We were special, right?

We pushed the masks off and slid the clothing down… we revealed all to each other, right?

And we did it, we survived emotional hurricanes and we came out on top… right?

We did it, didn't we, my lovely never-ending bride… didn't we?

/

You ask me to marry you and I counter with 'where the hell can we?', but you don't care for that answer. You just want a 'yes' or a 'no'.

And the bedroom is quiet.

The television is off. The radio isn't on. The phone is not ringing.

It is just you, with your ring and your notion and your love.

And looking into your brown eyes, I try to imagine a day without you.

And I can't.

I just can't do it.

So I say yes.

//

We proved them all wrong, right?

We learned from those mistakes and crossed those bridges… we grew up with each other, right?

And we did it, we captured that fine dream and we lived it out… right?

We did it, didn't we, my eternally-struggling angel… didn't we?

///

Friends get miffed. And family runs the gamut from disappointment to softly spoken joy.

But I don't need a parade. I don't need a hug that'll never come.

It is just you that I need.

Resplendent in white, with hints of silver at every curve, it is you that I look for in all rooms.

It is you I miss when I wake up alone.

It is you I call when the lights go out.

It is you.

And you take my name like you've been waiting years to do so.

////

We really made it, right?

We found forever and that pot of gold and that endless sky… we turned that fairy tale upside-down, right?

And we did it, we outlasted the mountains and we bested all foes… right?

We did it, didn't we, Ashley… didn't we?

/////

That's how I remember you.

Young and fresh and mine… down that long aisle, flowers in your hands… a knowing smile upon your lips…

You, walking toward me and never a look back. You, kissing me before God and that man in the suit and a bible. You, crying and not hiding the tears and whispering how 'you'd never let me ago, never again…'

That's how I remember you.

Running through our house, slipping on the hardwood floors and smacking your knee into that large coffee-table… dancing in the kitchen and singing too loud, forgetting the bread under the broiler and then fanning out all the smoke… talking about children and holding my hand and allowing me to see a tiny child's smile through your eyes… silly fights about silly things, stuff I thought important and then the pleasure of making up again…

That's how I remember you.

Not at all like you were the last time I saw you.

Not like that at all.

//////

We were special, Ashley.

We were once-in-a-lifetime.

We were what all films try to be and what all good books are and what every great song speaks of.

We were every girl's daydream and every boy's fantasy.

We were the envy of everyone… right?

And we did it, for years and years and years… we really did it, didn't we?

Right, Ashley?

///////

I didn't imagine you. You are so very real.

And the way your bones feel underneath this paper-thin skin is just an illusion – you are not this frail and you are not this old and you are not this near death.

You are timeless, Ashley Davies.

In the flash of those eyes and in the warmth of that grin, there you are – unbroken and free, not chained to tubes and wires… there you are, a girl of about seventeen or eighteen, all fever and fire… whisking me away before either of us even knew it…

I didn't imagine you. You are so, so real.

And you take a shuddering breath. And it rattles in your chest. And they say you are going fast, going quick and it is a blessing… but what do they know, Ashley Davies… what do they know?

There is no such blessing that would take you from me.

There is never enough time when it comes to you.

I didn't imagine you. You are real… you are the only real thing in this entire world.

And, just like that, you place weak lips to my wrist and you tell me that 'you'll wait at the gates of eternity for me' and I mumble that 'eternity won't be there for heathens'…

…But you don't care for that answer.

Neither do I.

So, I touch my mouth to yours and I seal our fate again – willingly and happily – I bond us to another existence spent with one another.

Willingly.

Happily.

Because we are real, more real than the trees and the air… more real than the rocks on the shore and more real than the beating of a million hearts.

And that is special… right?

:: END ::