Gone Again Rose

She leaned forward against my arm like a feather who drifts lightly into the unknown. She turned to me and whispered. “Michael, do you believe in the winds of time, fate?

I was silent because I didn’t know what to say. “Then let me go. Please Michael; let me go.”

Even when she was shattered, she was dozens of shiny diamonds to me. “You are my tune without words,” I whispered in her ear.

“I am the gale out on a distant sea.”

It was 1030 and everybody was asleep except her and I. “Soon you’ll age out Michael and you will start a career. What will I do then?” She whispered. “You believe that ink is black, and lemon is sour. But Michael, there must be something in between.” She suddenly leaned way out over the railing. It was a hundred feet straight down into the boiling surf. I grabbed for her, but she pushed me away. “Take a risk Michael.” She cried out deliriously and wrapped her arms tight around my neck. “I’m a young woman and I’m wild and free.” I would have given anything for that to be true.

Somewhere along the path of love and happiness we had lost our way. Now the ever presence of death shadowed our every step. “I want to be where stony stream beds turn to seas. For the ocean refuses no river and it won’t reject me. My life fades into mountain caves and I can’t take you with me, but I must go see. The darkness beckons me.”

“For me you will be and then not be.” I replied.

“But somewhere at eternity's end I will spring from the soil of a new world like a seed and be born again.”

Suddenly a voice over a speaker high in the walls said. “Last call; for destination pods.”

“The past and present are all as one big brother.”

“But you’re only a child and I am your guardian.”

“You know that only those that have not reached the age of puberty can be colonists. We are born to one world and our cycles are set during our becoming. They tried Michael; remember the first ones. They were unable to adjust and were driven to madness.”

“But will I ever see you again?”

“Michael, you know the answer to your own question. The human body can only be cloned once. But I will dream of you and home.”

Suddenly she stepped up and climbed into the pod and as she slid the glass down I said. “I love you Rose.”

With tears in her eyes, she smiled and gave me the thumbs up. I pushed the button and there was a bright flash of light kind of like the old flash bulbs on cameras and she was gone. As I turned around and reached into my pocket for my ID so I could get past security I found a folded sheet of paper and scribbled on it was.

THE END

Bio:Timothy Wilkie is a local hero in the Hudson Valley. From his music to his art and storytelling. He's an old hippy and a storyteller in the truest sense of the word. He has two grown sons and loves to spend time with them. His writing credits include Aphelion, Horror-zine, Dark Dossier and many more...

E-mail: Timothy Wilkie

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