06-23-2019, 08:50 PM
OPHANIM
He feels her body tremble and it reminds him of the first time they ever had sex, the way they were each terrified. They explored each other’s bodies and made a vow back then to love one another. Now here they are. The tears brimming along her eyes should quell his rage but he can hardly see through all the hurt and the way he wants to hurt her back. She says she’s perfectly innocent in this situation, that she never cast the first stone to send him seeking out the affections of another. He doesn’t mean to laugh but he does anyway. The sound is cruel and jagged like his scales, echoing off the remaining trees.
“Yes, you never left me alone at night. I never stayed up late wondering where you were. I didn’t wake up every day wondering if that was the day you left forever. You are flawless and all-knowing, the mighty Starsin,” he says as she pushes back. He doesn’t budge, an unyielding tower of judgement. He remembers how rarely she came around when they were young and the way he blamed himself. Some awful part of him said it was because he wasn’t good enough for her to stay. Ophanim remembers telling his mother goodbye because he was afraid he would lose her in the middle of the plague. He’d gotten sick in the meadows just counting the hours until she returned.
“I fully intended to stay right here in Sylva, alone every single night until my sentence was up. I dreamt of coming home to you and Malone,” he says in a voice like a hiss as she jerks herself back. But he follows, matching her step for step as he continues on. “All I have ever wanted in this life was you. I want to wake up beside you every morning and I want us to stop with the bullshit.”
He presses his chest to Starsin’s roughly as he curls his neck against hers, burying his face in her mane. Ophanim’s wings fold forward to wrap around her as he breathes her in for perhaps the last time. If today is their last day, then he wants one more memory like this to cling to whenever the nights are empty. Inch by inch, the scales and the black across his body retreats, leaving the gold and white of the real him. When he sighs, the breath comes out shuddering and weak.
“You are the only light in my life.”
“Yes, you never left me alone at night. I never stayed up late wondering where you were. I didn’t wake up every day wondering if that was the day you left forever. You are flawless and all-knowing, the mighty Starsin,” he says as she pushes back. He doesn’t budge, an unyielding tower of judgement. He remembers how rarely she came around when they were young and the way he blamed himself. Some awful part of him said it was because he wasn’t good enough for her to stay. Ophanim remembers telling his mother goodbye because he was afraid he would lose her in the middle of the plague. He’d gotten sick in the meadows just counting the hours until she returned.
“I fully intended to stay right here in Sylva, alone every single night until my sentence was up. I dreamt of coming home to you and Malone,” he says in a voice like a hiss as she jerks herself back. But he follows, matching her step for step as he continues on. “All I have ever wanted in this life was you. I want to wake up beside you every morning and I want us to stop with the bullshit.”
He presses his chest to Starsin’s roughly as he curls his neck against hers, burying his face in her mane. Ophanim’s wings fold forward to wrap around her as he breathes her in for perhaps the last time. If today is their last day, then he wants one more memory like this to cling to whenever the nights are empty. Inch by inch, the scales and the black across his body retreats, leaving the gold and white of the real him. When he sighs, the breath comes out shuddering and weak.
“You are the only light in my life.”
you could drown in those eyes, i said.