The Beach
The smell of death is heavy here, and the sky overhead is nearly always grey. The gods weep for those souls no longer living, and the iron gray waves sweep away the bodies of the fallen to the deep. The sand here is bone white - for good reason - and each step along the shore is made on the backs of thousands of horses before you.
This is not a place to put characters on hold. This is a place to die. Once they are gone here, they're gone forever. This is an In Character Board, not an Out of Character board where you just tell what characters are here and which are gone.
you are the best thing that's ever been mine, liefde
IP: 146.151.16.103
Posted on March 23, 2011 at 04:49:50 PM by starmiss*
when it was hard to take, this is what i thought about:
do you remember all the city lights on the water?
--
Is it true, what they say? That when you love something, you should let it go? Starmiss thinks not. When you find something that captures your heart, something you love more than life itself, cling to it, keep it dear and warm and safe, for fear you will lose it against the wind, swept away to another time, another place. Maybe if she had not let Liefde go so many times they would be happy now, not wasting away their last years with arguments and regrets.
For months – years – they had skirted the issue of her mortality; the issue that she would end and he would not, he would go forever like the ticking of a timeless clock, on and on until a generation seemed like the blink of an eye and an eon was nothing but a day. With every one of their meetings, it was brought up but then dismissed, as if they could make it not so by simply ignoring it. Like the annoying relative that stops by on holidays.
But she had born him a son – a beautiful, healthy son, loved by two parents who perhaps had faltered in loving each other but had a never ending love for this gift of a child – and she had known that her act in doing so would be her end. The white mare was much too frail and much too weak, and while the birth had not killed her immediately, she could feel in her bones that it was only a matter of time now – weeks, days, perhaps, she was not sure.
Nevertheless, she feels it weighing on her; she feels every step is a burden on her poor, aching joints, every bend of her neck to rip food from the earth or take a sip of cool water is a sharp, stabbing pain. The energy needed to walk long distances leaves her winded, and both her eyesight and hearing are beginning to go. She looks over her shoulder and sees Death, biding his time, waiting patiently for her to be ready, to say her goodbyes, to tie up an old woman’s loose ends.
Death is patient no more.
Perhaps she could sense that today would be the day – perhaps she had simply decided that she was tired, a tired, ancient mare who had seen and experienced things that some would only dream of. Whatever the reason, she wakes on this crisp, autumnal day – such a contrast to the fiery sands where she once lived, once reigned and protected. The white mare wakes, and she sighs. She looks for her golden-boy, but then decides it is better this way. Alone. As she had begun.
As she makes her way to the beach her mind wanders, as it often does, to Liefde, and to the words he had murmured in her ear the autumn last. ‘If you want me with you, I can do it. I can do that. I can die, Starmiss.’ She wonders if he had meant those words, or if they had simply come to him and the heat of the moment and he had allowed them to slip out, unworried about making promises to the dying woman. Her heart ached at the thought of him joining her, being with her eternally. Forever.
But could she truly be that selfish? Could anyone? She balked at the thought of asking her golden-boy to die for her. He could have – would have – forever, why give it up for the likes of her? No, she decided. That was simply too much. Even if she was to die, there was no reason for Liefde to give up everything, just for her. He would go on and he would forget her, he would love again and he would have children and he would be happy. And she wanted that for him.
She has reached the beach, and she knows her time is quickly drawing to a close. The white mare finds a piece of driftwood lying amongst the sand, brought here by the ocean current from some far away human civilization. Starmiss lowers her frail body to the ground with a grunt, tucking her legs daintily beneath her, leaning on the driftwood for support.
Starmiss knows all too well that she won’t be getting back to her feet in this lifetime. She blinks slowly and looks out over the ocean and the horizon, marveling about life and death and all the world’s beauty. The ache remains in her heart as it struggles to continue its steady rhythm, praying that if Death was to take her from this life, that she might have one more kiss from her golden-boy to sweeten the journey.
--
--
you saw me start to believe for the first time;
you made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter,
--
you are the best thing that’s ever been mine |
<33
Replies:
Post a reply:
|