Waiting For Her Love

She waits for her love to return from across the sea. He said it was not a choice, but deep down she knew, he meant he could not choose her. It was best for everyone for him to leave her. At least that's how she saw it. Others would rejoice when they saw him coming for they knew that he had saved them. She would fall to her knees and thank the gods and goddesses above for his return to her.

She stands atop a cliff watching the sunset yet again. "It will be day," he said to her before stepping onto the boat that would take him to his ship "when I return. So you can see my smiling face when I get to see you again." As the sun gets replaced by the moon, she walks quickly home. The faster she gets home, the faster she can sleep and then return to the cliff.

It has already been four months. Three more pass. She has grown thin from not eating and has become very weak but the love for her beloved keeps her going. One day, two hours before the sun is meant to set, the sails of a ship appear and she thinks she must be dreaming. As it approaches closer to her island, she believes it to be real. Before becoming truly thankful, she must see his face with her own eyes and feel his skin with her own hands.

She runs as quickly as she can to the shore where the ships rowboat with land and waits ever so impatiently. As the rowboat gets closer, none of the men have familiar faces and her heart begins to pound. Surely they are just on the wrong island or in need of supplies. As they row onto shore, one man gets our and bows down to her. "Your majesty..." he says remorsefully "I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you-" a scream fills the air.

When the man bowed, the seen the body of her love lightly wrapped in cloth. She fell to her knees and cursed the gods and goddesses with every breath. They took her love from her again. She remembers his first words, his first steps, the way he ate, the way he smelled after a bath, the way he looked at his father's burial, and the way he had comforted her. She remembers every detail about his life.

Her baby boy.

He's gone.

With her entire world destroyed she begins to run as fast as her feeble body can. There is yelling for her to stop but she can not. She is blinded by tears but she has taken this path every day for seven months and knows it by heart. She makes it to the top of the cliff and cries out in pain. This is the cliff she was playing on as a girl when she first saw the ship her future husband was on. The cliff she waited many months on for her son's return. She says a quick prayer for them both and then asks and begs the gods for forgiveness. She asks to be reunited with both of her loves.

As she begins to fall, she swears she see's them both smiling with open arms and she too smiles at last.