There is a place
A place far, far from us, but closer than our fears would ever want
In this place there walks a creature indistinguishable from any human man
But he is distinguished from us, for he lives an immortal life
Our time, in our place, from birth to old age and death, is but a breath for him.
He walks through this place; so far, but too close, never knowing what we call love
And he loves
Or he wishes to, but knows not how
He longs, but knows that his longing is in vain
Time passed not for this immortal creature, and as our time passed he became more and more that which we all fear
He became fear itself
Then
Then he saw her
And he knew he was slain
She looked frail, and yet he saw through her veil of frailty to the strength that slept within her
The shrouded giant that would crush his world
And in that moment he knew love for the first time in all of his centuries upon centuries of existence
He fell to his knees and wept uncontrollably as this unknown feeling swept through his very essence
Like a tsunami sweeping over a lonely atoll
Her voice: “Mister, are you okay?”
A song never before heard in his universe of darkness
He hid his face, shrank from her and managed only a timid “Yes, now please go away”
She did not move
She did not speak
As time did not pass, he eventually looked up at her. When he did so, she smiled at him
And extended her delicate hand to help him to his feet
He accepted her hand
And he rose
And for the first time in his immortal life, he did not know what to say, or do
He looked away and down, and spied a single flower
He reached away and down and robbed it from the plant that gave it life
When he did so, he assured it of its rapid death
And, in a way, his own
He presented it to her
The smile that beset her face at this simple gift was so pure and so beautiful that his face, struggling as it was to resist, bore a smile too
He accidentally spoke aloud: “I cannot recall that I have ever smiled before.”
He thought of his centuries without love, torn to shreds by her simple smile, and began to cry again
But gently this time
He stood before her, wishing with everything he had ever known, that she would leave
And yet his entire life was begging her to stay with him forever
Forever
She could never know the forever in which he lives
This immortal existence, which he had cherished for so long, now became a burden unbearable
As he gently wept, she placed her free hand which held her flower and his death upon his cheek
For she was still holding his hand with her other
This was too much
He needed to flee
Flee to the caressing safety of the fear and darkness he had become
But he couldn’t
He couldn’t
He didn’t want to
His life was no longer his, but hers
He had just not formally presented it to her yet
She looked at him and said
“There’s something strange about you. Can you tell me what it is?”
“Over time. Over time, my beautiful flower, if you will allow me”
“Yes, I think I will. I want to”
He gently removed her hand from his face and placed a gentle kiss upon it
She smiled ever more
He smiled
“I am Heinrich. I am at you service. Whatever you wish in this world I shall be honored to make it happen”
“I am Alexandra. I am honored to make your acquaintance, Heinrich, but for now I must go. May I meet you here tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow at this same time? I shall be here”
“I, too. Until then.”
She gently placed one finger over his lips, took a deep breath of her flower, and gazed deeply into his eyes
After a few moments of love and curiosity growing between them, she slowly turned from him
He stood there, unable to speak or even move as she walked away
As she walked away, she turned once and smiled at him
Then she turned away and continued walking, leaving him standing there, in love
As she walked, she gave an almost inaudible hiss, opened her mouth and grew two long, razor sharp fangs
She ran her tongue gently and sensually over them as if in anticipation of a feast yet to come, then retracted them
She strode purposefully away from him. She would wait until tomorrow
© 2020, Christopher A. Hollrah