One Tear on a White Dress

The world let out a great sigh, sending the sun-colored leaves scurrying off the path. They were replaced only seconds later by those just losing grip of the mother tree.  In that place full of century old trees and not a car, building, or clock in sight, time seemed to stop.  It did for Aislinn anyways.  A chill settled on her skin, but the cold had numbed those senses what seemed like hours ago.  And though an instinctive shiver continued to shake her body, the young woman never moved an inch.  The fall breeze surrounded her, taking the wavy, bright red hair that settled on her back and let it dance.  He had wanted her to wear it down.  Now Aislinn wished to cut it off and let it be free… Free of his words, his face.  His beautiful face.  Her hair no longer felt like a blessing but a burden instead.  A reminder.  A memory.  The tear felt cold on her rosy cheek.  And when the small drop of water ran down Aislinn’s pale skin and began to soak into the white satin of her dress, not one more fell.  She feared that the sorrow they held might stain it forever.  Such a beautiful dress.  He had loved it.  He said it was the sign that he had fallen in love with an angel because he had never seen anything more angelic.  She wished to rip it off and leave it behind… To let it be free.  Why should everything be trapped with her?  It was not fair.  The evening’s cold began to fill the empty spaces in the woods, but Aislinn continued to stand there and stare.  What she was staring at was not important, however.  What mattered were all the things she was trying so desperately to ignore.

…Like the crying.  It followed her there, into the woods.  They were all weeping, shedding tears for what they no longer had.  And even against her protest, all of them wished to touch her, to hug or hold her.  That is why Aislinn ran, took shelter in the woods that let time take a rest.  She wished to free that too.  Time.  It held the chains of so many, hated for doing the only thing it knew how to do… move on, keep going.  The young woman did not wish to move on.  In fact, she did not wish to even take a step forward.  Aislinn would have rather gone back.  Yes… back.  Back to that day where he had taken her hand in the middle of the very same woods and asked for her forever.  And with butterflies in her stomach and great dreams of the future, she had given it to him.

No, she did not wish to move forward.  She did not wish to even think of it or shed a tear about it.  Crying seemed to make it final, showed that time was doing what it was made to do.  But no.  Aislinn had freed time from its binds of moving on.  It was only her and the icy evening breeze.  She was alone.  It was that realization that brought our red-headed beauty in white to her knees.  For the first time in her life, Aislinn felt truly alone.  Her family still mourning where she had ran from.  But to maximize the aching in her heart, she realized that even their presence would not give her more comfort.  It was not their presence she longed for, not their touch or voice.  It was his…

Aislinn had nothing left in her.  The longing had enveloped her heart, mind, and spirit.  Remembering to breathe slowly stole the rest of the young woman’s strength.  And as the cold seeped through the skin and began to frost the blood, she merely laid down on the ground stiff with the coming winter.  After the sound of crunching leaves under her weight, Aislinn decided to concentrate on the sound of the wind rushing through the trees.  And as all slipped away, our red-headed beauty in white swore she could hear the soft whistle of the wind passing through the gaping hole in her heart.  So cold…

 

Author's Note

This is my first story I've posted on here. I know it's not the best, but I just wanted to put it in here and see what people think.