The Need to Be Alone

I wanted to post something a little more substantial as my first post, but the piece I am working on isn't quite perfect yet. In order to appease my excited readers, I am posting this piece of flash fiction. They are a quicker read and usually leave you to work out the rest of the details...

The blistering sun could beat upon her flesh for eternity and she would not feel it. Long hair flows down her back, catching the sunlight like dark syrup before reflecting it back toward the sun. Equally dark eyes gaze at the sky, trying to catch the clouds and bring them to life. She wants these lambs which graze on the blue horizon to leap down, make her not feel so terribly alone.

If they stepped down, would they bring her solace? Would the feel of their wool make the ache in her heart fade away? Would they just remind her more clearly of what she has lost? Tears streak her face but she wills them away, closing her dark eyes tight. It is now that her age is apparent. The genesis of wrinkles show she is pushing past forty into decay.

Her eyes open again, still pooled with tears that she will not let fall. Her thin, red lips quiver slightly until she bites the bottom lip harshly. Scanning the horizon leaves nothing to be seen, but an old station wagon parked on the shoulder of the highway in this deserted place.

Shuffling steps bring her to the door of the car, but the keys are not in her hand. The keys are behind her on the bluff where she dropped them. She knows this. She does not care. She stares into the car at an empty car seat. Her right hand instinctively reaches toward her abdomen, caressing the flatness of her stomach thoughtlessly.

The sound of a car approaching on the lonely stretch of highway does not break her stance. An artist could paint this scene without fear the model shall shift or move. She is immovable. The car pulls in behind the station wagon, spitting gravel from under its tires. Even this creates no change in the scene.

The door opens and closes swiftly, releasing a tall man who comes around the front of the car. His face is a reflection of hers with pain wrapped in every furrow. He steps toward her, but she does not turn to him.

"Amelia…"

The only word to escape his lips falls on deaf ears. He cannot see her through his tears, yet somehow he finds her and wraps her in his arms. The blistering sun still beats down, but the loneliness flees as her hand rises slowly from her stomach, seeks out his. As fingers entwine, she speaks softly, summing up all that now seems to pour into her heart.

"Not alone…never alone…"