Hour’s Desire

Elidy

In the beginning, desire sparks awake, a vision that scatters into the first, tiny burning embers across the mystique, unknown sky. Such miniscule promises, fuel for the cold, withering world that winters our souls.

In the ice-warm world of wander, our distant spirits continue to pass each other by, mesmerised by the promise of the long hour that casts its lingering, seductive lights. Private desires for life fuel, isolating our burning gazes from each other.

It is an hour like no other, sprouting its roots of foundation. Catching the dust, granule and carcass sediments in its breeze, it begins to take shape, forming a barren, complex land dug deep.

Dark holes of privacy surround us, fuelled by the precious lights of desire that are consumed deep within their recesses. The sky darkens once more as the light depletes, leaving only a few embers floating across the sky.

I stand with my love, Chardy, atop the sharp etches of rocks that cut into my bare feet. A shadowed granite, dappled by the flickering of the last remaining light. It is a surface that carries the weight of our desires as we stand upon the jutted cliff face and stare out into the stark ether.

Mere silhouettes are our figures, etched as temporary lines in the choking duration of time. As I hold Chardy’s hand, the rhythmic beating of my heart sets me shaking with concern. To dare to act upon an emotion is forbidden in this time. It is a violation of the empty, stark silence that has surpassed life’s noise. A smothering of human life and will, suppressing it like a heated iron and scorching it until it melts into the will of the hour.

Staring into Chardy’s deep brown eyes, I seek a single beat, a flicker of emotion, anything to reassure me that life as we feel certain of it, still exists. I see a small, circular light swarming in his eyes, one that mesmerises me, just for a moment …

“Ellidy …” Chardy’s voice is a husky whisper, at beat with the shower of snow befalling our beings. He presses his cheek against mine and I feel the comforting scrape of his rustic, unkempt beard against my skin.

My heart beats strongly, and I inhale, absorbing Chardy’s dependable strength.  If only I could hold onto this moment of connection forever and surrender myself to its soaring flight away from here. To be present with my love, to be touched deeply by his gentle hands, to feel his naked warmth …

My heart aches with memories of our last, lingering love, pulsing with passion under candle light. Our bodies were raw and alive, embraced on the deck of our boat, baring and unafraid to surrender ourselves to love.

Inside, I grieve, for the absence of Chardy’s touch and his lights of comfort and reassurance. Our distance has stripped my soul, unearthing me, my being yearning to rise high above the devastation in order to find a solution.

We cannot deny our pure love, it simmers within us, over boiling with heat. Some how, I will find a way to bring us back together freely.

Reaching up, I stroke Chardy’s dark brown hair, pulling him closer to me. Heart racing, I stare intensely into his eyes, willing him to unleash his most primal needs.  “Chardy …” Leaning in close, I release my heart to my wildest desire, to be intimate with the man I love, to kiss –

A strong gust of breeze snaps across the air, swinging momentary ash across the landscape. It strikes smartly at Chardy, reeling him backwards onto the cliff face.

Chardy’s eyes widen in horror. “Stay back, my love,” he warns, raising his hands in a stop signal. “It’s best we keep our distance for now, you understand?”

Anger slashes through me, fuelling destructively in my heart. “I understand,” I repeat, my voice simmering with rage. “It won’t happen again,” I speak louder, assured that time hears me.

We are at strangers with ourselves in this long, drawn out succession of the hour. Mere visitors to this world, our beings struck smartly against time’s determination. We sought answers to deeper issues that lie hidden within its chosen setting of existence. Our questions barely parted our lips when they were swiped by the harsh breeze and caught in the hour’s rising drift.

As moments fleet, it is easy to forget who I am as the world refuses to connect with me. Forbidden entry ways lurk in the distance, pathways into the desires of other souls who inhabit this world. Their routes are complex, like the loaded memories that they safe-guard and lock away, signalling their moments of vibrancy at various locations around the space.

I have learned to hide my memories, to lock them elsewhere, away from this dangerous state of self-deterioration. At a time in the future, I will re-summon my memories again, when it is safe to engage with them. For now, it is best that I remain as empty as a blank canvas, ignoring even the most smallest, primal desire to be enacted upon.

Watching Chardy grasp his arm, grimacing in pain, I feel a rage roar within me. We have been planted here, against our will. Stacked amongst the cliff’s ragged heights, we wait unsuccessfully for something, anything, to tell us what to expect.

One cannot trust the silence that eats its way through this new world.  It lurks in the shadows, waiting to catch you out. For some, the ash in the air, is their dark fate.

Turning away from Chardy, I stare out at the restless oblivion that stretches far beyond my natural sight. It is a distant eternity of time that intrigues me as it continues to evolve. My heart burns with a deep desire, to befall the momentous hour that traps us in its existence.

Outstretching my palm, I watch as a single light ember flashes in the sky.  As miniscule seconds tick by, my heart beats wildly as the light catches the breeze and floats towards me.

In one extraordinary moment, the light ember lands in my palm, rolling slightly as it settles.

Shock waves ripple through my body, sending me into a violent seizure. “No!” A deep primal scream escapes my lungs as my palm burns alight. I desperately try to meet Chardy’s gaze, yet he still writhes upon the floor.

I wriggle frantically, trying to escape the hour’s trap. It is no use. Rising higher into the sky, I glance back at my love.  A single tear rolls down my cheek as I realise that my desire has ripped us apart.

Copyright, Susan L. Marshall (2026): Hour’s Desire
Genre: Metaphysical Science Fiction / Romance.