This week’s prompt over at Flash Fiction Friday is yearning; a woman waiting, yearning for …? What? A friend? A lover? The peace that eludes? Madness? I’ve got only 900 words to tell you and I’ve only until Thursday 22nd March, 2012 @ 9 A.M. EST.
(Author’s note – The story below was inspired by a story Joyce Juzwik wrote for the Counterpoint project over at Pure Slush. Thank you, Joyce… this story would not be if not for you. vmls)
WARNING – Mature Content
~*~
THE YEARNING
By Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw
~*~
At last…
She is found…
I’d searched the Earth…
She is the only one…
How then… can she refuse me?
~~**~~
For centuries I have roamed the latitudes and longitudes of Earth. There is no place that I wished to be; that I have not been. There is nothing I have not seen… touched… tasted… breathed the essence of… heard the soft music of; that I wanted, and did not have. There is no soul that I desired that was not mine… freely given. I have lived a life that most would die for.
This entire world… I have offered her… and she says ‘no’. I am refused!
~~*~~
The first moment I saw her… I knew. She was the one.
I stepped off the curb and walked out into the cobbled street… watching her eyes, riveted on my lithe body… following the sway of firm, young hips… the undulation of my full, round breasts under the silk blouse. Streetlights dance in my long golden tresses.
“Come… I will make you a queen.” I tell her. I take her hand and we walk past the open clubs… shards of the life inside spilling out into the night.
In the intertwining of our fingers, I give her knowledge… holding nothing back.
“Eternity in the palm of my hand… tell me ‘yes’… it is yours, my beloved.”
She refuses me… walking away into the warm night.
~~**~~
I watched… I waited…
~~**~~
I follow her the next night. The empty dance floor is ours. Lovers’ embrace… whispered promises… a weakening in her resolve. Opening my cloak, I press her hands to the warm flesh of my breasts. I show her all the lifetimes I have experienced.
“I am your destiny… you are mine! I love you!”
Still… her mouth says ‘no’… she walks into the night once more.
I cry out to her. I am ashamed at my weakness.
My tears flow.
~~**~~
Throughout the inevitability of time, I have been taught by the greatest scholars of this world… yet, I do not understand … her refusal, I cannot comprehend.
~~**~~
A third sleepless night… the halls of the mountaintop villa echo with my restless footsteps.
A decision in anger… I do not need her! I do not want her! Let this foolish woman hold onto her foolish fantasies… for that is all they are! And when her time comes ‘round, as it will… when regret rains down on her like darkness on a twilight forest… I shall have taken another!
~~**~~
Evening once more… another smoky, music-filled venue… she is here.
“What do you still seek? I can give you all that time has taken… and more! ‘Forever’ is not a cheat. It is yours… ours!” Bringing her into my embrace… our lips meet… her touch… her scent; sending shivers of dark desire.
“It is time!” I whisper. My hand seeking… beneath the soft fabric of her abbreviated skirt… fingers slip between smooth satin and warm flesh… her heat rising up… a slender finger touches quivering sex… an electricity of synapses… her eyes flash… a sharp gasp… and surrender.
We make love through the night and into day… giving and taking in equal measure. She is insatiable! I show her things she has never dreamed of. Day turns again into night as we drown in each other’s bodies… passions entwined in slickened flesh.
~~**~~
Later… drained and sated… naked in the moonlight… bodies bathed in a fine patina of sweat… glistening in the lunar rays; the scent of spent passions surrounds us. Red-painted lips caress her breasts… softly she moans. Brushing her hair from her slender neck…I whisper in her ear…
“Beloved… what is your answer?” My mouth opens… glistening canines extend… the pulse in her neck… beckoning.
In answer… she turns her face away.
A moment’s frigid cold as virgin flesh is pierced… the woman’s eyes flash in understanding.
Her soul is no longer hers alone…
~~finis~~
© 2012 – Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw. All Rights Reserved
Veronica The Pajama Thief 
You capture the yearning quite well here, alright!
Thank you, Thomas! 🙂
Great imagery, and yearning as tight as a violin string.
Hey, Ron! Thank you, dear friend! Trying to stay at least close to the word count was challenging… the project I had initially wrote this for gave me only about 600 words. I could have added more here since Thomas gave us 900, but… it didn’t feel right. I ended up adding only one word.
I am glad you enjoyed the story.
Very sizzling! Her passion does not seem to pick lovers who surrender easily…
Thank you, Ingrid! I should have put a ‘mature content’ warning on the post… lol!
After six hundred years of lovers, her passion will not be refused. 🙂
This is so beautifully written, and does indeed capture the despair and yearning of one lost soul that desires another. You can have eternity at your fingertips, but without someone to share it with, somehow, it can never be enough. ‘Forever’ is a frightening concept, but love does conquer all.
And I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for joining me in the Counterpoint project. Thanks to all your talent, our two tales are a perfect fit.
Thank you, Joyce! I am always honored at your words.
Yes, eternity means nothing if it is a solitary journey… it is as empty as the promise of a one-night-lover.
You are very welcome and thank you for the opportunity to work with you… that was the ‘high point’ of my writing career for 2011. It was both an honor and privilege to work with you and it was your talent that made Counterpoint a success