Title: Departure
The sea was a beautiful, glowing form of silver and blue, still and calm as if in a deep slumber. Once in a while, a gull circled above her and cried its piercing cry. She stood on her balcony, overlooking the sea and enjoyed the soothing breeze. It caressed her almost lovingly, entangling itself within her fingers and then, releasing them to hold her arms intimately.
She smiled at the memory that the oblivious sea breeze had evoked. A slight curl at the corner of her lips, fond and teasing.
"Do you love me?" His voice was tender and soft, like the fluttering of leaves in the wind, but held in it a silent strength. The hands that grasped her arms were firm and unrelenting and yet so light that it felt like it was merely her imagination.
She remembered grinning at him, answering a "Yes, silly!" with such great conviction and no reluctance whatsoever, leaning closer against him to feel his breath on her face.
And then, his lips formed the question. The Question.
She found her grin had frozen on her face and her heart caught in her chest. Her mind whirled within her, akin to a storm caught in a cage. Her lips trembled and moved, but she could not find any words to utter. Yet, when he had looked at her with those sad, brown eyes and knowing smile, she realized that the answer had already drifted out her mouth, with little hesitance.
The memory plagued her for the rest of her life. He was gone, like the wind, the rolling waves and the soaring seagulls that had always captivated her. But unlike them, he had never returned. The only thing that connected them, now fluttered weakly in the gentle breeze, held only by the tip of her fingers. And she let it go, drifting in the air with a slight sway, gliding gracefully towards the glittering waters. To where it belonged. It was signed in a neat, cursive writing, "Will and Jack".
o.o
"Will you marry me?"
"I'm sorry, Will."
o.o
End.