Beams of moonlight sporadically touch the ground around us as the clouds pass before the glow of a bright, full moon, its transparent light the only comfort of two souls as death continues in a search almost spent. Particles of dust dance within the light, being brought up and disturbed within the hidden cavern, which creaks its protest after the invasion of the two. From the dim light, its previously untouched splendor can be seen, the beauty only tarnished by pools of dark, crimson blood signaling the end of life that will once again send the old cavern back into silence.

~ ~ ~

I shiver in the light, my body so cold, and wonder how much longer he has. My heart clenches, filling with sadness as I think back to the months prior. Back to the countless days I continued to believe in the folly of love. How stupid I was to think that I didn’t love him. The mind is such a powerful thing, so stubborn now in placing self blame where it should lie and yet back then my mind had been so weak as to accept reprogramming and forget all that had been.

Hatred for Operations and Madeline simmers beneath the surface, calmed only by the death that awaits me. Realizing the direction of my thoughts and their futility, I vow to remember the events leading to our current and fatal situation, and to take their sweet sadness with me when I go. Concentrating, the images flash before me: Michael and I running in full mission gear, the black attire hiding bullet wounds both of us have accumulated, then the fateful moment--the earth giving way beneath us until all we could feel was air rushing past us, then hard ground bringing pain and darkness. Still I force myself to remember--landing on a sharp rock which severed my spinal cord, paralyzing me from the waist down, I opened my eyes to find Michael looking down at me, his complexion pale, and in his expression the one thing I had forced myself to believe did not exist...love. There were tears in his eyes, knowing that death would come, and in the moment the wetness slid down his cheek and landed softly on the coldness of my skin, I remembered. The memories came to me at once and as I lay here, I still do not know why those memories returned so suddenly.

My eyes are drawn to the full moon that now shines down directly on us from the cavern opening through which we fell. If not for the fall, I would not know the love we share, yet both of us would live. Now I know the truth and lay waiting for death. I do not know which fate would be worse--knowing love and dying as I found it, or living and never knowing that love.

Turning my head, blackness fights for control and my skull throbs in pain, but it does not matter. I can hear his last few breaths drawing near, and I cannot stop the tears from running down my face as his eyes lock onto mine. With the remainder of my strength, I kiss my fingertips and place them gently upon his slightly parted lips. Bringing a smile and brief happiness to his life before the darkness claims him one last time and as he lets down his barriers completely, showing me all he feels within his eyes, I tell him what his heart so desperately needs to hear.

“I love you, Michael,” and with those whispered words the light fades from within his green eyes, leaving me with only the moon and death as my company. The stillness surrounds me in my last moments, and in the lonely cavern, I listen to the beating of my heart slowing down as I die from loss of blood and a broken heart. Slowly, ever so slowly, even that has stopped, leaving the cavern ever silent for years to come. My body may have died and with it the only living person to remember the love we shared, but the moon continues to watch upon us, a witness to our last moments of life, and I know, that with the moon, our love will never be forgotten.

Written by Adriana

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