Lovers by the Lake

Lovers By The Lake

The moon was looking into the lake when she noticed a small crack in the lit ripples, one area where her light did not shine.

Night after night, the moon worked to illuminate the darkened patch of lake but the shadow only danced mockingly beneath her gleaming brow.

Watching the moon and the water were two lovers surrounded by an orchestra of lake ducks. The couple would watch nightly and the moon would gaze upon them with envy and at times she would even glare. For as brightly as she shone and as spectacular as she was, the moon could never enjoy a lover’s closeness with the water and she could never brighten that darkness that tarnished the water’s glimmering beauty.

The moon would only meet the water in dreams that were reflected in the night. When she closed her eyes they met and the light of her reverie danced on the waves, entertained the lovers, and the world rested peacefully. One night, however, the moon was in a rage and she cried and longed for the lake to surround and comfort her. The lake reached toward his tormented light and was frustrated by being unable to reach.

As waves jumped, the world watched and fell into a state of confused discord. The lovers fought with each other and they were washed from their bench by the breaking fingertips of the water’s whipping hands that swung desperately upwards for anything they could feel.

While the couple struggled to swim among roaring waves, they drowned within seconds of one another. Her eyes closed, he reached for her and he inhaled an aquatic breath that was locked into his lungs by a pounding wave that dropped into his throat. He forced the water out and breathed in hard, again sucking in lake. A final fiery breath of diamond studded water that roared through his nostrils and delivered the coup de grace he craved during his last lonely second.

Floating and clutching one another, the couple bobbed as the waves eased. The water felt the corpses on his skin and lay paralyzed by the guilt of his crime. The moon stared blankly into the reflection that the water showed her. When the first water strider dared to step upon the glass-like lake, the lone ripple of its foot drifted from bank to bank. The moon witnessed the result of her rage, watched the ripple, and wept for the lovers who had forever been happier than her. Her tears rained into the lake and made new ripples to dot that of the water bug

Reflected from the naked backs of the sinking couple was a moment of light; it filled the shadow that tarnished the lake’s reflection of his infatuation.