And So It Goes (606 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 5 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Ancius (View user info) at 2004-12-09 09:37:25 EST
The sea stretched out before him, bottomless. Endless. All knowing and all forgetting. The old legends of men lost to the spirit of it rose from the very waters and acquired substance, floating inside his mind, clouding his senses, slowly drawing out his pain from him.
The wind, so strong and bitter it brought the tears to his eyes and whipped them away from his face, twisted angrily around him, wrapping himself in his coat one second and then trying to strip it from him the next. He imagined he could see the droplets sparkling as the wind carried them from his cheeks over to the water. The salt from his body returning to it's ancient place of birth.
His head was light. Full of the air that pain can cause, drained of tears, and screams and wonderings and regrets. All that was left was numbness. Waiting. Calm and ready to deal with the long, slow and sharp agonies to come. The great torture required to deal with great pain and move on. He stood suspended. In limbo, caught at the junction of the wind and the water. Teetering on the razors edge and holding himself in the air.
This wind brings memories. The past. The way of things as they were and how they have changed. The way things may be in times to come. The spirit of the air binds itself to his soul and searches. Exploring him, filling him and draining him at the same time.
His eyes flutter back into his head, the toxins in his body rushing suddenly through his bloodstream. His head tilts....and for an instant he is somewhere else, flying high above an insubstansive abstract, his body lost to him.
The sharp cold of the sea spray brings him back to himself, the wind again finding his spirit and washing through it, reunited with each other they seem to embrace yet more tightly and the tears flow into it. It embraces me as it's own and calms my questions. The why, the who, Nothing matters now but the pain. Barbed and palpable. I scream it out to the sea, and she takes it. Endless, bottomless, all knowing and uncaring. The creation of a being that cares as little for the spirit or the soul as the very water.
She comes to me and wraps her arms around me, her cheek pressed hard against my back, her hands reaching inside to the warm of my jacket and wrap around my torso. My beautiful one. Her eyes red from weeping, her body tired and frail, neither of us able to sleep. My hands touch hers and her strength supports me. I feel her pain as she feels mine, and in sharing it, it is lessened.
Behind us, standing wrapped up to the cold, his hair blowing high and hard against the wind, not feeling it's power, but understanding my need to without complaint or quip. I see him stamp the hard ground beneath him and watch his crooked smile as he sees me watching him. I see the pain inside him, carefully hidden behind a well constructed exterior he would never let anyone but us see, a private man, an oasis of calm in a storm the likes of which I have never experienced before.
They bring me back to myself. Away from the sea and the wind, away from my melancholy reverie. My lips brush hers gently and we move towards him. I embrace him and his arm pushes me away as he dances sideways, his retort coming hard and fast.
The laughter is loud and unforced, and it drowns out both the sea and the wind, it wraps up the pain and lessens it, I feel it spread across us and I feel it diminish because of it. I feel our strength growing together and realise. This is how he would have wanted it. This is how he would like to see us if he watches. This is what has always mattered most.
Friendship.
User Reviews
Submitted by TheSpook (user info) at 2004-12-09 16:10:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by tinactin (user info) at 2004-12-09 15:42:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome.
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2004-12-09 11:04:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This was quite excellent
and "so it goes", a quote from my favorite author.
Submitted by Pentameter (user info) at 2004-12-09 10:42:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is excellent.
And it needs more reviews.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-12-09 10:01:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I do not feel capable of complimenting this sufficiently this early in the morning, so I shall simply say Good show and move along my merry way.
Good show.