Closed What Heaven Looks Like Reopened 03/13/2024

Stunning Banner by Winnie Harper

@Evelynn Decipio

The serenity of solitude. The reticence of repose. To be lost within the winding avenues of one’s own mind would forever evoke the subdued sentiments of the heart. For an emotion perpetually stifled in proximity to the judgments of another, or a thought buried eternally beneath racing words, isolation ever conceded an opportunity to flourish.
Unrestrained, they would often overrun a still soul, abusing it with no evident remorse.
As Marshal’s gaze stretched to the stars above, the emotions so governing his disposition weaved between the differing origins of impotence. He yearned for the contents of days past, even as ambition reached for the future. And all the while, a distinct understanding permeated it all - in that he was helpless to affect either.
The past could not be altered, and the future could not be controlled. Especially when the future was quite so good at sneaking up on him.

Head lifting from its place of rest, hands would shoot to destinations adjacent with his torso, rooting against the grass and providing support for his back to arch off the ground. Pupils opted for the liberty of taking their sweet time to adjust, an argent silhouette forming below him in testament to the invading voice’s source. The tone caressed his ears with a familiar frequency, overcoming initial shock to whisper the intruder’s identity.
”Eve!” The exclamation encompassed his alarm and the initial wave of pleasure to overtake him at her appearance, yet a touch of dismay also brushed its timbre.
In an uncharacteristic flood of desire to escape all else in favor of personal reflection, her presence had been no exception. In fact, hers had been chief among every attention span he’d intended to avoid. After all, in the overarching notion of stifled thoughts, the very subject of his contemplation was certain to disrupt it more than anything else. Or was it?

Marshal had never considered the image of fire tipped with platinum, yet as the very image presented itself before him - the moon enshrouding the girl’s red hair with a silver halo - he wondered how he could have been so foolish. The sterling hand of the heavens resided in her eyes as she regarded him inquisitively, their luster somehow more brilliant than the firmament they reflected.
As was customary with her near, breaths came at a premium while he plunged into the depths of those irises, becoming lost amidst the numberless worlds they offered.
Who had he been speaking to, she’d wanted to know. It was a question that he was uncertain how - or perhaps unwilling to - answer.

Elbows bore the brunt of his weight when he leaned back once more, eyes torn from hers to flick back to the sky.
”With whom was I speaking?” he murmured, adopting the precise wording which she had utilized. The response was drowned in wistful reverie, almost as though he were repeating the inquiry to himself. Several moments would pass before a crooked smile caught the moonlight, flashing across his upraised features. ”I guess I was speaking to the stars.” Arm extending to one side, he allowed the skin of his hand to brush the grass beside him, prefacing a suggestive pat of the hillside. A clear invitation for her to claim a seat of her own and join him. ”Have you done much stargazing? I haven’t, but I wish I had.” An unmistakable sense of calm befell him, wrought by the tranquil scene in view, as yet another breath of wind trickled through tree branches. Nature’s symphony was evidently roused by his companion’s approach, joining his heart in a blissful tune that eradicated his doubts. Yet even through the unspoken peace, a necessary stroke of humor would be inserted into the moment. ”I’ve missed out on a lot of good conversations with them.”

Stunning Banner by Winnie Harper

@Evelynn Decipio

Without a word, his invitation was accepted. Even as his eyes panned across celestial depths, her soft presence brushed across his other senses when she settled onto the grass. Lavender mingled with pure night air, an ethereal breeze that passed into his lungs with a whisper of her scent, and a familiar promise of what might come if she would only move a little closer. The assurance was always there, yet the framework for its conception - it seemed - would ever remain a murmur on the wind.

Amusement creased his features at her response to his humorous foray, mingling with inquisition as his eyes lolled sideways in an attempt at remembrance. The comment seemed entirely familiar, yet its origin would not be redeemed in his mind at that time; the only thing of which he could be certain was that Eve had returned his joke with comedic banter of her own, and any such moment was one to be treasured.
In place of a reply, a snort of laughter would be thrust to the night, though determination burned with an irritation that he couldn’t quite place the quote. It would come to him, surely.

The enjoyment that curled his lips would soon depart, however, upon deliverance of the deeper question occupying Evelynn’s thoughts. A lump formed in his throat, sucking any moisture that resided there dry. His gaze remained on the stars above, yet each one faded to naught but a blurred streak in the great expanse of endless oblivion, as vision bowed knee to overlapping reflection.
Was there truly anything beyond that blanket of gloom, embroidered with diamonds that shone upon a veil of obscurity? Was it simply that? A void of nothing, offering pinpricks of hope to conceal the harsh reality that all existence was ultimately conceived for naught?
Of course, he knew that it was not merely a decorated curtain for the viewing pleasure of their insignificance. Above the earth, and yet below, surrounding them with eternal worlds exceeding number, were the heavens.
But what did that mean - the heavens? Was the word merely to denote the vast concourses of celestial bodies they could never comprehend, or was there yet a a broader implication? One of a being - or beings - omniscient in nature and miraculous in power. Of a home beyond this world, where souls found life everlasting, and where those they’d loved and lost endured. Where his words may still drift to the waiting ears of his sister - his inseparable companion.

He’d considered the question on many an occasion, though most such happenstance resulted in deeper uncertainty than before, leaving him more baffled than ever, confused where to turn. And so, it was generally cast aside prior to further consideration. But not this time. This time, he was not alone. This time, another voice had intoned the query he was too afraid to ask himself.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he managed a sincere, ”I don’t know.”
Rolling his head toward her, he let his attention roam. Across her hair, splayed carelessly in variation to the luminous waves of grass upon which it flowed. Over her fair skin, delicate and sublime beneath the pale sheen of the sky’s denizens. And into her eyes, where platinum shone like frozen flame, as the storm within settled into the moment for a brief stay of peace.
”My parents have never really talked about it, to be honest,” he went on before rending his gaze from her. The fanciful image above faded once more, his focus sinking inward as he added quietly, ”Especially not since…” The conclusion to the sentence was lost to the trailing breeze, carrying it away as though dragging from sight what never should have been shown. He cleared his throat. ”What about you? Do you think there’s something waiting for us up there when we die? Or is this just… it?”

Stunning Banner by Winnie Harper

@Evelynn Decipio

A trace of uncertainty touched the night air, threatening to disturb the peace that had settled on the hillside. Wafting ever so subtly in one voice, then mirrored in the next. Breaths came and went with the breeze, carrying words that questioned precisely what that radiant world above had to offer.
The stars mingled in their endless concourses; some winked at him, as though promising that there was more to them than visual splendor, if only he sought for it. He stared back in wonderment, irises alight with their glory as Evelynn’s thoughts washed over him. Her past beliefs were laid bare, yet tempered by the knowledge she had acquired, calling them into question.
He hadn’t oft considered the implications of magic in comparison to traditional religion. He could understand the struggle - in attempting to lay parallels between the two - though his understanding of the latter was admittedly limited; not to mention the former.

“I can’t say I’ve read much of the Bible.” The confession was uttered into the emptiness that trailed her concerns. His head lolled toward her, hazel irises falling upon her features once more. There was something within them, a sort of regret, made pallid and absolute in the moonlight. It made his heart ache in a way that loneliness or insignificance never could. No, it contrasted the silent agony that one might face in moments of self pity or reflection. In that moment, the soul-rending pain of missing one he’d lost subsided. Rather than wishing for that pain to end, he simply longed to reach out, to quell any suffering wrought in the heart of this person who lay beside him. Somehow, he felt that if he could make her feel better, then everything would be better, as though some universal wound would mend, and they could heal together.

“But I do know that it gives a lot of people hope.” Perhaps his efforts would fall listless and ineffective, but even still, he would do anything he could to stopper the bleeding of this wound. “Hope is always a good thing, I think, even if it’s for something that isn’t there. It keeps you from giving up, because there’s always that something to look ahead to. I don’t know how magic and the Bible could go together, but maybe there is a way. So let’s just keep on hoping that there is, and that up there,” he lifted his free hand to indicate the brilliant lights above, “there really is a heaven.”

“I’d like to believe there is.” Evelynn’s response came almost as a reaffirmed desire to dream, of something that couldn’t be seen, nor heard, but still offered so much peace to a weary soul.
A soft grin pulled at his lips, an outward glimpse of the warmth that pooled in his chest. His gaze was tugged back to the firmament as she continued. A nod signaled his agreement before he let his lofted hand fall at his side. There, it bounced lightly on the grass with a quiet thump, then brushed against something soft.
Curious after the object he’d bumped, the boy grabbed at it for a proper feel. And only then did he come to understand exactly what he was fondling.
Smooth as silk, Evelynn’s skin sent a rush of electricity up his arm and directly into his heart, jump-starting the organ in such a way that might have revived a flat-lined patient. In the instant he had groped for understanding - or perhaps even the next, as some subconscious instinct took advantage in a very purposeful manner - his fingers had laced perfectly through hers, enveloping her hand from behind and pinning it gently to the ground.

Once realization hit, he would jerk his own hand back to his side, flattening himself against the grass as if he were a prey animal, and her potential ire the predator. Once the reflex passed, however, he would glance back at the girl, his grin taking a sheepish turn.
Embarrassment colored his cheeks, though the passing wind would take no notice. Instead, it ruffled the foliage once more, again playing that tune of serenity. In its wake, he allowed the chagrin to fade, carried into a night that would not let its peace be disturbed.

Were she to turn his way, he would lock eyes with those of a stormy hue, smile shrinking back to its tender shape.
Overturning his hand so that its palm greeted the sky, he would slide it slowly toward where they had met in brief physical touch. Had she not retracted it, his thumb would lightly brush hers as he spoke, inviting the contact to repeat if she chose.
“No matter what happens after this life, at least we get to share it with people who make it worth living.”