There were only four stairs; four decrepit concrete stairs to climb in order to reach the door. I had, with my own free will, walked all this way and placed one foot on the very first step. Yet it seemed so tragically wrong to move forward. My hands were shaking and as I stood there for what seemed like an eternity, I began to lose my balance. I reached out for stability and grasped the rusted railing to my right. A sharp pain slithered up my arm from my hand and I gasped, pulling away to inspect the source of the pain. At first I saw nothing, but soon enough blood began to slowly rise from a small hole. I looked at the railing to find what had caused the wound when I saw the etched letters. It seemed so long ago, looking at the railing now. But what I felt as those letters entered my mind was fresh, like the blood that just dripped from my hand. The memories flowed like flood water through my mind. Had it already been five years?

It was summer, and a hot one. I had taken great care to leave the house without raising any unwanted attention from my mother. If she knew where I was sneaking off to I could very clearly imagine her pulling a guillotine from thin air and having me beheaded on the spot. No, there could be no supsicions, no chances for her to even remotely consider my destination. What did she know about love? What did she know about passion? She could never understand what burned in my heart, regardless of what was socially acceptable.

I had walked for nearly twenty minutes, although it usually took me thirty to reach our meeting place. Just as I turned another street corner, still feeling the wiskfull memories of our previous encounter, I saw him. He was impossible to miss. Others may never have given him a second glance as he trotted nonechallantly down the street, but I knew even at this distance that the man two blocks down on the left was none other than my Charlie. It was the way he walked. His shoulders teetered over his frame, back and forth as he took long deliberate steps. I hadn't notice yet, but I had stopped walking and simply stood there watching him from the corner of the street holding my hands at my front. It was then that he saw me, and his smile erupted. It was contageous between us. When he smiled I did, it was inandvertent, unintentional but far from unwanted. I could do nothing but smile with him. He started jogging to reach me sooner, just that simple amount of motivation made me feel wanted in a way that no one else had ever been able to deliver.

"Sorry, I got there early and couldn't wait." He said to me as he slowed to a walk. "I hope it wasn't too difficult for you to get away."

I laughed, "You speak as if my home is a prison. "

"It isn't?" He replied, smiling wryly. "Mine is."

"Enough of that." I said, eager to remove ourselves from any semblance of "home" or "responsibility". "We're here together, now let's make the best of it. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know." He said, looking at me directly in the eyes.

I knew what was coming. I could read him like an open book. At this very moment he was thinking of something to say, and such a cliché it would be. He took in a breath, here it comes.

"It doesn't matter where we go, the world's so beautiful when I'm with you."

I couldn't help it, even though many others would consider those words as cheap, lame or unconvincing. I couldn't help but blush, but feel that burning sensation in my chest that shouted out to my mind that I loved this man. That regardless of all the obstacles we've been forced to overcome, there is no one else I could possibly find myself with. It was destiny.

He took my hand.

"I want to show you something." He said, smiling. "Come on. It isn't far."

It only took us ten minutes to get to where Charlie wanted to go, but I was thorougly stumped as to what it was he wanted to show me. We walked into a housing complex and stood in front of an apartment door. The numbers were 111.

"This is it." He said. looking at it admiringly.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm confused." He turned to me, his expression far more serious than before.

"I'm tired of living at home. I'm tired of sneaking around to meet you. I'm going to quit highschool and get a job and rent this appartment. Jonny's dad owns the block and he's renovating it." He said, his gaze returning to the door. "Something about asbestos. Anyway he said he'd let me live here if I ever needed to get away from my father."

"So you're going to leave school?" I said, still dumbfound that he'd risk the opportunities that a diploma was capable of producing in the working world.

"Yes, I'm tired of my father's tyranny. I'm done with the drinking and the random women. I'm tired of the accusations of theivery and the disciplinary beatings. I'm done with it. I don't care what anyone thinks." He stopped, and looked at me. "That's not true." he said, his face much softer now. "I care about what you think Immy. Actually..." He moved in closer and kissed me softly. "What you think is all I care about, and I know you might not be glad with what I'm choosing to do but I hope you know that I'm doing it for us. I'm doing it so that we can be happier together." He reached into his pant pocket and pulled out the knife he always carried.

I looked in his eyes and could swear that there were tears forming, he turned away just as I moved forward to console him.

He took to the railing with his knife and carved away at the metal. "There are some things in life that are worth everything Imogen. You are that to me."

When he backed away, the words "Fully Completely" had been carved lengthwise into the steel. They wouldn't mean much to a passerby, but to us it was a vow we had taken. They were words we chose to say instead of "I love you" because we simply said those too often and they had lost some of their meaning.
In their current state however, the words were a promise. Charlie was trying to tell me that he wanted our lives here. It was passion, it was love, but at the time I had no idea what the future held.

As I stood there looking at the words, the blood still running down my hand, I realized how much I had grown since that summer, how much I had seen the world and changed from it, for the better and the worse.

At that moment the door opened. I was startled and backed away from the stairs.

"Immy?" He asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?" He stood out of the door and looked around, perhaps wondering how I had gotten here, or if I was alone.

"Charlie." I said, my voice quivering. I couldn't take it. The sight of him. He stood in the doorway and I could nearly see him as he was five years ago. I saved my words an did what my heart told me to do, no matter how wrong the rest of my mind thought it was. I ran toward him, climbed the four steps and wrapped my arms around him, sinking my head into the nook of his neck. Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably as I held on to him as tightly as I could. They flowed even harder when I felt his arms tighten around my waist.

"Shh." he whispered in my ear, his warm breath so soothing against my neck. "Come inside. It's freezing out here."

I walked with him into appartment 111, and wondered to myself if this moment was the point of no return.

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