International Tutors' Magazine April 2019 | Page 24

INTERNATIONAL TUTORS’ MAGAZINE
1 ST PLACE WINNER
IDYLLIUM
BY CHIOMA ONUOHA
Idyllium is a Latin word coming from the Greek word “eidullion” which means an “picture,
form”, “idealized, picturesque, unsustainable period”
“Idyllium” was the first word to escape her pale lips.
Then dull intensity.
She opened her eyes to find herself facing stone walls and below her, the grassy ground
beneath. She was back in reality and immediately a wail of almost animalistic proportions
escaped her lips then she was silent. The sound of hurried, thumping footsteps had not
caught her attention until arms had wrapped around her waist and pulled her away
from her precarious position on the window’s ledge. He wrapped her in his embrace
and although his arms were strong, his beating heart betrayed his fear. In a moment of
wanderlust, she had pushed him away and ran toward the window. The warm glow of
Idyllium hung upon the sky, its radiant beams warming her, inviting her into its embrace
and she returned its call.
He dashed in front and slammed the window shut in a fury of motions. She screamed at
him to let her pass, to let her go to paradise, to Idyllium in the sky, yet he was firm and
unyielding. She glanced as his eyes and noticed that they were drawn in desperation and
his face was contorted in sign of fear. He would not let her return and insisted her home
was here.
Every new day was spent the same, he tried to remind her of the life she never believed she
lived. He told her of how they had met, of their mutual fondness for the other and how
they soon wed after. He told her of their mornings spent in bliss, their afternoons spent
in peace and their nights spent in dally. Yet she only wished to be left alone, to be lost in
slumber, because it was in sleep that she found Idyllium. It had no form yet overwhelmed
her senses and called to her. A light, an intensity but also an airy feathery sensation. A
warmth incomparable that danced with her soul, and around and around they would go
till she was lost in a visual feast of swimming images. Flashes of summery green fields and
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