Cecillia

'When dreary clouds shroud the moon, and my eyes are fixed upon the glimmer of the stars; I find myself, without thought, reminded of your fair skin. No less captivating, radiant as though kissed by moonlight itself. With your dark hair cascading long, reflecting the brilliant glow of countless stars. So beautiful are you, that I lose all mastery of myself, crumbling the very walls I had built to keep myself from longing for the sweetness of your lips.

Cecilia, how many thousand years must I wait before I may reach your love. A love that would render me mute, deaf, and blind all at once.

I await you every night, hoping you would wander into my dreams, carrying all my love within your embrace.

For the one most dearly treasured, Cecilia.'

A single letter, now complete; so precious that no soul in this world ought to lay eyes upon it, save for the one to whom it was written: Cecilia.

This very day, I am to call upon her residence in the west of the city. Her family had extended to me an invitation to a gathering held in honour of Isaac's homecoming: Cecilia's elder brother, and a dear companion of mine.

I had prepared myself for every conceivable thing. Yet my heart would not be still in its longing to see her; it seemed as though it might burst at the very instant her face came into view. I felt, in that moment, rather like a fool who had only just learned to walk. Nor could I suppress the smile that had crept upon my face. The sort of smile that, should anyone witness it, would surely lead them to mistake me for a clown.

I folded the letter I had written for Cecilia, then turned toward the mirror to satisfy myself that my appearance was worthy of presenting before my beloved. I drew my hair back with the comb that always waited faithfully in the drawer of my dresser. Once content, I stepped out and passed through the doorway that would welcome me home again upon my return.

What a glorious day it was so glorious, indeed, that I felt I could dance and sing the entire length of the road to her home. Had it been within my power, I would have invited the street lamps themselves to join me in the revelry. Even the roses seemed to bloom in celebration. They opened in splendid beauty along the fence of my building; and so I plucked one, thinking perhaps it might bring a smile to Cecilia's face.

All along the way, my thoughts were consumed entirely by her. Her smile. The light in her eyes. And those sweet lips of hers that had haunted my every waking hour. I greeted each soul who crossed my path, saying with great cheer, "May your day and mine be as lovely as Cecilia." One can only imagine what a madman I must have appeared, and yet I prayed there would be many more such days of sweet madness yet to come.

Within my chest, a waltz of romance spun with such furious delight that my very soul seemed to sing along with it. So consumed was I in its melody that I did not hear the shriek of tyres against the cobblestones, nor the voices of those who cried out in my direction.

In that instant, I felt my body give way; and I felt, too, something warm and wet tracing its way down the length of my neck.

Then I saw Cecilia. She's smiling at me, framed against a sky of the most serene and perfect blue. Before the light, slowly and without ceremony, began to fade; until there was nothing left for me to see.

The last thing I felt was the clamour of people rushing toward me, their voices displacing the waltz within my chest, filling the world instead with an echo of commotion.