Flowing Flawlessly

Chapter VIII

"You were calm. Not like anyone I've ever observed. You painted me so beautifully and you came back everyday to do it over and over again. You never stopped coming. So when I had to do my physical rounds I would wait to see you at that cliff until I needed to go elsewhere. I had to lay eyes on you everyday or else I'd go insane. You were this gentle thing and I wanted you so bad because to me you were like a rare piece of gold in a mine of silver. I saved you because without you I couldn't go on. I'd have to of course because a god can never die, but physically I'd be broken. The seas would go unchecked. Dangers would come through trenches in the water from the underworld and no one would be there to stop them because you'd be gone and all my care about anything would go with you."

A god.

Poseidon.

I tried to pull myself from his vice-like grip, but I couldn't. He had me pressed into him closely so I couldn't feel anything but his warmth and overwhelming tingles. My heart hammered against my rib cage like a hammer to a nail. "Poseidon," I whispered. His hand stopped running through my hair and he pulled his head back. My face was still in his bare chest and the effect he had on me wouldn't let my muscles work to move it. "I didn't intend for this to happen, Nyx. It was all innocent. I wasn't supposed to fall for a mortal. I wasn't suppose to make myself known to anyone. But you're not just anyone," he whispered, so much emotion in his voice that my breath completely left my body.

"You love me." It was a simple observation and I'm pretty sure he already said that, but I don't remember. Thoughts aren't staying in my head like they're supposed to at the moment. He helped pull me away from him so that his ocean blue eyes could bear into my tearful brown ones. "I do. I couldn't let you die. You're too pure and perfect and I couldn't let you go. You may be dead in your world, but here you can flourish. You can be warm and pink and healthy. With me."

I closed my eyes tightly as a tear rolled down my cheek. He wiped it away swiftly, his fingers lingering on the corner of my lips. This isn't real. It can't be. I must be sleeping. Maybe I fell asleep painting again. Maybe I hit my head. But then again, it feels real. This is too vivid to be a dream.

"I'm going to wake up soon," I told him, trying to convince myself that it is just a dream despite my previous thoughts. My eyes opened and I felt the tingly sensation inside of me start to diminish. The bars holding back my emotions began to break.

"This is all just going to be a dream that I can tell my family about and we can fawn over how scary it would be if it was real," I said. He looked so conflicted, so helpless. Glass shielded his eyes, threatening to crack and let the water behind it fall. Seeing him so emotional made me feel the same. "I wish it was just a dream. I wish you didn't end up here, not like this. I'm selfish for keeping you. I've lived forever and never have I felt this complex towards anyone. I've never let my emotions control me, but with you..." He trailed off. The complete and utter truth and conviction in his voice made me finally crack into sobs harder than before.

I'm actually dead and I'm stuck here to be with a god for a dreaded eternity.