• There was always something about her eyes. Mama said that it was how she could stare at something for hours and never blink. Pop said it was that she always looked like she was learning, and Pop said every emotion came from the eyes. Dandy…well, Dandy never said much about her, and he said even less about her eyes. I think the real thing about them was that they were so darned green. In all of God’s green Earth, I’d never seen a color just like that. It was almost unnatural how they shimmered in the light, catching every ray like a diamond and refracting them every which way like those machines that they used at the school dances. They were greener than the leaves on our apple trees, and greener even than the emerald grass that grew all over the hill next to the house. Sometimes, I would just stare at her eyes and she would stare right back into mine, unblinking like she always did.
    My eyes were boring and blue. Mama always said that they were like the sky or like a bluebird, but I never really found those very interesting. The sky was always blue and had always been blue since the beginning of forever, and bluebirds weren’t anything special. I wanted to be special, and I think being with her was my way of doing it.
    It wasn’t just her eyes that were amazing, though. No, her entire person was incredible, not just to the eyes. Sure, she had an incredible body; she was thin, but not in a gross way, and her feminine features were…well, let’s just say they were appealing. She had long golden locks that fell in dozens of cascading waves to the small of her back, ending with a final flip at the bottom. Her eyebrows were just as blonde as her hair, and just as beautifully shaped. Normally, one doesn’t fuss over the beauty of eyebrows, but everything about her was so beautiful that it was difficult not to get caught up on anything. My eyes often tended towards her eyebrows, as they were just above her eyes, which was where I was normally lookin’.
    The other boys always wondered why I didn’t go further into it with her. They wondered why I didn’t act a man enough for her and just “do the deed” as they were always telling me to do. I remember I’d always reply the same way.
    “A girl like that can’t be taken all at once,” I’d say. “I have to savor every part of her while I can.”
    The doctors said there wasn’t much time. Right from the start, we’d all known that she wasn’t going to be there forever. In the end, she’d stayed longer than any of us would have thought, but I was glad of it. All of us were, but I do get the privilege of saying I appreciated it more. After all, she was “my girl.” People called us the perfect couple; we even got voted Prom King and Queen one year.
    It was, of course, my senior year, and I’d been looking forward to the event all year. I’d been very early and asked her right at the start.
    “I really love you,” I’d said. “And I’d give you anything you want.”
    “Anything?” She had asked. I simply nodded and she kissed me on the cheek.
    “You’re so sweet,” she had said. She didn’t even ask for anything even after I’d told her I’d give her anything in the world that she wanted.
    “All I want,” she said. “Is you.” With that, she kissed me on the cheek and started down the long road to Mr. Lee’s house, where she lived. But before she got too far, I called to her.
    “Do you want to go to prom with me?” I had asked. She turned and laughed.
    “Isn’t it too early to ask me that?” It was September.
    “I guess so,” I replied. “But it was the first thing that came to my head.” She smiled.
    “Of course I’ll go with you.” With that, she continued home.

    By the time of the actual date, she was already gone. I almost didn’t go to prom; I thought it’d be too sad. But my mom convinced me to go. She said that everybody expected me to go. At the end of the night, they announced the Prom King, and then the class president, my best friend Arty, came up and presented me with a banner. It read “Prom Queen” and he said it was for her. Everyone clapped and I ran out crying.

    The funeral was open casket and when I went up to see her, I was taken aback. Her golden hair was still in beautiful waves around her shoulders and face. Her lips were still lush and red. Her eyebrows were still perfect, resting above her eyes.
    They were still open.
    Those green eyes that were greener than anything else. Those eyes that had held me captive for many an hour. Those eyes that showed how wonderful she felt all the time.
    I started to cry again as I reached down and closed them for the last time.