Continuum: Story 1 Part 2/2 (DRAFT)

The following day Chloe sat in same spot and watched workers repair a sky rocket. She wondered if the loud, haunting bangs were some sort of melody for the longing they both shared to be one with the sky. Her pulse jumped as she felt someone sit down on the bench.

“Another tale?” Chloe turned to look at the stranger with hair like the galaxy, his smile remaining soft and his leg crossed as if he hadn’t moved from his spot yesterday. She gave him a shoulder shrug.

“Alright then. This time we’ll talk about our life in Egypt.”

“...Egypt, as in the region now covering what once was North Africa?”

“You must be a history lover. This time, you met me first on the Nile river...”

    For the next few weeks, their routine was the same. Every other day, Chloe would sit with this man, who she soon learned was named Andrew, and he described their past lives together. He described different forms and areas of life; from marine life to life as ancient Romans. Chloe went to sleep every night and relived these lives of romance, euphoria, and extravagant adventures in her dreams only to wake up at the point of one of their deaths in cold sweat. They grew close enough where he could lay his head in her lap and she would find comfort combing her fingers through the twinkling strands on his head. His voice was husky and soft while relaying their past lives and demise. 

She learned he was an engineer who grew tired of Mars and missed Earth from the late 1980s as he remembered in a past life before. He learned she was simply a young girl who worked mornings at a coffee shop and spent her afternoons putting her heart onto rockets that shot into the sky. They found things about each other that caused chills: both had matching infinity symbol tattoos on their wrists and when they touched, a pleasant heat shot through her and the gold in his eyes intensified. At night when she was dreaming about their past life of the day, he could barely sleep because the energy from her dreams left him breathless.

Chloe, however, wanted a final scene where they both remained alive. A happier ending. Each time she asked if their ending changed, he gave her a sad smile and the silence spoke volumes. He traced her fingers in apology, lips humming a quiet tune that only she could understand, and she felt a piece of her deflate. She found herself stopping him before they would die, even though at night her dreams now played out the whole sequence. Eventually, she gave up on sleep so she wouldn’t wake up agonized.

Another day came and Andrew could feel her reluctance to come near him. He frowned as he turned to look at her sitting rod straight and staring straight ahead.

“You haven’t been sleeping lately.” he said quietly. “I’ve managed to get a full 8 hours this whole week... Why are you so distant to me?”

Her fingers remained in her lap and her eyes didn’t meet his as she listened to the robotic chirps of the station in the distance, cars racing around and men yelling out words she couldn’t decipher.

“Andrew,” she finally said, voice low and shaky as her knuckles grew pale from squeezing too tight.

“Every meeting we’ve had throughout history results in us falling in love and dying? None of them result in us being victorious?”

Andrew gave her a soft smile, sadness making the curl in his lips falter at the edge.

“Not even one?” His head shook.

“No matter what, we eventually die. We’ve tried to beat death, to cheat it somehow, but it never works out. One of us has to part before the other or we both go together. Loss is definite.”

A soft chuckle escaped Andrew’s mouth, his arm reaching over the back of the bench to grip his fingers around the wood, squeezing as tight as his strength allowed. Star filled hair shook while he dropped his head back and inhaled.

“We are the Romeo and Juliet of the Universe.”

Teeth gnawed on a swollen lower lip as her fingers folded and made cranes in the fabric of her skirt, smoothing them over to erase them and start anew. Chloe turned her head away, throat choked, and Andrew continued to watch the leaves above him shift into rust and gold.

“What’s the point?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he heard it clear with the sirens screeching about another rocket searching for a bulls eye to dock on.

“Why do we even stay together?”

Long fingers released their tight hold on the bench and slowly slid up Chloe’s shoulder blade in a gentle, yet firm path to remind her of his physical presence. Still, she refused to glance. His eyes reminded her of the sun: intense, bright, and confident of its purpose in the world. She felt the pleasant warmth from his fingertips slide down her arm, curl around her elbow, and then latch onto her waist, pulling her close within a moment’s breath.

“The love that results is so powerful it vibrates through our skin. Our tattoos burn our wrists every time we think about making love and when our eyes meet it feels like everyone has finally vanished from Earth and we are the sole missionaries here to revive it’s beauty. It drives us to pleasant madness, sleepless nights, wars declared in the name of rapture. We forget where our limbs begin and end because they’re so entangled in the morning. We develop a sixth sense for each other’s every movement and thought.

“We stay,” he leaned in, their eyes closing as he inhaled the floral, yet spicy scent of her perfume, “because there’s nothing else like it. No other compares. We feel full with shared energy until our final breath.”

    Her breathing became shaky, and Andrew pressed his lips to the crown of her forehead.

“We are destined. To deny it is foolish. There is no ‘what-if’ for our ending. Let’s live out our days together in happiness, no matter the outcome, because the present is more important than the future.”

Andrew pressed his forehead against hers, his skin hot and his heart now racing as she clung to his shirt. “I know you’re afraid,” he stroked his and against her cheek, “But you don’t have to be. I’m here now and I’ll be here til the end. Will you spend the rest with me?”

    Chloe searched sun filled eyes and she could only give a soft smile and wrap her arms around his waist.

“Will they be the best moments of my life?” Andrew let out relieved laughter and pressed a firm kiss to her lips.  

“If they’re not, you can kill me yourself.” Chloe’s smile grew against his mouth before he held her face tenderly in his hands and hummed his comforting tune, the ‘dings’ and ‘tings’ of repair work began anew in the distance.

    Their adventure together was inspiring. They moved in together quickly and Andrew introduced her to a world of light filled rooms, calm silences and sporadics. She gave him the art of appreciating the little things, dancing in empty rooms with no music, and sky gazing on the roof into stars that were barely visible to make constellations match. His hands couldn’t stop holding her, his lips starved for contact, and she craved the intense heat that he created with just a smirk and a stare throughout the day. Mornings were spent with shared breaths and entangled limbs, afternoons with roaming, evenings curled into each other with music from decades past.

    With four years passing, she forgot about her fate. He took her as far as they could go:  former national parks, frames of palaces in India, to Africa where mankind’s oldest bones were found. Yet no matter where they were in the world, Andrew caught Chloe staring into the sky and following shooting beams of light. Imagining herself shooting in the beams to another planet. Reaching her hand into the sky to grab a rocket and hold on for the ride.

    When Chloe’s birthday came around on the fifth year, Andrew held her in his apartment and presented her with two iridescent tickets. She paled with shock, trembling as she covered her surprised cry with her hand.

“I know this is all you’ve ever wanted,” he placed the tickets in her hand as she let out  a choked sob, “And all I want is for you to see, first hand, what shooting through the stars is really like. It took some favors, but we can pack up what we have and go to Mars."

He smiled as she hugged him tight and cried in his chest happily. "Are you ready?”

“I’m ready. I’ve always been ready.”

    The next seven days were a whirlwind.  Chloe said goodbye to her job, her coworkers, and made sure her apartment was out of her hands. She traced things with her eyes closed to remember the feel of things in her home and the coffee shop, smiling as she thought about what it would feel like on Mars. They celebrated with wine and music from the early 1970s on their last night, drunk and happy and light.

She had never been more elated in her entire life. With the same wheat field colored dress from their first meeting she clung to Andrew and her ticket, her face bright and full of hope. Andrew would kiss the crown of her head every few feet they moved forward and they were greeted as they handed over their tickets at the threshold of the rocket. With one last look back at the home she always knew, she followed Andrew to their seating and held his hand tight as the rocket grew closer to launch.

Andrew leaned his head against hers and they both shut their eyes as they heard the exhausts building with fire. “Whatever happens, we’re happy in this moment, okay?”

Chloe smiled, fingers holding a bit tighter as the feeling of rising through the air began.  

It usually takes three weeks to get to Mars. No one would have guessed that during the first week a malfunction would lead to the crashing of their rocket into an asteroid belt, killing everyone on board in a flash. Chloe would never get to see Mars, but with Andrew holding her close she didn’t mind. The stars were within a hand’s reach and she was content to join the solar system after being full of nothing but happiness.

All she could hope for now is to be reunited within the next life sooner than later.

*Story 1 Complete*

Continuum: Story 1 Part 1/2 (DRAFT)

It was giant, gleaming with the light from full on rays and a wash from head to toe. It’s metal body curved, wrapped tight into itself so the end and beginning point were synonymous, crowned with a fire colored headpiece and tailed with exhaust pipes that were blue like the ocean used to be. People were lined up with suitcases, faces in awe and hope, eyes welled up with happiness to the point of crying, fingers clenched to tickets bright as the rocket. Families clung to each other and awaited as last minute carvings of scriptures for safety and health were being lasered below the crown and above the body of the roaring machine.

This was the third rocket this week destined for Mars. Tomorrow’s would be for Venus.

The rockets had been moving more frequently now and for Chloe, it gave her mental peace and agony to watch the large, godly ships venture into the solar system. It was her daily ritual to walk down the worn brick road surrounded by the dirt and dust and old, dying trees that to watch the sky station that was about two miles to the east send cargo and families through the atmosphere. She was happy for the families who got a chance to live with fresh water, air, and real food. She wanted to strap herself into a seat with nothing but the clothes on her back, shut her eyes, and revel in the feeling of her heart leaping into her throat with ascension.

‘I want to fly.’

“A lot of space birds are rushing to Mars and Venus lately.”

She felt the worn wooden bench rock slightly beneath her as the speaker sat down on the other end and let out a sigh. Curiously, she turned her eyes to see a perplexed expression etched across his face as he watched the last minutes of the ship launch. The rocket was building up power; flames swimming throughout the exhaust and curling around the edges, ready to destroy and burn everything in it’s path. Within seconds, the latches were off and the rocket was shooting into the clouds with a high pitched whistle of air being cut quickly.

“It’s still weird to think about how this planet used to be vibrant in color and life. Before the oil battle of the early 2000s that set off a world war. So much color in the history books and the animals and plants... God, what a mess we’ve made for the pursuit of money we can’t even spend here now. Even this park we’re in has suffered so immensely it’s unrecognizable.”

    His hair was the color space, stardust twinkling through the slicked back strands with each fleck of sunlight and wind. His smile was soft, head tilted as his hazel eyes met brown warmly and examined the shimmers in her dress. Tan fingers drummed against the cracked frame.

“Your dress reminds me of the wheat fields on Mars in the springtime.”

“You’ve been to Mars?” she asked; the ship was now a speck of red in the sky.

“I have. It’s a lovely planet to visit if you can. They’ve made themselves to live like the 1960s, before climate change really started to become an issue in this world, and it’s worked like a dream. With some added altercations in health and sciences, of course.”

“Of course...”

“Have you ever gone? To Mars or Venus, I mean.”

“I haven’t had the pleasure. Lived on Earth my whole life.” she gave him a grin, her eyes showing the desire to float throughout space and watch meteors from the window of a metal shell. She shrugged before pulling her shawl closer to her, wrapping the fabric around her in hopes to hide the insecurity of remaining grounded forever, and tilted her head back to avoid his gaze. The two of them stared at the launch site.

“Pardon me, miss,” he said after a few moments of silence, “but can I tell you something?”

“It depends,” she answered, her head still up towards the heavens trying to see any last sights of the fire in the sea of blue.

“I know this may sound crazy,” he began again after a moment’s pause, “but I believe in our past lives we were mates.”

The statement caught her off guard. Chloe’s eyebrow arched and his smile widened as she turned to look at him and determine if he was serious or not.

“Mates. As in animals who are lifelong partners.”

“Yes. Mates. Animals in a few, but mostly of the human form.”

Chloe slowly shifted to the edge of the bench, caution signs ringing in her head as he rolled midnight colored sleeves up to his elbows and casually crossed his legs. The breeze came, gentle and caressing against their skin, vanishing as quick as it came.

“Would you like to hear about one of our forms? We were lions at one point.”

Her eyebrows furrowed as curiosity began to take hold and slowly reel her in. He enjoyed the fact that she unconsciously moved back towards him.. “..Lions. As in the extinct felines once known to be king of the safari. The ones they’ve failed to clone on Earth.”

“Lions,” he gave a slight nod, “Proud leaders of the pack. We basked in the sun near watering holes and nipped at each others faces in displays of affection. You were the best hunter around and I fought for you against every male who wanted the top female in the pack. We were attached by the tail.”

“How cheesy. So, what happened to us?” she asked haughtily. “Let me guess. We were hunted?”

“Why, that’s correct,” he examined the lines on his palm, “I was killed on a safari accident; a rogue bullet really since it was against the law to hunt lions in this decade. It was the first time they saw a lion physically devastated over the loss of a significant other. You mourned over me with such intensity that it made them question what it meant to be human. You died from a broken heart.”

Chloe sucked her teeth and leaned back to her side in annoyance.  “How anthropomorphic. Typical early 2000s classic. Now I’m supposed to ‘aww’ and fall into your charm and agree to a dinner date at the diner down the street, right? Not tonight, sir, no way.”

He watched her rise to her feet, a small ‘hmph’ escaping her lips as she dusted off the back of her dress and pulled her hair behind her ear. Her irritation made her adorable, lips bent in a pout and eyes narrowed in disagreement as she turned to walk away. He chuckled and as she bid him a good day, he stretched out on the bench and waved his hand in the air.

“Come back tomorrow around the same time so I can tell you more about our past lives!”

    As much as Chloe wanted to deny it that night she laid in bed restless, thoughts plagued with lions and lakes and the idea that they were truly attached.

To Be Continued.