Eternity

Chapter 1

Many years ago I was happy because I had her, she was full of life and light. We met as children and as we grew our love did too. We knew we were destined, that we were soul mates; there was no one like her. She had beautiful reddishcurly hair, porcelain-colored skin, and wonderful blue eyes.

When she became of age, I asked for her hand in marriage; our families supported us, they had waited for that moment as much as we did and they accompanied us in our happiness. My engagement gift to her was a heart-shaped cameo and a butterfly with a single word inscribed inside it: Eternity.

My love for her was so deep that I could never set my gaze on another woman, not even famous beauties like Miss Cowper, who was rumored to come from another city and everyone had been delighted with her. I treated her on various occasions with the cordiality that she deserved, but nothing more, my heart was already busy.

The day we finally got married, we had a wonderful wedding and our life together at the beginning of our marriage could not be better. We dreamed of having our own family and, while that was happening, we enjoyed our alone time, an intimacy and affinity that few have the privilege of experiencing. But one day, suddenly everything changed.

She became ill and her health deteriorated little by little, no doctor could say exactly what she had, they only knew that she was slowly wasting away. She tried to not show how bad she felt, she would smile and joke at me, but the dark circles and the paleness of her skin showed how sick she was. I did what I could, I brought before her every doctor I met and even an old witch known to the whole world.

-Her blood is poisoned, I can't do anything anymore - she told me - she won't last long.

It was as if a condemnation had been pronounced, because days later, with me next to her holding her hand, hers her heart stopped beating and her life left her body with one last breath, taking mine with her. The pain of losing her was unbearable, I closed myself in, I didn't allow anyone to see me; alcohol was my only companion, it anesthetized me and took me away from my bitter reality.

One night, totally drunk, I went for a walk in the garden of what was our home. She walked aimlessly, humming the tune of our waltz, tears ran down my cheeks, whispering her name to the sky, cursing my luck for losing her. In my state, I never saw what was stalking me; a shadow that followed me closely, waiting for the right moment.

I got to the edge of a clearing, I stopped to see the sky and I cursed the God who had taken the love of my life from me, I cried, I screamed until I couldn't take it anymore. After a few hours and a little more sober, as I walked back, the darkness betrayed me and I found myself falling nonstop down a ditch, where I was knocked unconscious. Lying in the middle of the night with the pain of what seemed like broken bones, I appreciated having the opportunity to meet her, in that moment death was the best thing that could happen to me.

Suddenly, what had been following me came out of the darkness like an animal on the prowl in search of its prey, covered by the shadows of the night. I remember that she approached and in my delirium I thought she was some wild creature; But a human shadow covered me with the light of the moon, he crouched next to my wounded body, I tried to say something to her, but the words did not come out, and then I felt her hands, cold as marble, touching my face.

"You'll be fine," she whispered. "I'll take care of you."

And suddenly I felt a stabbing pain in my neck, as if a knife had been stuck in me, and a sensation of burning heat ran through my veins, I begged her to stop, but she did not flinch.

"It'll be over soon," she whispered in my ear.

I began to hear voices in the distance and footsteps approaching, the shadow again caressed my cheek and left. After a short while they found me, people carried me and took me back to my house, put me to bed and sent for the doctor. The pain that ran through my body was too intense, nothing stopped it, it was as if a painful fever twisted each of my muscles, like boiling lava running through me.