sit there with that dumb look on your face! I was trying to be nice, but some of us actually have places to be!”

Her harsh personality was at complete odds with her appearance. Actually, please allow me to restate myself. I believe any personality would be at odds with her appearance. To have a personality is innately human, and this girl was clearly an angel. Never in my life had I seen a single person like the one that now stood before me. Her skin was as fair and unblemished as a newborn’s, and her features as smooth and striking as if chiseled from marble. Hair as white and brilliant as a fresh blanket of snow fell in gentle locks around her face, some pieces looped and braided in mesmerizing patterns that wrapped behind her ears, and from beneath the gentle curtain of white bangs, those brilliant eyes were glistening radiantly at an undeserving world.

But, what was this? This beautiful girl, with whom I had been so mesmerized, had violently whipped her hand away from me and was now briskly walking straight past me with a pensive expression plastered on her face. I sat there a moment longer before breaking free of the spell on me, remembering the circumstances for our meeting. I quickly pushed myself to my feet and turned to see her walking away, violently swinging her satchel back and forth as she did so.

“W-wait! I’m sorry, I didn’t really-”

I tried meekly to call after her, but my words were lost to the clamor of students in the hall. I watched, forlorn, as the gentle swaying of her skirt and bobbing of her hair disappeared around the corner at the end of the hall, out of sight.

“You… ugh.” I felt my shoulders sag. I lowered my head, looking down at the papers I had just placed in my satchel, now spewed across the floor. I sighed, “you idiot.”

                                                                                 ♦

After repacking my satchel I started off again on my original quest of locating the Sociology Hall, and was slowly making progress through the labyrinth of halls that preceded it. I don’t think it’s entirely intelligent to name a room a hall, especially if the rest of your academy is made up of halls. Perhaps just calling the actual rooms where classes took place classrooms, or chambers, or theaters, or auditoriums.

Those last two didn’t sound right…

But I digress. I digress back to the thoughts that have occupied my mind since I fell. I digress to my sudden, inexplicable infatuation with that girl. Every corner I turned, every new hall I entered I could clearly see our interaction play out in the distance. Without even trying, I relived those moments in her eyes. Over, and over, and over.

My mind was spinning. My heart was pumping, beating so fast. I would love to attribute my physical ailments to the fact that I was unashamedly running to get to this class, but at some level I knew. For whatever reason, I knew. I knew why I felt so flustered. Or maybe I knew I should feel flustered, but could I really claim I knew why? I shook my head. I was obviously just thinking in circles. I was obviously just confused.

I had just met this girl, if you could even call it a meeting. She knocked me to the ground and stormed off. So logically, where did these feelings come from? For me to be so tripped up about a sour person like that… except she did try to help me up, but she was so crass…

“Ughhhhh…”

I didn’t know what to think of her. She seemed clearly to dislike me, so why? Why am I acting so irrationally all of a sudden?

It’s always like this.

So why do I care? A person ran into me, I’m probably feeling spite, or anger. It’s like they say, you can have good interactions with hundreds of people, but the moment you have a bad interaction that’ll be all you can think about.

That actually makes me feel a lot more settled.

That must be it, then. I was simply confused. It’s not that I feel any special way towards this girl, I’m just being childish about being pushed. I smiled, what a trivial thing to get so worked up about. I’m too old to be having playground altercations with my classmates. I really should try harder.

But thinking about her face…

No, don’t fall back in. I’ll put it behind me and move on with my day. My day that, going by the toll of the bell that sounded a good while ago, I am decently behind on. I cursed the halls again, questioning if I was really going the right way at all. Actually… considering what a massive maze this academy is, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see the same person twice without trying. I’ll probably never see that girl again, and if I do I can just ignore her. So, in the end, it really doesn’t matter how I feel about her.

My mind was put to ease as I turned the last corner and saw a large pair of imposing doors come into view. The stone slab above them read ‘Talla Sòisio-Eòlais.’ Without being fluent in Gaelic I put my trust in the idea that it might say ‘The Place You’ve Been Trying to Find For Half an Hour,’ and sneakily tried to weasel my way past the doors. They swung open with surprising ease and silence, but sadly even with that unlikely luck I was still immediately assaulted with a shrill call.

“Oh, would you look at that, one more lost lamb. Unfortunately, I doubt you’re in the right room, given that we started, hm… ah, yes, twenty-five minutes ago.”

Light laughter filled the room as I finished closing the doors behind me.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that this wing is so-” I tried to offer up my carefully crafted excuse, but was immediately cut short by the spindly woman at the opposite end of the room.

“Nevermind that. It’s the first day, so I’ll pretend you managed to get here ten minutes earlier.”

I sighed with relief.

“Making you fifteen late.” She had her arms crossed, and was boring holes into me with her dark eyes. The large glasses on her face were probably used to magnify her deadly gaze. A chill ran up my spine, along with the creeping sense that I had some work ahead of me if I wanted to get on this professor's good side. She shook her head exhaustedly.

“Just take a seat, and hope that your fellow classmates feel like catching you up to speed.”

I nodded softly, and stepped further into the hall. As I turned my attention toward open seats, and my gaze to the student body, a glimmer caught my eye. Like the sun reflecting off the crest of a wave, a head of white hair poked out from the sea of students.