I may rework the title...
This chapter is fairly short, but writing it seemed to last forever.
Serious critiques welcome! I may wind up posting the finished story in Advanced Critiques, after posting a few chapters on here. We'll see...
_________________________
He fell to the ground, visions swirling in front of his closed eyes.
“Water.” The Voice was back. That damned Voice. “I need water.” The words echoed endlessly through his head. He saw bubbles in hues of blue and black and red grow, merge, mix, separate, and pop.
“Where am I to find my water?” she asked.
The bubbles disappeared. He saw a dragonfly perch itself on the void. It buzzed its wings at him.
The void and the dragonfly were replaced by Maryse’s silhouette. Her figure was framed behind a steamy glass door.
“No…” he mumbled into the ground. “No…”
The fog began to clear, and he could see her in more detail.
He felt the pressure in his pants. He was powerless to stop it.
“Is this where I am to find my water, Jae?”
“No!”
“Then where am I to find my water? I need water.”
“This…is not your water.”
“Who’s water is it, then?”
“It’s…it’s mine!”
“If it is your water, then why do you object to seeing it?”
“No…”
“It is not your water, is it?”
He grimaced into the grass, the most movement he could achieve. “No, it’s not my water.”
“Well, I think it is worth viewing either way. Do you not agree, Jae? It is very pretty water. Perhaps not beautiful, but still quite pretty.”
His heart beat faster. Time slowed. He could almost see the droplets of water trickling down her soft skin. The dragonfly buzzed again, but the sound seemed to come from inside his ears.
“I don’t want to see…”
“What do you not want to see, Jae? This water? But I know you enjoy seeing it. It is very pretty water, Jae.”
He was torn. He did not have the courage to give leave Maryse. He could not imagine continuing life without seeing her, sharing in her bright smiles, and the ecstasy of her laughter.
But he did not want this vision. It wasn’t right.
The buzzing stopped. He had failed to notice it until it was gone.
“If this is not my water, will you search elsewhere until you find it?”
Maryse began to hum a tune. Her clear voice chimed in the silence of the dragonfly’s void. The vision of her, though still present, ceased to create any passion in him. His whole attention was balanced on her voice. There were very few rests, only enough for her to catch her breath. It was melodic, both sad and happy.
Her voice interrupted the song. “Will you?”
He was still entranced by the spell of Maryse’s tune. “Yes,” he answered.
Maryse, the dragonfly, and the void faded, as did the soft hum of her song.
Jae rolled onto his back, squinting up at the lush canopy high above him, and the bits of sun shining through it as the breeze shook the leaves, producing a soft rustling. To his left was a garden of flowers of every color he could imagine, and to his right tall, thick trees as far as he could see.
It was a beautiful day, accented by the gray bleakness weighing on Jae’s heart.
