The Woman I Met

Shannon lives on top of a mountain near the ocean, she can see the ocean from the window in her bedroom, on a sunny day, the reflection of the sunshine from the waves shines so bright that it could easily disturb her afternoon nap, that’s why she has to use her red hair to cover her eyes before she even falls asleep during her nap time. She has very long hair that could reach out to her thigh when she stands up. One of her favorite things to do during the day is to stand outside on top of the mountain and look over the ocean underneath and let wind blow her hair freely, she feels like she is flying at that moment, she thinks she is the queen of the earth, and she owns the land and ocean under her.

Shannon has been living here for many years, this is the only place she remembers, she doesn’t know how she gets here, she always lives by herself since she can remember anything, she cooks for herself, she baths herself, she masturbates by herself. She never thought about doing anything with anyone else. Until the day I came over.

When I saw her for the first time, I was thinking she might not be real, she looked like a goddess, long curly red hair all over her back, she was totally naked, but I didn’t even have a second thinking of wrong desires, with the sunshine shone on her body, she was shining like the sun. It was me, a fully dressed grown up man, who felt embarrassed when she saw me.

She was surprised when she saw me, it was like she had seen so many other people here and I was just one of the passersby. She turned around with a big and naïve smile, her teeth were as white as the sand, her smile was something I never forgot till the day I died. I just stood there and not dared to make a move, she ran to me and simply said “Hi”, I had never seen a naked woman so comfortably standing a few inches in front of me, not to mention outside.

“Hi, my name is Ron, and I think I got lost during hiking, do you mind telling me how to get back to the beach?” I sounded so nervous that my voice was trembling.

“Lost? How could it be? The beach is right there.” Her voice was so soothing that I would just like to hear her talking to me the whole day. I totally forgot that she didn’t even tell me her name.

“Yes, I can see the beach, but I can’t find the path going down there.” I tried to explain to her, and then added, “By the way, not intend to offend you, but you may want to put some clothes on.” I looked away awkwardly after I said that.

“You are so funny, first you said you were lost, then you talked about clothes, what is clothes? How do I put them on? And your body looks very strange, not like me at all, your skin, they have so many different colors, and what is on your back? What happened to your feet and how come you don’t have any toenails?” She asked many questions that I was not prepared to answer at all.

I looked at myself, I was wearing a pair of hiking boots, my gray Columbia jackets and brown stretch pants, and on my back, I had a North Face backpack filled with snacks and water.

I pulled my clothes and pants, then said, “These things I am wearing, these are clothes, not my skin.” I then looked down at my shoes and pointed them to her, “These are called shoes. Have you never seen anyone wearing clothes on?”

She shook her head, “I haven’t seen anyone, you are the first person I have seen.”

I couldn’t believe what I just heard, all of these didn’t make sense at all. Where was she born? Where did she learn how to speak? How could she survive here by herself?

But when I looked at her closely, the look from her eyes was so pure that I only saw that kind of look in a baby’s eyes.

“Are you not cold? Do you live in this house?” I didn’t know why I asked this instead of all the questions in my head before.

“No, I never felt cold, is that why you put the ‘clothes’ thing on you?” asked she.

“Yes, but not just for that.” I stopped there and didn’t know how to explain it to her. Before she kept asking, he added, “So, is this your home?”

She turned around and looked at the house, he could still see her proud smile on her face. “Yes, this is where I have always lived, do you want see the inside of it?”

I was not prepared to go inside with a naked pretty lady, and I was surely not ready for that invite.

“I can take a peek of inside if that’s ok.” I asked politely, I didn’t know what else to do other than being polite.

“Of course, come with me. It’s the best home you can imagine.” She reached out to my hand and led me to the front door of her house.

From outside, it was a small cotton looking house made of stones, there were only two windows that were facing the ocean, the entrance door was between those two windows, she stood against the door frame and looked at me proudly, like a kid who couldn’t wait to show others the favorite toy they just got.

I was amazed immediately when I could see clearly the inside, not as plain as the outside, it looked much bigger inside, there was a big bed lying next to the window, the kitchen was clean and tidy, there was even a fireplace on the other side of the bed and a rocking chair with a matt on top was sitting next to the fireplace.

“Isn’t it nice?” asked her.

“Yes, what a beautiful home you have!” I answered, I didn’t say it to make her happy, I was even jealous of her for having such a cozy house with the ocean view.

At that moment, both of us stayed quiet, she just looked at me like naively like she was waiting for me to say something, but I couldn’t think about anything else to say, I was not sure if it was because that she was still naked, or because some unholy ideas started penetrating my brain when I saw the bed in the house.

“I can make you some tea.” She skipped into the house and asked me from the inside.

“No…” I didn’t even have time to think before she went inside, I meant to say no need.

“Come on in, you must be tired.” She was waving at me, she then added, “I won’t bite.”

That was true, how can such a beautiful woman do anything harm to anybody?

I stepped in cautiously, the inside of the house smelled so good like all kinds of flowers, the air was warm but not stuffy at all, it almost felt like there was a breeze flowing perfectly on top of your skin.

Not too long, the pot of water started boiling and she poured me a cup of tea. The teacup was made by wood, simple but sturdy. The tea tasted just like all the other tea I had before, the only difference was there was a little bit of sweetness mixed with the bitterness, which I had never tasted in any other tea, I thought it could be due to the water she used.

“Thank you, the tea is very good.” I smiled at her while holding the teacup with both of my hands.

“I am glad you liked it.” She looked at me with a big smile, like a proud kid watching their parents opening the gift she prepared for them.

“I am sorry, I forgot to ask your name.” I looked at her and apologized.

“You can call me Shannon.”

“Shannon, beautiful name, you mentioned you have never met anyone, but who gave you the name?” I couldn’t hold it any longer and wanted to ask so many questions.

“Oh, I don’t know, I just know I call myself that when I talk to myself sometimes. And I talk to myself all the time, as you can imagine, I didn’t even know there was anyone I could talk to.”

“So, I would assume you can speak from the day you have memory then?” asked I.

“I don’t even remember my first memory; this is always how I talk.” Answered Shannon.

“How long have you been living here? Where did you get all the furniture from? I am sorry for those questions; it just seems to be hard to believe you are all on your own.” I blurted out and somehow there was anger inside me, maybe I thought this was just a trick or even prank played by her or someone else.

“To be honest, I don’t remember, this is the room I always remembered living in, since the time I could remember. The sky is the same, the stars are the same, the ocean and the beach are the same, even the trees and grass near me are the same. I may have seen different animals but that’s the only things that have changed over time.”

“Haven’t you seen the people on the beach?” I got more and more confused.

“Not really, I only see birds on the beach.” She answered quickly.

“Have you ever thought about leaving here and exploring the world?” I asked carefully, she had been here through her whole life, and she must not want to leave.

“What’s out there? I thought this is the world, I have my house, my bed, my sky, my ocean, what else out there could be so attractive that I have to go see?”

“Well, don’t you want to see other people? Don’t you enjoy talking to another person like what we are doing now?”

“I guess so,” she looked at me confusedly, then she looked out, I was not sure if this question reminded her something she had long forgotten, she then said, “but do the people out there all look like you? Do you all live like this?”

“Haha,” I couldn’t help myself from laughing, “No Shannon, there are billions of us live in the world and none of us look alike, even twins are different somewhat. And of course, we all live in different ways, but I guess there are people live like you,” I paused for a little bit and then said, “maybe.”

She seemed to get more interested in learning more about the world outside, she asked a lot more questions after that and I told her more than she asked, and I wish I couldn’t wait to take her to explore the world at that moment. The sunshine outside the house started filling in the whole house, the sun was moving toward the ocean, the breeze I felt earlier turned into cool air, I started feeling chill, that was when I realized it was time for me to leave.

“I am sorry I need to leave now; I’ve got to find the path going down to the beach. Thank you for the tea and it was a great pleasure talking to you, Shannon.” I stood up after I finished talking, Shannon looked at me, but she didn’t move, I could almost tell she didn’t want me to leave.

“Do you want to go with me?” I didn’t know why I just asked her that, there was a moment I thought someone else was there that asked the question.

“Yes.” I couldn’t believe what she said, she didn’t even hesitate for a second, I couldn’t have imagined all of this would happen in the morning that day before I left the hotel.

I walked out of the house, she walked out and started dancing around, I then told her, “You will need to have some clothes on first, I don’t want to get in trouble when we meet someone.”

As soon as I finished talking, she went back to the house and came out a few seconds later, and here she was, somehow, she used the sheet and tied it into a dress, and it just looked perfect on her.

“I guess you don’t have to wear shoes.” I laughed; I didn’t tell her how beautiful she looked like because I know she wouldn’t know what that meant.

Before we walked away, she stared at her house for a while, I could tell there was tears in her eyes when she turned away and walked further and further from her home.

“What have you done? Ron!” I asked myself; I wouldn’t have realized that would be the question I have asked myself the most in my life.