Gone

He stood trying to decide what to do, whether to speak to her or what. Then, he turned away for a moment because the sun was in his eyes. When he looked back, she was gone.
How well he remembered that day on the beach of Puerto Plata- how everything on their vacation was so perfect, so right. His mind buzzed with images of this life as a young child in Asia. How different his upbringing was there from the fast-paced, all-or-nothing life of his adolescence here in the States. There was too much to balance, too much at stake, too many façades of bravado that had to be maintained for his reputation.
Now he stood before her in this moment’s flash. He felt such deep love for her, friendship and love – yes, soul-mates. “This is what the word meant,” he thought. “I feel what ‘soul-mate’ means every time I am with her.” She was all he had ever wanted and in this moment, on this Dominican oceanside resort, he felt the fullness of what this relationship meant.
The sun’s heat baked the sand while the soft waters licked the shore. He tried to speak, but couldn’t. No sound. He saw her, yet couldn’t touch her, call her or reach her. She was gone. The sun, blinding his sight, remained fully in front of him, constantly. He was lost, trapped eternally in the moment, the dream of his life that he so desired, but that would never be since his death.