Eternal Promise

Isabelle crashed over the brink with a scream that must have been heard a block away, but Anna did not relent. She increased her pace, her mouth covering Isabelle's as her fingers teased, pleased, carried Isabelle ever higher until they were both lost to the passion, heat and exhaustion consuming them both.

By the time Anna slowed, Isabelle was clinging to her beyond all reason, her body quivering with sensory overload. Anna lowered herself to Isabelle's side, unaware of the filthy floor as she gathered the woman into her arms and buried her face in Isabelle's hair. Her last thought was if she could just fall asleep with Isabelle in her arms every night, she could easily be content for the rest of her life. For the rest of eternity.

* * * * * * *

Anna's dreams were interrupted by the weak morning sun filtering through the broken, dusty window. This first November morning carried an abundance of frost after the clammy Halloween night. Anna's clothes were stiff and crunched slightly as she sat up. She felt half frozen and could not stop shivering. Memories flooded through the haze, and she looked around the dirty, decaying room with a surge of fear and loss. "No," she groaned again and again, eyes wide as she stared in horror at the empty room.

She pushed herself to her feet and spun about, hands clenched as she pressed them to her temples. Her eyes welled with tears as she stared at the rotten remains of a four-poster bed, the ruin of an old wardrobe crushed by its own weight, the empty desk nearby that held nothing but more dirt, dust and frost. She stumbled toward it, rested her palms on its gritty surface, and stared at the empty corner that still showed the faint imprint of two clear circles, but there were no bottles. Nothing remained. Nothing but a hint of jasmine in the air. A memory of jasmine.

Anna slowly moved her trembling fingers to her face and breathed in as her tears spilled over, and she crumpled to the ground, unable to stand the avalanche of grief. Her lover's scent was still as strong as it had been the night before. She breathed deeply until she felt dizzy, until she thought every inch of her must be infused by that scent she would never again forget.

* * * * * * *

It took Anna an hour before she could push her aching body back to her feet. She was covered in dirt made muddy by the frost. As she leaned against the desk, she held her right hand to her lips and breathed in that scent, then kissed her fingertips. Anna squeezed her fist against her lips as a last tear escaped. A dry sob wracked her chest, and she raised her face to the cracked ceiling, silently pleading with whatever power had allowed last night's reunion.

Nothing answered her but the draft through the house and the sounds of the city waking up for a lazy weekend. Despair made her feet drag as she stumbled toward the stairs. Everything looked so drab in the sunlight. Broken. Fading. Anna clung to the banister that seemed so much weaker than the night before. She barely made it to the first floor without falling and staggered into the sunlight.

She eventually found her way back to campus, ignoring the questioning looks and comments. She fumbled for her keys as she neared her room and nearly ran into Troy, who was trying to close the door to one of her neighbor's rooms without waking anyone inside.

He stared at her wide-eyed, then blinked. "Shit, Anna," the boy said in a choked voice. "Uh... you all right?" It was obvious he was asking more out of guilt and concern for his own situation than anything that might have happened to her.

She stared at him until a deep blush covered his cheeks. She continued to stare as he hurried toward the stairwell and down to his own floor. Not until she pushed her door closed behind her did she crumple once more, barely able to drag her ruined clothes off her body before she collapsed onto her bed, wrapping herself tightly in the blankets to cry herself to sleep.

* * * * * * *

By the end of the next week, Anna was somewhat functional again. She attended most of her classes and made half-assed attempts at some of her assignments. She ignored the concerned questions from her instructors and avoided interacting with any of her peers. Mostly, she slept. Her dreams were the only place she could find Isabelle again, surrounded by the scent of jasmine and that perfume that was all her own.

Friday afternoon she took a seat at the back in her last class of the day. A new instructor was introducing herself, but Anna took no notice. She stared out the window instead and watched the increasing traffic crawl across the interstate bridge, taillights and headlights weaving a ribbon back into the city. The truth was, Anna was searching. Searching for that tug she had always felt before in her soul, though unable until now to describe or understand. Now there was nothing left but desire and loss.

The class droned around her with the banter of instructions, questions and answers, and the hour passed without Anna so much as looking at the other students. Finally the lack of noise drew her back to the present, and she jumped slightly, blushing as she stuffed her notebook and pen back into her bag. She shrugged into her coat and hurried toward the door, head down. As she passed the podium, however, her feet slowed. She stopped, eyes staring blankly at the floor as she breathed in again.

"Jasmine," Anna whispered, hands clenching around the strap of her bag, eyes blinded by a rush of tears. After she blinked them away, she raised her head slowly and realized there was a woman still standing at the door watching her. Waiting for her.

Just as before, Anna felt frozen by the number of emotions flooding her. The woman closed the door and took a tentative step toward Anna, her narrow, dark eyes locked on the girl's face. Anna felt her arms go limp and her bag slipped from her shoulder to drop to the ground, but she still remained frozen to that spot. Anna stared at the woman's face, at her dark hair, at her small body, then she took a shuddering breath and filled her lungs with jasmine, and with the other scent. That heavenly perfume that filled her dreams.

"Anna?" the woman asked. Isabelle. Her love.

"You're real," Anna said, her voice a whispered groan. She took a few stumbling steps toward the woman, then fell into an embrace both desperate and welcome. She buried her face in the woman's hair and laughed through her tears.

"I never should have left you," Isabelle whispered against Anna's shoulder as one hand smoothed the girl's hair, tenderly pulling the embrace tighter. She leaned back to look into Anna's eyes. Her lips trembled as she smiled. "It won't happen again."

Their kiss held only a little of the passionate urgency from that night. Instead, it carried an enduring tenderness and love that had withstood the test of time and had breathed life back into something lost far too long. It carried a promise to continue long after they were gone. Just as it always has.