She jerked awake, covered in sweat. She’d dreamed the
same dream four times this last week. Ever since her thirtieth birthday the
dream had haunted her. It was always the same and it intensified with each
passing week growing sharper, more focused, and more hauntingly real.
Colored lights
flashed before her eyes, music reverberated in her ears, and people danced all
around her. As she made her way across the floor, bodies brushed against her,
and faces she didn’t recognize would glance at her and smile. She felt drawn
toward something and her feet carried her, but to where she knew not.
After what seemed
like an eternity of pushing through the sea of bodies and shielding her eyes
from the rhythmic flashes of light that stung them, she found herself in an
open area of the room. Her eyes swept across the empty space and her heart
urged her forward to find that which it longed to rejoin.
Movement caught
her attention and she turned to find herself staring into the eyes of the most
handsome man she’d ever seen. He had been concealed in the shadows so she
hadn’t noticed him during her first sweep of the area.
She couldn’t
move…she remained frozen in place. His eyes captivated her as he continued to
hold her gaze. She knew him…or did she? Her heart whispered that she did but
her mind replied that she did not.
The lights of the nightclub danced across his body.
Now and then they were captured in his eyes…eyes that appeared to glow an eerie
yellow. He was just as curious about her as she was about him, this she could
read in his expression. His features softened and he projected a look of
welcome as his eyes caressed her from afar.
When she was finally able to tear her eyes away from
his, she perused the rest of him. His face was angular with a strong jaw, and
she noticed that he did not smile. He was tall – at least six feet, with a
lean, muscular build, and she especially noticed his expansive chest. Her eyes
darted to his collar-length, light brown hair that was almost blonde, or was
that from the effects of the lights as they played across his head? A
conservative, black, button-up shirt and black slacks enveloped his frame He
maintained his attentive posture and continued to remain in the spot he had
taken upon their discovery of each other.
As she took account of him, a great desire to be by
his side overcame her and she took a step forward. Upon realizing what she’d
done, she quickly stepped back, but the crowd behind her pressed in upon her
and she was propelled toward him.
The throng of dancers continued to urge her closer
to where the man stood and there was nothing she could do to stop it, she had
to go with them. As she drew directly up to him, someone gave her a last, quick
push and she fell into him. Strong hands caught her and gently drew her close
to his body.
His eyes gazed into hers and she was flooded with
the sensation that she’d known him for many years. The music slowed and he took
her in his arms. Together they began to move in time to the music. No words
were exchanged. Only the rhythm of the music filled her ears. Yet there were
times she thought she heard something like the sound of a heartbeat attempt to
join the rhythm of her own heart and keep time with it.
His body against hers was solid yet inviting, and
she allowed her right hand to slide slowly down his back while her left rested
against his broad chest. Their eyes remained locked upon each other as they
swayed to the music. He was gentle as his arms encircled her waist and as he
kept their bodies in time with the beat.
As the music carried her thoughts away, her mind was
bombarded with memories of places she couldn’t remember ever having visited
before. She was captivated as she sank deeper and deeper into his eyes. With
enough time she could have found his very soul if it hadn’t been for the
silence that suddenly filled the room.
He stepped away from her just as the next song began
to play its first, quick beat, and the crowd once again moved their bodies in
time to it. He took her hand and led her away from the throng, and she was not
afraid to follow.
They came to a narrow doorway and he drew her
through it and out onto a small balcony. Below them a walkway and garden occupied
a grassy, secluded area. She raised her head, and just above, the full moon
cast its rays of light upon them.
With one slow, steady movement, his right hand rose
and its backside swept across her face and brushed back the loose strands of
black hair that had fallen across her face and neck. His eyes left hers and
gazed upon the exposed area of skin that he had uncovered. They widened for a
second and then he smiled as he leaned forward and brushed his lips across the
soft curve of her throat.
Her heart pounded faster and her blood quickened
through her veins. Her senses became heightened and his closeness awakened
within her a need she had never known before. His lips gently gliding over her
skin was like the caress of a breeze on a warm summer day. She shivered from
the intimate touch yet she wanted him to continue.
He once again met her eyes and she smiled at him.
Without a thought, she gingerly touched her fingers to his face and his head
turned to press in upon her hand. She lifted her hand higher and slid her
fingers through his hair until they touched upon the soft hair that rested
across his collar. His face slowly lowered to hers and their lips met.
The air around her escalated to an almost
uncomfortable warmth, and she felt as if they were being levitated off the
ground. He carried her soul to a place that seemed familiar but to which she
couldn’t remember. His arms pressed her closer to him and her own clung
hungrily to him. With fingers still entangled in his hair, she caressed the
silky strands. She had done this before – she knew she had, but when? So many
thoughts bombarded her mind, and her senses were overwhelmed with all that she
experienced.
His kiss was one of welcome as for a loved one who
had been away for many years. There was great longing and desire in his kiss,
and she returned his passion a hundred fold. She hungered for him. She desired
to be whole again. She longed for something that she had missed for a very long
time. She wasn’t sure how it could be…only that it was true.
The kiss ended, and as he drew away from her, he
cupped her face in both his hands. His smile seemed so sad, so lonely, and he
turned to glance up at the sky…up at the moon. She turned her attention to it
as well, and for the first time in her life she felt a hatred for the
overshadowing white ball in the sky. Unhappiness, and a chill as one
experienced in a tomb, swept across her very soul, and her heart was crushed
with a great longing to be free.
Tears escaped from her eyes and rolled down her
face. This man was trapped and he needed to be rescued from something terrible,
something only she could free him from. Her mind would not or could not tell
her what that was or what terrible thing he had to live with.
He leaned toward her, his face brushing against
hers, and she thought she heard him whisper something to her, but she couldn’t
make out the words. He broke contact, lowered his head, then turned and walked
away to become lost in the crowd on the dance floor. She tried to call out to
him but she didn’t know his name.
She pushed through the crowd, but it seemed as if
they purposefully kept her from following him. The harder she pressed through
the throng the tighter the ranks became. After many minutes, she gave up and
stood in the center of the dance floor where the lights swirled around her and
where many bodies had corralled her.