A Rose Among Ashes

Chapter One

             “You know, we’ve been seeing each other for quite a while now…” her voice trailed off, as if she knew that he understood where she was going. He hesitated a moment, understanding, but unsure what to say. She looked at him with her thoughtful blue-grey eyes, “you do like me…don’t you?” He pulled her close, surprised that she would say such a thing. Her body was warm against his, and soft. Every inch of her that he had the honor to caress was soft as silk, her raven hair, her porcelain skin…her delicate lips…

         “Of course I like you! How could you think otherwise?  You are the best thing that I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve never felt like this about anyone or anything ever, except you. I’m sorry…If I’ve done something to make you feel like I didn’t like you…” She looked up at him now, smiling and blushing. The afternoon sun caught her eyes in such a way as to illuminate them, like a clear light within a crystal radiating outward. The grass on which they sat was soft and long, and spotted with flowers here and there. It was their most sacred meeting place, a place where time seemed to stop, leaving them in an eternal spring. As unearthly the landscape was, her beauty far surpassed it, and her intelligence even more so. Sometimes he wondered that perhaps the place in which they now sat was Elle’s visage and spirit personified through nature.

          “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she assured him, hugging him tighter as she spoke, “I just worry, that maybe one day…there will be someone else. I need to know… I need to know…If you love me.” She struggled to speak those words, looking away, afraid to see some hint of doubt in his soft brown eyes. She hoped that he would tell her the truth, whatever that may be. She knew that whether she said something or not, the possibility that he would leave her for another was a dark cloud on the horizon. The worst part about it was that she knew that she had no real control; any thought of such a thing was joke. They both sat there, grasped in each other’s embrace, helpless and fearful, and feeling more and more so with each passing moment of silence. He knew that something like this would eventually happen, but he never thought it would be now. He was afraid, unknowing exactly what to say. He knew well what he felt, there was no question about it, but saying it, proclaiming it so blatantly and clearly… he was afraid of hurting her, of not being able to live up to how she thinks of him. She seemed so fragile laying there in his arms, so exposed and vulnerable. This angelic vision that he had constructed around her seemed to fade, her beauty remained, but for the first time he saw her as she was, the same as he was. With each moment that passed he felt that he was failing her. He knew what he should say, but the very thought seemed to steal the very breath from his lungs. So he sat there resigned to silence, on the verge of losing his earthly angel to the sin of childish indecision.