Nocturnal Obsession
Winter was nearing. I could feel it. That night, its chill had invaded the room Nicki and I shared after we'd idiotically left the window open to air the dank place out. It was winter's cold fingertips gently stroking my tense face that woke me from my fitful rest infested with nightmares. I jumped, the icy touch of the low temperature and cloudless night crawling over my bare skin causing me to shiver into the land of the awake. Sitting up in the creaky bed Nicki and I both slept in, I panted heavily, the air cooling my fear-induced sweat with a winter's kiss.
As the cool air calmed my frightened soul from the thoughts my subconscious had made up to horrify me, I looked around the dark, dinky place I called home. The full moon was shining directly into the room, illuminating everything in an eerie blue-silver light that seemed to dance mysteriously around the few objects my best friend and I owned while it forced my eyes to see strange, evil creatures snickering in the shadows that lurked in the far corners.
Already scared from my nightmares, I instinctively snuggled closer to the warm body next to me. My mind told me that only Nicki could protect me. It whispered to my soul that the sleeping, beautiful red-head beside me was the only being able to shield me from the night's harmful illusions. Yet, when I turned to wake my greatest friend, my eyes locked on his face and my arm could not move to shake him from the slumber that embraced his innocent soul.
The moonlight seemed to glisten over him, exaggerating his beauty and causing his skin to shimmer and gleam like a million crystals. It glazed across the contours of his face, streaming over his lips and pooling in the indent made by the meeting of his sharp collarbones. The pure essence of the moon dripped across his flawless body like liquid silver, coating his soft form in artificial glory.
I stared in awe at the man before me. Such perfection, such breathtaking undamaged beauty. I couldn't touch it, this fragile, delicate refinement. And, so, I sat. I sat and I watched. The minutes passed as did the hours. And with them the moon slowly made its way across the sky, glimmering across Nicki's unblemished skin. Dawn came. The moon set and the sun began its creep, like a hesitant spider, into the early morning sky. Winter was still in existence and its cold too woke my friend from sleep as the sun's rays barely shone over the Parisian horizon.
Catching my practically eternal stare, Nicki grinned and said only, "Close the window, Lestat, it's getting cold."
That night was unlike any other night I had ever experienced. That night was unlike any other night I have ever experienced. I remember that night well as if its occurrence was recent, not almost 300 years ago. But, in my eternal mind, it still is as clear as the last sunrise I ever witnessed, the sunrise that crept like a spider along its gossamer trail into the cold winter sky.