Insomnia -- PG-13 Challenge #127

[Luxe de Luxe]

Title: Insomnia

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Not mine, never have been.

A/N: This month's challenge is to write a story titled "Insomnia", incorporating the words: wire, uniform and heat. It can be any length, any style, any genre, as long as it's set within the Moonlight universe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Insomnia



The rhythm of his being altered the moment her tiny fingers fluttered against his. At the time he hadn’t fully understood the significance of the humid little hand pressed against his; the simple trust in her cool, blue eyes an incoming tide, a warmth that surged against the walls of his defences in an irresistible advance, a gentle wave that swelled into each tiny crevice of his implacable interior and filled it with the siren call of an emotion he hadn’t experienced since he’d been human - a sense of belonging.

He’d assumed that the vampirism had eradicated his ability to form the tensile wires that shaped a union between two people, had mourned it with Irish whiskey swigged straight from the bottle while he fed photos of his family one by one into the flames. Too late he’d realised that the passion he felt for Coraline was a trap, their heat a terrible enchantment leaving nothing in its wake but the sour aftertaste of despair and other people’s deaths. Hell isn’t sulphur and brimstone, it is loving your executioner. He’d believed he’d been lost to the pit forever.

The pain the alterations her acceptance had made in him didn’t become apparent until later, the isolation in his eyrie abrading him, the ache of his aloneness doubling him over with grief. He sobbed out loud for the loss of his mother and for the tousle-haired children he would never catch to his chest in infinite gratitude. How weak to sink as low as this! His fist clenched in defiance. He was strong, he was invincible, he was Death Incarnate!

He was beaten, he was vulnerable, he was afraid of living. If only he could he go back to his detachment, to his compassion for humanity as a principle. But the tide once turned wouldn’t be stopped. His soul had awoken and it was human. It was human.

He visited her that night and every night for a thousand moonlit evenings, crouched beside by her bedside, rigid with terror in the silence between each exhalation and softly indrawn breath. That she survived despite his nightly vigilance didn’t comfort him, only drove the anxiety higher. Who better than he to know what dangers lurked within the daylight? Perhaps she was a cruel, cosmic joke, the universe producing her only to snatch her away again, to give him hope only it to crush it dead. Her loss would be no less punishment than he deserved, a justice to all those whose lives he’d taken.

He couldn’t bear the thought of her little girl laughter stilled, his life returned to its uniform self-loathing. Nightly vigils bled into bleary-eyed oblivion as the sun dipped toward the indigo and began again each moonrise. Wakeful weeks became sleepless months and those months grew into years.

He still watched her now, his lips against her brow and the changes roll through like thunder, no less terrifying than before. But it is his own heart that beats within her body now, his own soul captured in the rhythm of her breath. She is his life, his very existence. He is no longer alone, no longer all alone and only now can he comprehend the meaning that humid little hand had pressed into his so very long ago. No humanity is contained within the Cure. It is in the crumbling walls of his defences, the expression on her face each sunrise and the tenderness of her midnight touch.

In the rising tide of her cool, blue eyes, he is as whole and pure as any man.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[francis]

Ooooohhhh!!! This is squeezing my heart and not letting go. I could quote every sentence and write an essay but I don't have the time.

Hell isn’t sulphur and brimstone, it is loving your executioner. He’d believed he’d been lost to the pit forever.

And:

His soul had awoken and it was human. It was human.

And:

In the rising tide of her cool, blue eyes, he is as whole and pure as any man.

Moonlight was all about salvation found in love. You captured the essence of what changed Mick into the person he was after he rescued Beth. And you captured the pain it cost to be altered like this. Compassion hurts, and makes us human, and makes us vulnerable, but it's oh so much better than being cold and alone.

This is a classic!

[maggatha3]

Oh, Luxe.... your words....so captivating...
Twenty something years of sleepless nights, some would definitely think it can be a nightmare. I felt that insomnia was so good for Mick, so different than the actual meaning of the word. Being her sleepless guardian angel, night after night brought him to his inner self, led him to his so longed humanity. It was a gift for him not being able to sleep out of worry to safeguard her all those years.. now he lies next to her, he doesn't mind being deprived of his sleep. I am sure he never did.
Even insomnia can be a blessing in your hands, Luxe, who would have thought?
Thanks!

[allegrita]

Oh, Luxe. What a beautiful story. I'm so moved by it, I can't think of what to say, except that this is a perfect depiction of Mick's and Beth's relationship from Mick's perspective.

[wpgrace]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing writing! Really lovely lovely story, but your turns of phrase in this one just wrenches at the heart, tears up the eyes, warms the soul, and turns up the corners of the mouth.

[jen]

Luxe

In a few, exquisite words you have summed up the beautiful, romantic, redemptive, emotional journey that was Moonlight.

This is the union of Mick and Beth, boiled down to its essence. It also sums up the destructive nature of Mick and Coraline's union.

I could quote the whole thing.

I especially love the line that it is Mick's heart that now beats in Beth's chest, and yet this line contains within it is promise of future pain, because of the finite nature of life itself.

Absolutely lovely.

Thank you!

Jenna

[Luxe de Luxe]

francis, you just get it. And you chose some of the lines I liked best of all in this too!

I totally agree with you, maggatha. Mick benefited from his wakeful days in ways he never could have contemplated.

you couldn't have given me a nicer compliment, Alle. Thank you.

glad you enjoyed, grace.

thanks, jen. to be human is to suffer somewhere along the track I guess, and Mick has accepted thats what this means, I think.

[Lucy]

a fitting tribute to a man in love and the vitality that love infuses to him......

[Luxe de Luxe]

a fitting tribute to a man in love and the vitality that love infuses to him......

thank you, Lucy

[darkstarrising]

Luxe, you've outdone yourself, and knowing and loving your past works, that's saying something.

I could quote and praise many lines in this incredible introspection, but those below are the ones that touched a nerve or spoke so clearly, I couldn't ignore them

Hell isn’t sulphur and brimstone, it is loving your executioner. He’d believed he’d been lost to the pit forever.

That has got to be the most creative way of describing the love / hate relationship Mick had with Coraline. Brava!!

He was strong, he was invincible, he was Death Incarnate!

He was beaten, he was vulnerable, he was afraid of living.

The walking contradiction that Mick is - a powerful immortal, powerless to save himself. There is only one who can, and did

She is his life, his very existence. He is no longer alone, no longer all alone and only now can he comprehend the meaning that humid little hand pressed into his so very long ago.

Incredibly, hauntingly beautiful, Luxe

[Luxe de Luxe]

thank you, dsr. I particularly liked your description of this as an 'introspection'. I suppose it is and that word is just cool.

I've really been struggling with my writing lately, not just with the motivation in the face of increasing RL pressures, but with feeling that the creative well is dry. Reviews like yours are a little shower of encouragement. Thanks again.

[nutmegger911]

Luxe, This is beautiful. It felt like a serenade to the humanity within us. The rising tide is the perfect descriptor for this. Unstoppable and filling every crevice of his being.

Your writing is always so elegant, but this really captured me.

He still watched her now, his lips against her brow and the changes roll through like thunder, no less terrifying than before.

It solidified in my mind's eye the vision of an ocean storm and its impact on those in its path. Thank you.

[Luxe de Luxe]

Luxe, This is beautiful. It felt like a serenade to the humanity within us. The rising tide is the perfect descriptor for this. Unstoppable and filling every crevice of his being.

Your writing is always so elegant, but this really captured me.

He still watched her now, his lips against her brow and the changes roll through like thunder, no less terrifying than before.

It solidified in my mind's eye the vision of an ocean storm and its impact on those in its path. Thank you.

You're a balm for a poor writer's soul, nutmegger.

It felt like a serenade to the humanity within us.

That sentence is poetry.

[cassysj]

This is absolutely amazing. It sums up Mick's feeling for Beth perfectly. He's had a long time dealing with sleeplessness but it's worth it to him.

Wonderful.

[Luxe de Luxe]

This is absolutely amazing. It sums up Mick's feeling for Beth perfectly. He's had a long time dealing with sleeplessness but it's worth it to him.

Wonderful.

thanks so much, cassy. That means a lot.