Young Writers Society

Ayperi tightened the sash around her waist, her knuckles white with the effort. A soft jingle sounded as she finished the knot, giving her hips an experimental sway to be sure of the strength of her tie. The brightly colored sash drew the eyes to it with all the haughty fervor of the most beautiful woman in the room: full of the knowledge that it holds the gaze, yet cleverly aloof all the while.

A lush green field reached out in every direction, holding the horizon firmly in it's soft and swaying grasp. Tiny white flowers floated on the surface of the liquid grass as though they had been painted there, static and eternally budding. Nothing was in view to break that immersive emerald sea, dotted all over with luscious blossoms. There, within it all, heart expanded to it's limit from love of solitude and nature, lay Ayperi, slender hands clasped over her chest like dead royalty.

The sky was hidden entirely by sprawling, dark clouds like a pretty maiden with shining golden hair hidden behind a delicate veil of mourning. It was not yet night, though all the light had leaked out of the world.

Ayperi laid down in the tall, wild grasses, tiny weeds clinging to her clothes and tickling her flesh. Dark hair spread out beneath her, a satin pillow of curls tenderly caressing the nape of her neck. The world sighed while Ayperi sighed, allowing itself the time to relax and breathe.

"Hold me, Earth." Her voice was strong, liquid, pouring gracefully from lips made of rubies.

Through her quiet mind drawled thoughts of home, of the people she had left when she pursued her desperate dream to escape. Escape was the word she used in her mind, and to others, for the world she had been part of had been keeping her mind prisoner. Without even being given a choice, she had fallen into the single minded thoughts of a modern culture until finally the day came when someone would offer to take her away from that. Family meant much to her, and she loved them all dearly, even though all they offered her were limitations and negativity.

She dreamed. They told her those dreams were impossible. She left.

Grasses stirred gently from the wind of a developing storm, rustling about her form with quiet whispers of warning. "Rain...", they told Ayperi.

Slowly, she turned over onto her stomach, letting the various plants embrace her close in their wispy fingers. Thoughts of another sort entered into her mind.

"I love you", he had told her, his lie in his eyes. He had not even the decency to hide it.

Ayperi offered a thin smile, pressing her back carefully against the old wooden door behind her. "You don't."

Shock surfaced in his eyes, followed by understanding. "You're right, Ayperi."

She made no response, but laced her dainty fingers together.

Hamzah advanced, his features indistinguishable in the darkness of the room. A single candle flickered nearby, reflecting Ayperi's will as it swayed and bent with Hamzah's every movement. "I don't love you. I want to love you."

The door stopped her as she tried to sink back further. The game was becoming more heated, less innocent with every passing moment. Hamzah's eyes held her violently, like rough hands pressed against her limbs to hold her down. It was hard to believe this man was a friend of her father.

"Let me", he implored, his hungry lips fat and quivering on his face.

With challenge in her gaze, she raised her eyes directly to his, letting fall the quaint facade of womanly inferiority. "Why?"

Again, shock was evident in his features, though this time it was held longer. This woman was certianly bold. "I am a friend to your father. If I tell you to let me love you, it is a demand you would be wise to comply with."

Fear ran about frantically in Ayperi's mind, holding her tongue as it tried frantically to lash out. A thousand rules of etiquette held her decorum and forced her blazing eyes to the ground. Hamzah laughed heartily at this, finally seizing her body into his large, rough hands.

The memory dissapated here, and Ayperi was grateful for that consideration. Regret threatened her mind, as though it were an emotion worthy of being experienced, instead of just another useless thought.

The clouds churned, darkness allowing tiny pinpoints of light to shine through momentarily, before the downfall finally fell. All around her the dirt was spotted with dark drops of rain, drawing her conscious mind away from the introspective thoughts of her life. Water stung the flesh of her back like a thousand tiny whip ends, nipping her vulnerable skin, making her eyelids flicker.

Wet earth clung to her form, embracing her as she had gently requested. The sky wept for her, for the freedom she had finally achieved after so many easy escapes. What could be worth more than freedom, though, to tempt someone away from that arduous path? Ease.

When first she concocted the idea in her mind to escape from that life which held her so tightly, the tears her family had shed had threatened to keep her. It would have been so easy to forget that dream, to live out this static mediocrity with the quiet resignation that so many people exhibit. Desperate to escape, but without the courage to take that leap: that was most of man.

There was no time to dwell further on these melancholy thoughts that dragged her down into the wet soil like undead fingers, for love had arrived, bounding towards her with an excited smile. Love spread the walls of shadowy clouds with it's caring caresses, melting away remorse with sharp rays of sunlight. Love swept Ayperi from all the arduous thoughts which had stormed over her mind and held her against the ground.

With a relieved smile, Ayperi rose from the ground, her agile hands twisting around in the air in time with her hips. Twining, whispering the quiet tune of silver coins, her waist turned in the sunlight, moving gracefully to a rhythm that none could hear. The light embraced her then, enchanted by this uncommon child who moved like the ferns in the wind.

Warm tendrils coiled over every inch of her flesh, lifting her from the grasses with a deliberate, slow pace. Shimmering, she rose further into the air, aimless but guided. Clouds reached out to lay their greedy fingertips onto her, but were all held at bay.

The dissapointed admirers swirled back into the blue surface of the stone sky, turning over into a pinpoint far in the distance, like a hypnotist's pinwheel made of clouds. They swirled and chased each other, then melted off of the face of the sky, leaving heaping piles on the joyous ground. Ayperi laughed, the intoxicating atmosphere of carefree amusement easing her troubled brow into an expression of happiness.

Suddenly, Ayperi was falling through the limitless sky, plummeting towards the ground. Hair whipped around her face as she fell, her features fixed in an expression of serenity. Air tore past her, stinging her flesh and her eyes. The feeling was utterly pleasant to her, somehow. Each second was less like a lash and more like a sweet, solitary kiss. Whiplash kisses spilled out over her shoulders and her face, leaving her cheeks flushed and red as she rapidly approached the surface of the endless sea.

Crash! Ayperi's form broke through the glass surface, leaving it shattered and floating over the water in brightly colored pieces. Stained glass stillness, broken apart and rushing around to try and reassemble itself. Panicked water rushed away from Ayperi's smiling form, trying to avoid touching her at all costs.

As she rose from the dry bed of the lake, the water all gathered up around the edges to avoid her, her intent eyes noticed a swinging ball of light near her feet. Closer inspection revealed this flickering flame to be love, dancing wildly and awaiting Ayperi's company. It's burning arms reached out for her, growing more violent with the hope of her hands.

The twisting flame slowly turned from orange to silver, an unnatural fire that seemed holy in it's pureness of color. Ayperi allowed love to clutch at her fingers, her knees bent and pressed against the dry land. With this infusion, love grew larger, licking upwards until it was taller than Ayperi, surrounding her limbs with it's fervor.

Frightened water screeched and hissed, evaporating into so much steam from that huge flame of love. The swollen judgement of that lake had been eliminated, dissapearing beneath the threat of that consuming affection.

Then, Ayperi was alone, her form burnt black and her flesh giving off a sizzling smoke into the calm air. Despite the pain of her body, her mind was alive and stirring with doubts.

Were they right when they told her she couldn't do this? Should she have taken the easier road, the simple path? By this time, there was no time to turn back. The fervor of love had left her wounded and worried, alone in a dry bed where a shimmering lake had once lain. Who was she supposed to invest her trust in?

Right as that last thought caused her frown to deepen and her brow to crease, a figure rose in Ayperi's vision, glowing a brilliant, blinding white. The figure's hands grasped Ayperi's wrists, it's very touch being utterly healing, and causing the ash to fall from the skin it had brushed against. She gasped, shutting her eyes against the sheer magnitude of this radiance even as it's hands ran over her, brushing the burnt, dead flesh away from her figure.

The glow subsided, leaving only a familiar face caught in an expression of worry as the unremarkable fingers stroked her hair. Still, they were both in that dried lake, though it seemed significantly less sorrowful with this company who was neither judgemental as the weeping water, nor overpowering as a love demanding of worship. She did not wish to hold power over others, to hold sway over their fragile convictions. The only desire in her mind was to exsist with one other, to share as an equal with no competition for superiority, only wanting of justice.

This is why she had fled, these constant doubts and worries that followed her every step, making her falter in her impulsive passions. Society had poisoned her carefree nature, stomped it down into these strictures and boundaries that offered nothing but a bland, tasteless security. Freedom of choice was a phrase commonly uttered under this facade, though it's meaning had been lost through the years behind these neatly written rules of what "freedom" was. One cannot write down freedom, or give it limits and punishments, or try to capture it with shallow promises backed by men in dark uniforms. Freedom is.

As Ayperi let her enlightenment take her and wipe the filth of woe from her worried brow, the comforting figure offered another radiant smile, filled with a love that demanded nothing but offered everything. Gentle fingers meshed together, devoid of the anger that society had so infused in them both, holding only this affection between them. Liberated and triumphant, they ascended into the world with an unworried passion for all that was beautiful and worthwhile in the world. They ascended into the jealous heavens and burnt the wings of angels that looked down on their mortal joy. They lived and died, and neither deserved Hell, nor asked for Heaven, but just were.

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Thank you for reading, my darlings.

Sweet as rock salt-- Veloura