08-23-2016, 12:29 AM
i swallow my doubt, turn it inside out - find nothing but faith in nothing.
There is something in the weight of his words that draws a darkness from his storming eyes, and it pulls gently at her heartstrings, delicately playing at her emotions. Her mischievous smile falters and soon, her whiskered lips are hard-pressed as she immerses herself within the fragile pages of his own story, marveling at the way his brow furrows with each ridge of anger and the way his jaw clenches with each wave of sadness. Death, he merely allows to roll off of his terse, tension-filled shoulders, but the hurricane brewing within his dark, telling eyes speak of a fate much worse than death.
His life is an intricately woven tale of devotion and dedication, which hardly causes her to bat a lash - there was something within the hardened lines of his face that had already told her of his affinity towards loyalty; something that drew her closer to him still. And then, a name. Joelle. Suddenly the darkness lifts from his eyes, and a gentle light reaches the very depths of his soul - he had loved her, and gently, she cranes her slender neck to press the bridge of her nose to his neck.
The silence lingers, interrupted only by the echoing threat of a looming storm - it rumbles and rolls through the land, and if she were to pull her hazel eyes away from the sadness that once again pilfers into his soulful eyes, she would see the dark, electricity-fueled clouds rolling in - but she cannot bring herself to. His voice darkens, as suddenly as the afternoon sky had, drawing the emotion forward but drowning his own despair within its gravelly pitch. The failure drenches each and every word that grinds out between his blunt, hardened teeth, and gently, she tucks the bridge of her forehead beneath his jaw, and her heavy lashes close over her eyes.
"Absence and death are the same - only that in death, there is no suffering," She murmurs, drawing her cheek away from his to meet his gaze. Such a devastating loss must be haunting. "or so my father has told me."
His smile, though beautiful and gleaming with charm, does not reach the depths of his eyes, and so she does not return it. Instead, her whiskered lips remain a hardened line, and a deep shame tugs gently at her soul. She had spent too many days fiddling with decrepit bones, manipulating and twisting them and tearing them from flesh at every stage of decomposition for her own delight, but the burden of meaning now weighs heavily on her.
Death had been nothing but an inevitability - an untimely end that any and all might meet - but now? Its meaning weighs heavily along the ridges of her shoulders, and regret - oh, so easily mistaken for pity, though her heart aches for him as he wallows still in his own thinly-veiled pain - washes over her like the very same pulling tide that had once drawn him out to sea.
"You are nothing if not remarkable," She muses, forcing a smile to the corner of her mouth. "and Joelle," Her eyes follow the shadows that descend upon the plain, her chest rattled by the deepened rumble of a storming sky, but she savors its prowess as it shakes her to the very pit of her bones. "she must have been wonderful."
Guilt, heartache and grief all remain tucked carefully within the seams of his words, and in the sadness of his smile.
"You must have loved her deeply, to sacrifice yourself to death to protect her - to avenge her," Her eyes meet his again, finally, as soulfully honest as his own. "there is nothing more extraordinary in life. Power, it holds little meaning - only a fool would put any value to it - but love? Most of us could only hope to find something worth dying for - and you are proof that it exists." At last, the faintest of smiles. "And here you are."
His life is an intricately woven tale of devotion and dedication, which hardly causes her to bat a lash - there was something within the hardened lines of his face that had already told her of his affinity towards loyalty; something that drew her closer to him still. And then, a name. Joelle. Suddenly the darkness lifts from his eyes, and a gentle light reaches the very depths of his soul - he had loved her, and gently, she cranes her slender neck to press the bridge of her nose to his neck.
The silence lingers, interrupted only by the echoing threat of a looming storm - it rumbles and rolls through the land, and if she were to pull her hazel eyes away from the sadness that once again pilfers into his soulful eyes, she would see the dark, electricity-fueled clouds rolling in - but she cannot bring herself to. His voice darkens, as suddenly as the afternoon sky had, drawing the emotion forward but drowning his own despair within its gravelly pitch. The failure drenches each and every word that grinds out between his blunt, hardened teeth, and gently, she tucks the bridge of her forehead beneath his jaw, and her heavy lashes close over her eyes.
"Absence and death are the same - only that in death, there is no suffering," She murmurs, drawing her cheek away from his to meet his gaze. Such a devastating loss must be haunting. "or so my father has told me."
His smile, though beautiful and gleaming with charm, does not reach the depths of his eyes, and so she does not return it. Instead, her whiskered lips remain a hardened line, and a deep shame tugs gently at her soul. She had spent too many days fiddling with decrepit bones, manipulating and twisting them and tearing them from flesh at every stage of decomposition for her own delight, but the burden of meaning now weighs heavily on her.
Death had been nothing but an inevitability - an untimely end that any and all might meet - but now? Its meaning weighs heavily along the ridges of her shoulders, and regret - oh, so easily mistaken for pity, though her heart aches for him as he wallows still in his own thinly-veiled pain - washes over her like the very same pulling tide that had once drawn him out to sea.
"You are nothing if not remarkable," She muses, forcing a smile to the corner of her mouth. "and Joelle," Her eyes follow the shadows that descend upon the plain, her chest rattled by the deepened rumble of a storming sky, but she savors its prowess as it shakes her to the very pit of her bones. "she must have been wonderful."
Guilt, heartache and grief all remain tucked carefully within the seams of his words, and in the sadness of his smile.
"You must have loved her deeply, to sacrifice yourself to death to protect her - to avenge her," Her eyes meet his again, finally, as soulfully honest as his own. "there is nothing more extraordinary in life. Power, it holds little meaning - only a fool would put any value to it - but love? Most of us could only hope to find something worth dying for - and you are proof that it exists." At last, the faintest of smiles. "And here you are."
Ellyse