Six Months - dsr - Champagne Challenge 107 PG 7/20/09

[darkstarrising]

Hi!! What follows is my offering for the Champagne Challenge with title 'Six Months'.

As always, I don't own the characters, but dearly love to play with them!!

Hope you enjoy!!

Six Months

Twilight. The time when the light of her world flees from the darkness of mine.

Time for the evening ritual; dinner, bath, a bed time story. A silent prayer. Veiled in shadows, my vigil had begun again, much as it had since the tearful reunion of mother and child. Yet this night’s vigil was different. For the first time in six months, the light went out in an upstairs bedroom. Her bedroom.

A prayer finally answered.

I held my breath, waiting for the plaintive cry for the light, the reassuring touch, the words promising all would be well. It never came. For a little girl who’d been through the hell she had, sleeping in the dark again was a big step. One I feared she’d never take and all because of me.

Minutes passed, still nothing.

I couldn’t resist. I crossed the street and stood beneath her window. The staccato of her heart beat surrounded me. I imagined her clutching a stuffed animal, eyes wide open, hoping no monsters would find her in the dark. I wanted to tell her they would come to her only in her dreams, and with time, even those would fade away. As I waited and listened and prayed some more, her heart beat slowed. The rhythm of her breathing told me that fear had lost the battle to sleep. All would be well.

Sweet dreams, Beth. You’re safe now.

That night should have been the last I was ever near her. I had told myself that when her light went out, I could stop watching over her. She wouldn’t need me anymore. She had taken that first step back to innocence and could make the rest of the journey guided by human love and compassion. I would retreat to the shadows, back where I belonged, never again to darken her life with mine.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

When Beth had taken my bloodied hand, she had touched something in me I thought long lost. Something I was afraid I would lose forever if I left her; the light of love. So I stayed, hidden in the shadows, finding every excuse I could to remain on the fringes of her life.

Just out of sight, longing for her light.

Weeks turned to months, and months to years, but still, I couldn’t leave, I couldn’t let go. The little girl with the brilliant blue eyes had overcome her childhood fears and had grown into a beautiful, confident woman. Yet every time I told myself that it was time to let her go, I found a reason to stick around. Maybe she didn’t need me, but I needed her.

Six months ago, I got closer to Beth than I’d been in many years. A glimpse on the internet. A murdered woman. Beth was out there and so was he. I had to see her. I had to make sure she was safe. At first, I kept to the shadows, entranced by this beautiful woman, shoes in hand, walking barefoot through the fountain at 2 am. The cops were still around and another news crew had just come on the scene. She was safe. I could leave now.

I didn’t. I couldn’t.

Worse, I stepped out of the shadows and let her see me. We talked, and for a moment, she knew me. The memory was there on the fringes of her mind, just as I had been for the last 23 years. Finally, self-preservation overcame curiosity, and I disappeared. But like the proverbial moth to the flame, I kept coming back, and little by little, I let the grown woman see the man whose heart she had touched so very long ago. By accident, she found out what I was.

She wasn’t afraid. She didn’t leave. She became my friend.

At first, I just liked being around her. She made me feel alive again. Then, she saved my life in a way that both horrified and thrilled me. A connection was made. After that night, I knew I had to retreat forever to the shadows where I belonged. Beth lived in the world of light, while mine was one of darkness. She couldn’t live in mine, and I could never return to hers. I had to break the connection.

I didn’t. I couldn’t.

The more I tried to back away from her, the closer she would try to get. The night she finally recognized me from her childhood nightmare was my undoing. She didn’t hate or condemn me. Just as she had so long ago, her hand reached out for mine. This time, it was she who asked for trust, shielding my face from the burning rays of the sun. Her lips gently brushed my face, and I ran away, afraid of the light, afraid of her, afraid of what I felt for her. It would have been easier if she had been angry with me and walked out of my life.

She didn’t. She couldn’t. The connection between us had been made many years ago and I knew now it would never be broken.

We grew closer, then apart, as echoes from the past returned to tempt and torment us both. Life was torn away from one who loved her, then returned to another whose love she craved. For a brief time, I enjoyed the light of the sun again. For a brief time, I believed I could live in her world and not be afraid.

As another Mick said, you can’t always get what you want. Maybe not, but that doesn't mean you stop trying.

For her life, I gave up the sun and returned to the shadows. For her love, I would do it again. Yet now, after everything we’ve been through, life is no longer black and white, the world is no longer dark and light. The love I feared to offer has been returned in kind and forms the bridge between our two worlds.

Twilight. The time when the light of her world embraces the darkness of mine.

[cassysj]

This is really beautiful.

[nutmegger911]

DSR - This is beautiful! Thes story is so touching and the way you shift back and forth creates a wonderful cadence that draws the reader in even more.

[darkstarrising]

This is really beautiful.

cassy,

thanks I'm glad you liked it.

DSR - This is beautiful! Thes story is so touching and the way you shift back and forth creates a wonderful cadence that draws the reader in even more.

nm911,

thanks so much!! I was trying to achieve a chant like cadence. A pilgrim in the dark praying for the light.

[helloeeze]

beautiful, inspring, touching! WOW!

[kpyle]

That was beautiful, and very touching!!

Kelly

[janicevictoria]

DSR that was simply gorgeous and poignant...I loved this line

Then, she saved my life in a way that both horrified and thrilled me.

That sums up Mick's feeling so well. Beautiful story

[lorig]

That was beautiful, just beautiful!!

[allegrita]

DSR, this is a lovely prose poem. Yes, it is a chant, and the cadence serves to show us the dark and the light, the longing and the rejection, the trust and the fear.

I love this story. It feels like an extended voiceover. Mick's torment and self-loathing come through, but so does his dawning realization that love really is worth the pain and hard work.

Yet now, after everything we’ve been through, life is no longer black and white, the world is no longer dark and light. The love I feared to offer has been returned in kind and forms the bridge between our two worlds.

Twilight. The time when the light of her world embraces the darkness of mine.

Oh--just lovely!

This is such a hopeful story. Thank you for the image of the bridge spanning the gulf between them--because heaven knows there is a gulf. If ever two people had their work cut out for them... ...but that's the trick, isn't it? Hope. Belief. The willingness not only to suffer and sacrifice for one's love, but also to open up, embrace, accept.

[mitzie]

Beautiful and full of hope!! I love that last line!!! Great story!!!!


mitzie

[wpgrace]

Hey honey! What a lovely, poetic, synopsis of their relationship! Beautiful and clever!

[AussieJo]

"sigh"

[francis]

This is heartbreakingly beautiful, dsr.

The paragraph where he thought that he could go away now but didn't was brilliant. Moth to the flame, dark soul to the light.

Maybe she didn’t need me, but I needed her.

And the refrain of couldn't shouldn't, showing like nothing else how he just didn't get away from her for various reasons, and fell for her more every time.
Then the scene at the fountain and the whole episodes of the show condensed into a few sentences that show how important Beth is for him, how life saving her acceptance is.

And then you come full circle with that last sentence, and all is well. Sigh. What a beautiful, beautiful piece of work!!!

[one.zebra]

Have to agree with above gushing....love is the bridge...love was always the bridge, but he built it first when he saved her, she just insisted on walking across it, back to him.

[fairytoes]

That was so beautiful! Thank you!