Love Short Story – Beautiful Nightmare
Photo credit: imelenchon from morguefile.com
It’s late, very late, and she’s absolutely exhausted. She wanders through the corridors and halts drowsily at her door. She rings the bell. She rings it again. Getting impatient she presses the bell a dozen times at once, being a nuisance. She stamps her foot out of anger, and suddenly she is brought back to reality. She smiles at her stupidity and then take her keys out from her bag lazily. She clambers into her apartment and sighs heavily when she smells a muskiness going about her apartment. She never opens her windows, never puts the air-conditioning on, in fear that it would go away.
She changes into her Papa Smurf slippers, and dumps her bag onto the empty armchair near the curtained window. She then makes her way to the bathroom for a quick hot shower and brushes her teeth and then she runs to her bed. As she slips through her duvet blanket, she feels the tingling sensation of the first few seconds in bed. She smiles at the feeling and embraces the bed’s warmth. She is tiny compared to the king-sized bed and she drowns into the covers as she drifts off to sleep.
She wakes up with the sun peeking through her burgundy, silk curtains. To her surprise she is incredibly energetic and happy. She isn’t usually like this. She gets out of bed and does a big stretch, reaching out to her white ceiling. She notices how plain it and makes mental note to paint it later on. She steps into the shower and turns it on. As she does, she yelps in pain. The water feels so hot on her skin, it burns straight through to her bones. She turns the faucet to cold and steps in. How odd, she thinks. She’s always hated the cold. She steps out of the shower and turns to her bathroom mirror.
There is no steam to cover up her reflection and for the first time in weeks she sees herself. She looks fresh, perky, with big bright brown eyes. There were no sacks under her eyes, and the thought of that made her smile. Her teeth were a bit yellow from all the caffeine she drinks, but it was barely visible. She makes another mental note to drink more water. Dazed with her own reflection, she jumps a little when the bell is rung. She calls for whoever it is to wait a few minutes as she flings her dresser’s drawers’ open and finds her favorite garments of clothing to wear.
She is at the door in 4 minutes, and looks through the peep-hole. She presses her fingertips to the door for support and tiptoes a little to reach. She almost chokes as she gasps and practically falls into the door, clutching the handle for support, trying to contain all the confusion and surprise that’s bursting out of her. She feels light-headed and the floor moves from beneath her. The bell rings again and again, sounding even more urgent every time.
She calls quietly for him to wait a few minutes. She has to collect herself. She drops to the ground and falls to her habit she has when she’s dizzy. As she places her head between her knees, she hears the man outside pacing impatiently. She breathes in deeply, gets on her feet and opens the door. Her heart is skipping beats it seems unnatural and worries her a bit, but she gathers her courage to stare up to the man’s glorious face.
He’s smiling. Smiling but hiding something. He looks worried and he says that to her. She is bewildered, so many questions. He senses how he has become an alien to her and frowns a bit. His eyebrows crumple a little, and the corners of his lips are turned ever so slightly. Perfection, she thinks with a throbbing heart, he’s still just as perfect. She parts her lips and a whisper comes out from her throat, but is interrupted by his slender finger. He shushes her gently and says that it will be okay. He says that they are together again, and that he won’t leave her ever again. Her heart suddenly slows down, and is filled with warmth and longing. They hug and she whispers that she has missed him. He wraps his pinky around hers and says again that he’ll never leave her again.
Everything becomes a blur when she is with him. They were walking to their favourite park, where they would go every Sunday afternoon for a lazy picnic. She rests her head on his arm when they walk and he brings the picnic basket. The park is empty with only a few people on the benches as they walk over to the old tree near the lake. She smiles and thinks to herself how happy she is and how perfect this day is for her. She tells him this and he kisses her forhead and says they will go to many other places together like they have always said they will. She lets down the blanket as he takes out the plastic cups and plastic plates. He chuckles and reminds her of their experience when they brought china plates to the park and it was a disaster. She giggles and smiles dreamily at the man sitting before her and takes a bite of the tuna sandwich he offers her.
They finish their meals and stare off into the lake in silence as their minds wander. They sit close and listen to the lake’s peacefulness. He starts to talk about his dreams and says that he always wants to be with her like this. She agrees and says that she can’t imagine being any happier than she is now. She says that she wishes this day would last. He takes her hand and kisses her gently on her thin lips. He looks into her eyes and says that he loves her more than anything in the world.
Tears fill her eyes and fall clumsily on her cheeks, she laughs out of embaressment and wipes her tears. She clasps his hand again and points out how beautiful the sunset is. He shakes his head and disagrees, saying that there is nothing more beautiful that the woman in front of him. She smiles and he asks her to close her eyes, he has a surprise for her, he says. Still smiling, she closes her eyes. He says to not peek and holds her hands tighter in his. She feels him move in closer, and her heartbeat gradually grows quicker. She can feel him breathing and the smell of his sweet-scented breath made her a bit dizzy. Her blood rushes up to her cheeks and lips, automatically making them hotter, and she can feel it. She leans in towards him, and crashes.
Her eyes fly open, wide with fear and confusion to a dark set up. A sick feeling crosses over her as reality possesses her, punching her in the stomach and hammering at her heart. She chokes back the horror of it just being a dream, or a beautiful nightmare, and sits up bringing her heads between her knees. She grabs tufts of her hair, pulling on them, hoping it to help the pain go away. She wants to scream from the top of her lungs but she is strangled by the pain. The only thing she thinks of is that he isn’t coming back. Each time the voice gets louder and finally she whispers in agony to herself that he is gone and he isn’t going to come back. Her head is pounding with horrifying images of his marble face lying on a satin pillow in his tomb. She tears herself up and cries silently to herself, rocking back and forth, opening her heart’s wounds.
P.S. This is my first story I’ve ever written. Tell me what you think about it and please be honest (but not harsh) about it. Thank you so much, I hope you enjoyed it:)
