Columbus, Mississippi

So fleeting, so ephemeral, this tangled cataclysm of hearts and hands, she thought to herself as dawn slanted through pristine jalousie windows, cool breeze wafting, the smell of rain folding into morning froth. Autumn was blowing with a vengeance and she reveled in the chill, digging her feet deep within the light matelasse, seeking pockets of cold trapped among layers of hot.

There were practical considerations, of course — waves lapping at the edges of consciousness, past falling into present and hurtling ever closer to future. Eyelids fluttering shut again, she inhaled deeply, stretching her hands above her head and lacing them in the ironwork, willing the corporeal to evanesce into something faintly more manageable. Inhaling deeply, she pulled the breath from her toes to her head over and over, delighting in the dizzy rush of pleasure.

The light came quickly — too quickly — spilling across empty coffee cups and crushed cigarettes, trails of stark clarity jutting through rent gossamer. The roses lay bruised and scattered by the midnight storm, savagely beautiful, redolent of le tristesse. There were words to be said but none to be had — nothing left to offer but the only thing that had ever truly been hers, the one thing she had withheld.

Fingering the silver locket around her neck, she walked to the windowsill and unfastened the clasp, shaking the fine sterling until the heart dropped easily into her hands. She paused for a moment, torn. Bowing her head, she breathed an apology, broke a length of chain, touched it to her lips, and softly laid it on the windowsill.

Then she dropped the heart into her pocket and walked out into the morning rain.

Music: Good Enough by Evanescence (lyrics)

Posted on October 31, 2006 by Carmen K. Sisson tagged Columbus, flowers, macro, Mississippi, red, writing