Time Marches On SOLO

Summer 2025.


"Oi, it's your shout now, innit," a voice to his right drifted by inaudable as the world continued to turn on its axis and make its way on the path around the sun. It was by some miracle that the Earth was able to do this when time was such a morphed perception these days since the breakup. Time seemed fragmented, like shattered glass - it was there but it was all in disarray and shambles. The hours and minutes slipped through his fingers yet they felt heavy, they stretched endlessly. He was lost somewhere in between yesterday and tomorrow.

"Kincaid?"

Simon was one of those imaginary fragmented shards of glass upon the floor - slowly sweeping around London that summer by the breeze. Just one piece, and all other parts of him were missing. Some might be elsewhere in London where the shattering took place, but he knew that most of them were in Stenton Village, Scotland: nearly 600 kilometers and forever away.

"Simon?"

Finally Simon glanced over his shoulder to see his best friend Gabe Evans at his side, a reassuring hand placed on his shoulder. "Your turn, mate......but I don't think you saw me last trick." It would be near impossible to continue their game of Add-on if one of the players wasn't paying attention. It was a game where the players took turns performing and matching tricks, perfomring a series of the prior ones and then adding their own to the sequence. "We can be done, it ain't no bother. Really." Simon shook his head. "Show me one more time?" he requested with a smile to his friend, glad that he didn't seem angered or bothered at his lack of attentiveness - both this time or all the times before it that summer.

His friend delivered a kind and understanding smile to him and flipped his skateboard up into his arms and took to the course once more for the series of tricks. Simon made sure to watch this time, trying to get his head back into the moment and was successful, as he had been for some moments of the summer. There were times when more shards of himself seemed to be present then others and he could function better than others. It came and went sometimes but never enough to resemble being complete. It couldn't.

Not without her: nearly 600 kilometers and forever away.


Time somehow passed some more and later he found himself accompanying his friends to the ice cream shop they most frequented in London. He didn't even like ice cream although he'd best tolerated the lemon flavor - so why was he there? Were his friends really just babysitting him: watching him for awhile to give his family a break because at times, when the shards ebbed so far elsewhere he wasn't sure he felt complete enough to function? He could only hope that during those times, the shards from the broken relationshp of him reached Senton Village and it was during these times when AngelFyre felt more complete. "Where you go, I will go; as long as I go with you."

Simon slipped his hand over where the marking was underneath his clothes on his chest, closed his eyes, and thought of her. "My hand always to your heart..."

"Fix this," a voice rang clear in front of him and he opened his eyes to see his friend Mia Anderson slid into the booth across from him. "Call her and get back together and fix this. You need a phone? Yours not charged? Here, use mine," and she pulled out her phone and held it across the table causing little points of light to dance all over as her pink glittery phone case reflected the evening sun. She couldn't know how much that hurt his dhampir's eyes and Simon had to glance down but he slowly shook his head at her offer. He couldn't call her.

"I can't," he whispered, emphasizing the last word.

"You must," she said, doing the same.

Simon looked back up to Mia who now had placed her phone down, luckily in the shadow of the menu and knew she was just trying to be encouraging and supportive. "And why must I?" he inquired, not mockingly, just exhausted - wanting to hear what she'd have to say on the matter.

She shrugged, as if she wasn't sure what to say. "Because. It's you two. I mean.....you two are absolutely amazing together. You two are that couple that everyone aspires to find and be part of. You two have a connection that's stronger than any - one of the most profound couples in all of forever: fictional or otherwise. If you two can't make it work, who the hell can? You guys were everything; everyone around you could see it - how you looked at each other, how you balanced each other, how you complimented each other, and completed each other. It isn't just love, it's magic, it's the unbelievable beauty that God can bring to this life. Don't you think you owe it to each other and that amazing connection to see if it can work again? You certainly owe it to all of us, no offense. I just think that any of us would fight for a love like that and if anyone can find their way back - it's you two."

"You always neglect your ice cream," she added, glancing down at his now pool of yellow in the white styrofoam bowl. Simon looked down at it. "Don't let it melt, Simon," she said, and the framented time and reality which was now his life made him unsure if that last line was still advice for his relationship or if she truly meant the ice cream.