Limited Skies of Love and Hope

Limited Skies of Love and Hope

Emily hopelessly sat on the muddy ground of nature’s floor smoking from a hookah along the bank of a gleaming blue river. Emily subconsciously wanted a rabbit with a pocket watch to appear and lead her down to Wonderland. However, Emily was no Alice and her reality was much harsher than any nightmare imaginable. She knew that her Prince Charming came, but sadly things never turn out as hoped for.

As Emily lay down on the grass, the coldness of the dews caressed her. She remembered this same grass holds for her memories of true love. She thought of suicide. She thought about how pretty the grass would look when her blood would start to run, giving the green a chance to play with red. However, hope still lingered. Emily wondered what part the grass would play this time.

A beautiful dream had always played in her mind each night before the reign of her Prince Charming, Alex, pulled her into a siege. The beautiful fantasy of a fairy tale romance is nothing but an illusion. The shadow of her body on the grass got darker as the sun began to take its course. She tried to recall the ecstasy of having Alex’s warmth next to her.

Alex had come into Emily’s life by chance; a random meeting at the school debate club. His dark hair had wrapped his sharp face. His green eyes had shown promise of extravagant beauty. After a short futile session with less than half of the debaters they had decided to call it quits. Alex, the president of the club, had been nodding his head looking at the wide empty sky.

“Emily, have you seen the sky?”

“Like everyone else I live under it.”

“Em, let me show you the sky.”

With that Alex had taken Emily by the hand and had led her to his brand new car that his father had given him for acing in his exams. Emily had been unsure of what to do, but she had been sure enough to trust the wondrous enigma of the school’s biggest crush. When the car had stopped, Emily had stepped out to see the green grass of the gorgeous river bank for the first time.

Emily had lain down on the banks following Alex’s example. The grass on her back had felt amazing. She had felt Alex shifting and adjusting himself close to her. A smile of pride had flashed over her face; she was with the cutest person within a ten mile radius. He had started busily showing her the specialty of what he called his sky.

“So Em do you notice something special?”

“I love everything about your sky; it’s all so special. It’s nearly as beautiful as you.”

“No, no. This would be considered special in any sky.”

Alex had pointed at the sky. A huge white cloud had been proudly travelled the sky in the shape of a crucial piece on a chess board, a white knight. She had thought it had been a cheer from god in finding her soul mate. Emily’s dark eyes had looked into the feral green of Alex. He had seized the moment and so he planted the seed of their love with a tender kiss.

The months that had followed were hazed with happiness and clouded with the undeniable force of pride. The wedding had been held right after the graduation. Emily’s parents had been easy to convince after all he was Alex, president of the Debate club and a father who could sculpt a king size bed solely out of hundred dollar bills and not feel a dollar out of place.

The wedding had been a scene out of a story book. Flowers had greeted Emily at every step, soothing music danced with her as the love of her husband lifted her soul. The vast sky had looked wider than ever before. She had had flash backs of how the cloud floated over that fateful day over Alex’s sky, which from now would be her sky too.

On her wedding night Emily had been waiting for her moment of love with anxiety. Alex was probably busy with the guests, Emily had thought as Alex still didn’t show up after 11 at night. Emily had wondered off to the marvelous gardens of her new home. It all looked more different now seeing it at night. After a few minutes of mindless roaming she had found Alex’s hands covered in blood.

“Oh my god! What happened?! I’ll go call for help.”

“No stop.”

“What? But why?”

“Because no one can help me.”

“You cut your hand with thorns from the roses. Anyone can help. Don’t be so melodramatic dear.”

“I came out here for a reason. I was too disgusted with myself so I fled to these flowers, but I realized with ever breath I’m polluting the world even more.”

“Is this about me? Did I say or do something? It’s our wedding night! Don’t you dare ruin it for me!”

“I tricked you.”

Emily had felt tears streaming from her face. What did Alex mean? They never had a fight throughout their relationship, never even a small disagreement. What was happening? Why? Fear had crept into Emily as one horrifying after the other began to taunt her.

“Alex… what’s wrong?”

“Em, I love you.”

“What’s wrong? I deserve to know! What did you do?”

“It’s not something I did. In fact I just found out today.”

“Alex…”

“I’m dying.”

Emily had fallen into an abyss of acute numbness. She had never thought of the possibility of such a thing. Emily had slowly lowered herself to the ground. Alex had pulled Emily to his warm welcome chest. Emily could have sworn that she felt a hot tear fell on her neck. The next morning when she had awakened, she had found Alex still holding her and then finally dagger of last night pierced her heart with an indescribable violent pain.

Emily shook herself up after the memories of her love. The emotions were flooding her. The hookah wasn’t being much help. Alex laid in a coma since the last year. Emily looked at how small the sky became. Emily suddenly felt an overwhelming guilt as she thought of that. She stared at her limited sky with a feeling of immense gratitude. After all how many husbands leave a part of the sky for their wives?