The Brink of Eternity

Chapter Twenty Three: Flowers Bloom But None As Beautiful As You

Nathan p.o.v:

I got home and it felt even emptier than I did. The couch was cold and my glass lied on the table with the residue of the morning's shot.

I grabbed the glass and filled it to the brim with whiskey because what else was I meant to do. I downed it on my way to the bedroom.

I lied back on my bed and felt the soft satin against my skin whilst the burning sensation of the whiskey still infiltrated my throat.

I dragged my body closer to the bedside table and rummaged through it till I felt the old leather notebook. I took it out and brought it up to my eye level, then started reading my entries from exactly two thousand and eight days ago.

If I wasn't there for when I wrote them, I'd say I'd stolen them from somewhere and have been pretending they're mine.

But the way my stomach knotted and my heart sank when I started reading proved otherwise.

The sun was bright but his smile was brighter when he saw me standing at his porch. He left the house with a skip in his steps and immediately fell into my arms.

"Hey baby" I said to him as my face broke into a smile that stretched to my ears.

He didn't answer but merely snuggled his head further into my neck.

We spent a few seconds like that, then got into my car and drove off towards the woods.

The drive was neither long nor uncomfortable, but then again nothing was around him.

"Where are we going?" He asked me whilst intertwining his fingers with mine and looked up with big curious hazel eyes.

"Somewhere new. Here put this on." I handed him a blindfold and he raised a brow at me.

"Nathan, baby, I love you and all but..don't you think it's a bit too kinky ?"

"Oh just shut up and put it on." I shoved him lightly.

A moment or two later I heard his voice meekly asking for some help.

"Nathan my fingers got stuck while trying to tie this around my eyes. Though I crossed the bunny's ears and looped the lace just like you told me."

I didn't sigh or shake my head or even roll my eyes, which was an action rarely not done by me, simply and solely because I was used to it by now.

Mason Adams didn't know how to tie a knot and he was never going to learn.

I did the knot for him then took his hand back in mine to lead him to our destination.

"Are you ready?" I asked him as soon as we got there.

He nodded vigorously and I took it as a yes.

I untied the blindfold then told him to open his eyes, and the only thing that I heard was a gasp.

"Omg.." he started looking all around him.

The trees stood tall and thick around us, close enough for us to see the carvings of initials into their bark, but far enough so they seemed like the walls of our own private cabin.

The sun shone down on us like it wanted to tickle our skin and play around with us. Like fairies sprinkling their dust across the forest, as if it weren't magical enough already.

The edge of the cliff overlooked a canyon with rocks protruding everywhere from beneath. It looked quite deadly and my boyfriend is a big klutz, so I looped an arm around his waist and lead him to lie down with me on the grass.

I had brought a picnic basket along, but didn't get a sheet for us to lie on. The grass was more comfortable anyway.

He looked up to watch the birds while I studied him.

"You know the view is actually even prettier if you look at it." He said as he flipped to his side to mimic my position.

"I am looking at it."

"Cheesy." He scrunched his nose and cracked that big smile of his. That smile was gonna be the death of me one day.

I scooted closer to him and removed my arm from under my head to put it on his soft cheek.

"You have really pretty eyes you know." I told him while still stroking his cheek with my thumb. His eyes really were beautiful.

"They're just brown eyes."

"Hmm. Guess they are." But they weren't just brown eyes, because brown eyes will forever be brown eyes, but his were galaxies of honey dripping into melted copper and reflecting off of Saturn.

We spent the day basking in the warmth of the sun. The softness of each other's lips, and the comfort of Mason's laugh echoing in my ears.

And I realized that Mason Adams didn't know how to tie a knot but my stomach went into thousands of them upon seeing him.

The entry ended then but Nathan's mind didn't stop replaying all of the memories it had stored, no matter how hard he tried to hide them from his own self, to make them stop for just a day. Though he knew that the pain is durable, for one day without the memory of the love of his life would be a death by a thousand cuts.

So he shut his eyes as his mind played yet another memory.

His boots clicked like a ticking clock in the late afternoon on a cold autumn night.

The footsteps against the hardwood floor echoed through the candle-lit mansion. His coat followed closely behind his legs as he strode the distance in graceful leaps.

The candles went out one by one when he passed them. The house was never to see the light unless it's in his presence.

The stairs stretched broadly. For the first time in his life, he felt hesitant.

He knew who lay behind the doors of his chamber, and he knew very well how dangerous he was. He lacked the magic, the authority, and the power, yet he feared what his touch was capable of.
He dreaded and craved that touch. He wanted it and despised it.

He hated Mason Adams, but loved every part of him.

Mason was in his bed, and Nathaniel knew better not to enter.

But he entered anyway.