Ch 1

               Just as quickly as the room began to slid sideways it seemed to right itself again. Luckily I had enough sense to seat myself in an armed chair this evening. Hopefully gravity was on my side today, as many times in the past it had not been. My finger, almost of its own volition, began to dance around the edge of the barely touched glass that sat in front of me. Somewhere deep down I hoped that the circular motion of my finger would balance the violent dance that was trying to erupt and take over my consciousness.

Somewhere along the line the pace in which my hand moved began to ebb and flow with the beat of the music pumping through the speakers around me. Dare I venture a look around? Why break the bit of solace I was beginning to find in the rhythmic trance I was falling headlong into for the off chance that he would be hiding somewhere in the mass of bodies that packed the night club.

               

Who knows how long I continued to play the game of cat and mouse with my equilibrium before I ventured to take another sip. The break in the ritual allowed me enough of a moment to glance behind the bar at a familiar figure watching me with a parental, chiding glare. Defiantly I sipped. Again, defiantly I gulped. I knew I wasn’t going to get another drink poured for me. I felt as though my head had calmed enough that if I decided to finish off this elixir that had carried me through so many other times of angst ridden torment, I could get away with it one more time and make it home without incident. The loud, bass heavy music soothed me but my bed and the dark room that held it was beginning to call my name. Like so few things seemed to do these days.

              

  With one more glance at my guardian angel I dared one more defiant stare, knocked the rest of my drink down, waved slightly and made my way off my bar stool. I cheered silently for myself as my feet hit the ground, I imagined myself throwing my hands in the air as the gymnasts, of days gone by did, after a perfect dismount. I kept the moment of triumph to myself and made my way to the door.

          

  I had made this trip countless times before. And like all the other times I found myself wondering at how we could have advanced so far with technology and we had yet to create a teleportation device. They’re just waiting on you, I thought to myself with a bitter chuckle. Covering the short distance to the rail platform seemed to take much more work that it had in the past. My head was beginning to swim from the last of the drink I had downed before departing my haven. Bad idea, I smiled a bit. It didn’t seem as though I had many good ideas recently.

              

  Caught up in my thoughts I realized I had come to rest against one of the large pillars that ran thousands of feet up to support the infrastructure that I, and a few million others, called home. The irony of its supporting my external world and my internal world simultaneously was not lost on me. I felt the hum of the rail before I saw or heard it. I smelled his cologne drift past before I felt his touch on the small of my back.

              

  “Going, somewhere?” I could hear the playfulness floating just below the surface of the question. I leaned back into the crook of his arm and rested my head gently on his shoulder. “I thought you would have been waiting for me,” I could almost see his smile in his tone, I needn’t look at him to know it was there.

              

  “It seems,” I began slowly hoping that I had control over my tongue tonight, “I am always waiting for you.”

               

He laughed, “Now that’s just not true.”

               

It was my turn to laugh, “Please, just spare me the effort it’s going to take to banter back and forth. What do you want?” There was a pause as his arm tightened around me and the rail pulled up to the platform. This close I could hear his intake of breath as he prepared to respond but with some restraint that was uncharacteristic of him he did nothing more than guide me onto the rail and we sat just inside the door, as that seemed to be as far as I was going to make it.

               

As we rode silently I allowed my eyes to drift closed and breathed in deep the scent of him. On the surface there was his signature cologne with its woody, or what I assumed would be woody, overtone followed by a sweeter undertone that I could almost taste and sat thick on my tongue like milk. But under that was him. For one so good with words I had yet to find the ones that would describe what the smell of him was like. It was intoxicating. It mixed so well with my well perfected cocktail of self-medication.

              

  It seemed as though only seconds had passed before he was gently guiding me to my feet and off the rail. The scent around me changed, I could pick out the distinct different floras mixing. A little lavender, slightly over powered by gardenia, and new one that I couldn’t quite put my thumb on. I groaned a little,“No.” My eyes were half open but I didn’t have to see where I was to know where we were going. “I really just want to go home,” I said quietly not trusting myself to speak any louder. He said nothing and continued to guide me onward. The light beeps of a code being entered floated through my ears followed by a latch catching. “I don’t want to do this tonight,” I pleaded meekly.

               

“You say that every time,” he spoke for the first time in what felt like ages, “and who said this is going to happen?”

               

“Because it does every time,” I felt almost as defeated as I know I sounded.

              

  “Things can change,” he said as he let go of me momentarily to close and secure the door.

              

  “Not for us,” I plopped more than sat onto the couch I had come to know so well.

              

  “Don’t settle here, let’s go to the bedroom.”

               

“No,” the defiance was creeping back in.

               

“You don’t want to sleep here tonight. You’ll wake up with a kink in your neck.”

              

  I sighed and allowed him to help me stand and guide me to his bedroom still half lidded and with a half a mind that I really didn’t need his help. I could make my way home just fine by myself. But as his hand slid up my thigh to catch the bottom of my dress my thoughts seemed to stop. My breath caught as he pulled it up over my hips and I could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of my neck. Up and over it went and as I lost my balance from the sudden shift he caught me with his arm wrapping around my waist, his body pushing up against mine. I sighed and leaned into him letting my head rest against his shoulder and lull to nest in the curve of his neck. “Not tonight. I can’t,” I said as I gently pressed my lips to his neck.

              

  “No, not tonight,” he whispered huskily.

              

 “You’re lying to me,” I said as he released me and I crawled into the bed just inches in front of me. I lay on my side with my eyes half open watching him as he removed his clothing to join me. The scent of him was heady and the heat from him stirred something inside me that prodded me to come to my senses but I was having little success.

              

  He pulled me close to him wrapping me up in his arms. I’m home, I thought to myself, this is what home feels like. “I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

               

“That’s what you say every time,” I responded quietly as I began to drift off with much protest from my mind as it warred with itself.

              

  “I mean it every time,” he said as he tightened his grip around me.

              

  “And you break my heart every time,” with that I was left with a sense of disappointment at my intoxicated state having put me here again as I was pulled into a blackness that I had experienced so many times before.

 

Author's Note

I'm trying to "foreshadow" or set up a few things:
1. This is not earth or what we know as earth today (haven't decided which way to go yet)
2. The relationship between the main character and "him"
3. The main character is plagued by something that drives her to self-medicate to cope.

I really wanted to keep this somewhat vague but still capture the readers attention.

Reviews

[K.E. Henderson]

So mysterious and intriguing at the same time. I enjoy that in reading.

[Laura Lynn]

Very nice, I like the rail, the column, and the gardenia
Oh I see vague that is alright, vague is abstract