Valleys Of Nectar

Chapter six: Downfall (iii)

They experienced every aspect of love like seasons.

In summer, their young spirits roamed wild and free, like genies let out of a lamp. They would chase in the heat of the sun till it blazed like gasoline. They would then rest their worn-out feet in a meadow, devouring swelled mangoes and melons. Relaxing their bodies against the soft meadow hay, they would wait until the sky's lantern lost it shade of tangerine then rise and laze towards their cottage.

And then the spring came, bringing its palette to paint the flowers and add lush to what was dull. Little did Gwen know that spring would breathe life into her womb. Oh how the season blossomed, giving them an April of their own, a spring which would bloom for life.

When the autumn came out of its hiding, it creaked like an old door. It stole the yellow of sunflowers and shrouded it on bright green leaves that withered to the ground. But in a cottage dwelled a tiny joyous April, and no gloominess of vintage could merry down her parents' joy.

The winter yawned, leaving everything in sight lifeless. It smoked the sky gray, and puffed the air with blurry rings of fog. Even the bonfire was chilled down to ashes

And so did Gwen's bones. Snow settled deep in her marrows. She grew pale and her breath came out in chokes. The contour of her face grew sallow. She had sharp shooting aches down her spine like ice breaking into icicles. She felt pangs of death taking over her. She longingly looked at April, her spring that she wouldn't get to see blossom. She feared the isolation that death brings. Gabriel held her in embrace as she made him promise to be there with her all the time. To be with her, when she becomes a bag of bones. When she's above or below the earth. When she's next to him or settled in dust. When she breathes her last breath, her soul kissing him farewell. It shall miss fondling in his eyes . Gwen shall miss what's hers. The man she met at the mountain's foothills. The heat of the sun that they lay under. The spring that gave her April. The autumn which couldn't dull the joy April's presence brought her.

April.

April's kingdom had reached its downfall.

You either live to see a smile blossom or get to watch it slowly fade away.