GoodBye In Your Eye

Good Bye in Your Eye

In the pleasant moonlight, a car pulled up to the edge of the bluff and stopped; the loud anxiety of highway smoothed out to the calm of serenity. Loud clicks opened the doors wide, swinging out hard. From the driver’s side, her boy, her man, tall and lanky with imperfect features and a subtle smile, that beamed. His walk was careless but impassioned, his head darting to the other side lest he miss a precious moment or glimpse. From the passenger’s side, his girl, his woman, short and slim, with a line of beauty curving her face and a subtle smile that hurt. She walked slowly, holding back an emotion that was not wanted, a tear that wanted to trail down her face a ragged scar. Her glances were furtive and distracted, always her eyes were fixed on him, but always she stared the ground. They walked toward the hood of the car, expectation growing like a flame in their bodies. A trembling tingle worked inside and out, making the air spark with an electric feel. Their bodies met at the center of the grille, and a kiss stopped the beating of their hearts.

“Mark, there’s something I need to tell you… it’s about all of this.”

Silence quieted the night, and the tension continued to build. Just the slightest touch, the smallest encounter of his hand to hers, would cause her body to quake and her brain to muddle. He was hers, and she was his. Glimpses into their souls—over long phone conversations that never ended and long silences—would bring up the same painting of anguish, joy, or wanting. A deep pool reflected every emotion, every liking, every thought, so that what thoughts were of the individual became embraced into the togetherness. No cry was shed without reason and comfort. They were as one.

“Mary, I’ve been waiting a long time to get to this point in our relationship and now…here we are… and I love you Mary.”

It wasn’t the first time he had told her, and it wouldn’t be the last; in his heart beat a thousand drums and songs for her. But this time, with the moon smiling down and the stars twinkling their wicked secrets, the words struck her with a fierce intensity. The lonely tear, slipped down her cheek and forever scarred her memory with an epic finality.

“Mark—”

She broke into a series of sobs, big gushes of tears that could not wipe away her feelings. Her eyes blurred mercifully and the creaking of her heart drowned the voice of his comfort. She was happy when his arms wrapped lovingly around her shaking shoulders, driving them to shake harder, and her heart to beat incessantly like the pitter of falling rain. She was his, and he was hers.

In the sky, a shooting star hurtled. It moved harshly from the right, trailing a path of residue that soiled the sky. Nothing could stop it, and it would continue to dance in the void forever. A mystic charm surrounded the star, or meteorite, or comet; it was a pioneer with a large and tremendous purpose. Chemicals, and dust, and assorted detritus made up its body, but it had a will; will enough to keep going forever and into the unknown. Mark watched it with a separated interest, so like his own ambitions, so like his own hopes was the star. He turned to see if Mary was staring into the sky as well, and if she had the same thought. With his face stone set at the depth of Mary’s—drawing from her well of beauty—the little trailing star disappeared into the brightness of the moon and was gone.

“Mary what’s wrong?”

He didn’t know this time, not why the tears were pouring down her face or why antipathy was struggling to take her. He could offer comfort, but it would be pointless and misdirected; losing all the warmth of understanding. Nothing he could do would stop the flow of emotions and it hurt him.

“Mark I can’t do this anymore.”

“Mary, I can’t hear what you’re saying. Could you look at me?”

He moved his hand under her chin, but she slapped it away. It stung hard the back of his hand and whipped his thoughts away. More tears filled her chest. He was hers, and she was his; or at least it was supposed to be.
Wearily she lifted her head. Her eyes moved over everything, trying not to focus on his, trying to avoid him.

“Mark, I don’t want to do this anymore. None of it! I don’t want it!”

“I really don’t know what to say about that. I thought it was love—would you just tell me… I mean look into my eyes when you tell me.”

Hesitantly she dropped her gaze into the moistening pool of his. An electric connection poured over their bodies like the majestic swirls of the sun. Trembling badly they looked into each others eyes. Again the swirls of red and tangles of orange, the fiery glow of a looming gas giant over the horizon—forever there. Breath that quickened and set the heart into a mad frenzy that only the passionate tongues of lover’s could decipher. It was there. The connection between two battered souls, lost in the void of loneliness and cold emotion, but together in it. In the darkness where so many are lost and forgotten, they had found each other and forever forged a link to never be lost again.

“It’s still there.”

“Mark I have to go.”

“I don’t understand Mary, but I won’t try to stop you.”

She walked away into the darkness and was gone. Again and again, the replaying of tangled memory like vivid film, she walked away; carrying away his heart. And every time he missed the silent crashing of the trailblazing star into the moon, and every time he missed the shards of misplaced love sticking into his heart.