If The Moon Dissapeared

She stood next to the sea as waves crashed down on worn black rocks, the moon’s gleam glinting in her eyes. The night howled with a salty wind, stinging my face. I walked up to her, nervously, like one looks to an unstoppable force and stared off at the open sea. Birds white in day appeared black in the cover of darkness, swooping from the heavens to the sea and then back up again. They pierced through the wind with grace and raw ability.

“Does the moon shine for you?” my voice quivered with uncertainty even though I was more certain of nothing else. Her eyes did not move from the dark sea. She sighed, as an animal would, tired and exasperated. My hand reached for her shoulder, an impulse of its own. She jerked away. I saw the corner of her moonlit struck eye glance my way for an enormous fraction of a second. I felt raw intensity telling me off and then pulling me in- a tide of sorts.

She spoke, not towards me, but to the sea. “What would happen if the moon disappeared?”. I felt a jolt of hesitation run up my spine. I took a step towards her. She took a step away- towards the worn black rocks that met the dark ocean. I felt my voice weaken even before it forced its way from my throat. “Well I suppose there would be no more waves. No more push and pull. The sea would be flat”. She grasped her hands together behind her back tightly, and raised her chin from the sea to the moon. “Flat like a heart rate?”. My heart dropped like the moon from the sky. I took another step, reaching my hand out for her to grab onto. She turned around, her face severe, and her eyes bouncing with untamed light and shadows. “Iris” I whispered. She nodded her head and let her lips meet mine, so softly yet intimate, a kiss that felt like rays of glancing moonlight.

My eyes were closed and when I opened them she was gone. I sat for a while, near where the black rocks meet the dark ocean. I stared up at the moon and the birds that fell from the heaven to the sea and rose back up again. I thought about the kiss and her shadowy light eyes. I pretended she was still in front of me, and yet part of me felt like it was pretend from the beginning. I knew it was real, as I felt the night’s wind brush up against my face and sting my eyes. I could feel an unmistakable pull and push, like the waves cresting and crashing in front of me.