A momentary spark of light, as easily extinguished as a candle flame. And yet though it is fragile an tenuous at best, it burns brightly, gloriously, clinging to life as if it wished to stay lit forever. This is human existence. Oh the inexperience, the innocence of mortals, thinking that they want to live for an eternity. Oh the foolishness of the young. Like a child at birth, knowing nothing, assuming that all they see is all there is. Opening their eyes would be the most grievous of tortures, but they seem assured that it is completely necessary. Weren’t they the ones that coined the phrase: ‘ignorance is bliss’? Instead of making the most of the time allotted to them, they choose to squander their lives trying to extend it. And to call their mere span of years a ‘life’ is an entirely laughable ridiculousness. Don’t they know that because they can die, that means they can truly live? They are able to live as if there will be no tomorrow, which for them might just be true. But I know that for me, there will be a tomorrow; in fact, I am certain that there is a millennia worth of tomorrows awaiting me. So, no, I cannot live as if tomorrow will never come, when I am sure that it most definitely will, and because of this - though my heart is still beating - my body is a shell, an empty space never to be filled, my soul nothing more than a dried out husk, resembling what I would have looked like had I died when I was supposed to.
Thoughts buzzed around my mind like a hive of angry wasps, stinging me again and again, their venom burning in my blood, attacking me as I gazed out of the window. The mortals below were completely oblivious to the world around them, so wrapped up in their own pathetic problems. Rain pattered against the glass, I started at the unexpected sound, my heart racing. The incessant beat of my blood through my veins slowed gradually and to my utter bewilderment, I felt drowsiness encase me in its unrelenting hold, freezing my limbs, making my eyelids heavy. I closed my eyes to the harsh truth of reality and opened them to the beautiful lie of dreams.
The wind whipped my hair into a cyclone, a swirling, dancing mass of frivolity. A giggle slipped my lips - sneaking past my defences, escaping my control until it burst out of me in a peal of joyful, unrestrained laughter - as he extracted several snow coloured strands from his mouth. Again I found myself lost in the entrancing beauty of those topaz pools; the flecks of gold reflected the light of the sun, making his loveliness almost unbearable. His eyes sparkled puckishly as he stared back at me, laughing without making a single sound. Blood rushed to my face as my embarrassment at being caught staring took over and my cheeks pinkened accordingly. I turned away as I attempted to hide how I was feeling. Gavin, my sweet love, would not allow me this mercy, but that was what I loved about him, he was honest and I knew that no matter what, he would accept all of me. With no sense of propriety whatsoever, he pulled my face towards his. My heart began to pound, a tribal drum beat that only he could evoke in me. When our noses were barely an inch away he whispered, “Cassandra, I–” He began - only to be interrupted by the shrill cry of my mother as she looked for me, like a lioness looking for her cub, she was relentless. Fear clouded Gavin’s eyes, as he was one of the villagers that believed the legends told about my mother. He kissed my forehead with lips as soft as flower petals and ran; I could only hope that the night would carry him back to me.
My mother appeared from nowhere, a creature from the deepest abyss, her face red with fury. I stood up at once, brushing grass from my dress, praying that the green of the dress masked any stains from the mud. She was incandescent with rage. Then, suddenly, as if a switch had been flicked, she smiled – all traces of anger gone from her face, as if it had never existed in the first place. She reached out to touch my cheek; I braced myself, expecting her hand to mark my face. Instead all I felt was a gentle caress as she murmured, “Somno iam puer.” Confusion invaded my mind, and then I thought no more as oblivion took me.
I opened my eyes slowly, warily. My body was sprawled in centre of a prison made of lies, deceit and magic. I stood on legs as unsteady as a new born fawn’s, and saw my mother cloaked in darkness. She spoke jubilantly, “My child, it is almost done, please be strong.” She flicked her
Stephanie Gardner