Two Oceans Away

Feathery, weightless leaves dropped from the trees, raining down on the ground in an array of autumn colors. It was nearing dusk, and the sun was falling away from the skyline. In a field of straw, surrounded by sparse forestry, she traipsed through the wilderness, following a man of a much greater age than her. He was clothed in uniform, his broad shoulders proud. He had a sly smile pierced on his face, and a shaky glimmer in his eyes. He appeared aged, but his heart was still so young.

Her small, milky frame was sheltered only by a meek outfit, far too thin for the season. When she shivered from the cold, Johnny grinned and took off, veering from their path. “Babe, come on!” He teased, fleeing while he looked back on his fiery lover. She was standing still, unmoved and assured.

Jamie shook her head, and gazed down at her body. Peeking out from under the silk cloth, her stomach bloomed with the hum of motherhood. It was the driving force for her to endure her love’s childish antics. She had wanted this a long time, to be with Johnny. She wanted it all.

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“What should we name her?” Johnny asked, making circles with his finger on Jamie’s small bump. It was difficult to envision such a tiny tummy expanded and stretched to fit a child.

“What if it’s a boy? Let’s see, how ‘bout Carter?” Jamie laughed, her crooked teeth visible.

Johnny rolled his eyes, serious. “I mean it, if I’m not on leave when you have the kid…”

Jamie turned over, her side colliding with some damaged straw. “You’ll be with me, won’t you?”

Johnny could not answer, so he merely looked down to her round face, and tucked a strand of strawberry hair behind her ear. She touched his arm, and leaned into him. When Jamie looked up at the older man, she sighed. A pink, fleshy abrasion extended from his left cheekbone, over his lips and down to his right jawbone. She fingered his soft skin, tracing the different curves and grooves of his disfigurement. His rugged, affectionate demeanor made her insides squirm, fish struggling to move upstream.

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Johnny and Jamie were standing, intertwined. The milky and bronze ribbons of skin wrapped around one another, grasping at a fleeting moment. It was Johnny, not Jamie, who shed tears on that day. He held a secret behind his breast, which would ruin this treasure. He wasn’t coming back this time. He felt it in his skin, tendons, and bones. He was leaving her.

Jamie gazed up at the taller man, drowning in the blue of his eyes. She kissed the fold of his jaw, nipping at the skin. He shuddered, brought out of his thoughts. “You look too pensive,” she jokingly whispered. Johnny nodded his head, used to this statement. He leaned into his girl, pressing his lips against her skin. “I love you.”

She grinned delightedly, her eyes closed and her hands cupping his face. “I love you,” she spoke before resuming a deepened kiss. She opened her eyes, the solidity of Johnny gone, replaced by a giant halo of smoke, dissipating before her eyes.

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They had met up since childhood in the same spot. It was more than a field of wildflowers and straw to the couple; it was more like a field of secluded memories, buried in the hearts of young lovers. Burying her beloved in the same spot in which they had spent so many hours dawdling, lost in their lust and love, seemed right. She was standing in front of his newly painted grave, her boots caked with spring mud. It was too late to be night, and too early to be morning. A sharp, intrusive ache found itself lodged within her heartstrings, pulling and tugging at her breath.

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A swollen, red bundle was placed in her weakening arms. Swirly auburn hair twisted itself into tight curls, covering the infant’s scalp. She opened her eyes to find two oceans staring up, eyes remnant of a ghost. It was strangely familiar, looking into eyes infallibly infinite. She was holding a swaddled newborn, but in her mind, she was gripping onto the remains of her lost love. She was distant, swimming within a smoky blue.