SILENT TEARS
He felt something was wrong, even before he knew it was true.
He had felt it in the earth, in the air he breathed, in his bones, in his heart.
And now he stood before the stone carved statue of the girl he had loved. She was not that different than before. Pale, alabaster skin, warm brown waves framing her face, her features a little more symmetrical than before, the natural flaws erased.
He had taken her by surprise. She hadn't expected him. Not now.
Her eyes stared straight at him, asking a thousand questions. But he couldn't read them as before, for these where no longer her eyes. They were her new eyes; a golden topaz, glittering in the glow of her skin.
She was beautiful, breath-taking. But she had always been for him.
Now she just seemed a bad copy of the original.
He had been too late, but what did he expect? Even if he had gotten there in time, it would have made no difference.
It was inevitable; destiny, fate.
He stood there before her, as still as she. Afraid to move, to bring reality crashing down on him. To lose his grip on the only hope he still had, that this was all just a nightmare.
That he would just wake up. That she would be the same as always.
She seemed to realise that this was goodbye. At least for him. That she was losing him.
He watched as the pain of this loss washed across her marble face. It pained him also, to not be able to see this pain in her eyes, in the eyes he loved. They were always so alive with life. Now they drowned in death.
How symbolic he thought.
He felt the cold remain of affection for the girl fall from his eyes. Closing them, he prayed for this to be all a dream. To open his eyes and discover he was still in his room, where he'd fallen asleep.
But when he did, he was still there. Same as before. Though she was now directly in front of him. Her hand out stretched towards him.
He could feel the chill in the air that surrounded her. Confirmed once again that she was no longer the one he had cared for.
Her hand lingered above his cheek. Her golden eyes seeking his for his admission, acceptance– permission.
How he longed for her touch, but it would not be the same. He knew it would now be bitter and hard.
When she saw his eyes portray his thoughts. She smiled. A weak smile. She understood. And she accepted it.
Things were no longer as there were.
And then there he was; the one who stole her away. With first her heart, then from him, and then her warmth.
He had destroyed her and yet it was still his arms she would go it.
He had her heart and she his.
He knew she would be safe, taken care of, loved.
But it didn't soften the resentment he had towards the thief.
He too, with his flawless features, his ever-lasting beauty that drew her in. Though she always denied it.
Now she was just like him.
He did nothing to interrupt their partings. He knew he had won, and was too disciplined to gloat. He knew it would hurt her if he tried.
He had noticed, though not sure if she had the small that played on her lips when he had appeared. Throwing in his face, that he had never stood a chance.
He had to escape this pain, this torment.
Slowly he took her hand, it felt like frozen steel against his fiery skin. She drew his eyes to her.
'It's still me, it always will be. And I'll wait - I'll wait forever for you to realise it. Forever,' she spoke, her voice singing through the room, as the words clung to air between them; sweet and tainted.
For the last time he stared into her eyes. Trying to see glimpses of her old self in that which stood before him.
He surrendered over to the truth. She was truly gone.
'Goodbye Bella,' he whispered, dropping her hand.
He turned to leave. To go back the way he came without her.
His eyes opened, opened to a darkroom, his room. He didn't remember closing them again.
Joy filled him at the prospect of it all being a dream.
The he felt it again, the frozen steel against his skin.
She was there, exactly as in the dream. Her thumb gently stroking his cheek. This time it was her eyes that the silent tears fell from, gliding down her marble skin.
'Forever,' she whispered.
Then she was gone. Forever.