Whispered Kiss

Plunge Into The Unknown

Wizen grass rustled and buckled under the heftiness of my shoes. The sky, a bright azure ocean, gazed down upon me and I cast my gaze upon it. Beyond the perception of what my vision could observe of the sky, laid the unknown. Should I perish, would I linger in said unknown and look down upon the world?

I averted my gaze, shooed the foolish thoughts and wiped at the drops accumulating on my brow. Summer came too soon. The villagers did not welcome its early approach, whispering that it brought an ominous omen. What did they know? An unladylike snort exited my nose. They were naive to believe in such old wives tales. They thrived on the horrors in the night and the horrors of the day. Yesterday they saw a crow perched on the border of town, after it had been absent for years. The entire town riled upon its presence, falling upon their knees to pray to the heavens least it brings a curse upon the residents. Fools, they were fools, I was living proof that curses, omens, and old wives tales did not subsist.

I shivered despite the balmy wind sweeping through the pale, heaven long grass. At the foot of the yellowed grass blades, stood a scarecrow. Beyond the scarecrow laid another piece of uprooted land, the farmers had spiced it with fresh cow dung to compel better futility for the nurturing crops. Yet, the smell could not deter me. I maneuvered forward, shaking of the shiver and begun dancing among the grass with the palm of my hands open. The tips of the grass soothed away the pain prickling behind my skin. A few stray butterflies rose from their positions in the grass and I smiled at them.

I found enjoyment in the little pleasures life provided, yet should mother find me running underneath the scalding sun, trespassing where I should not, she would have my hide afore she would burst into tears. The tears of a mother that was uncertain of her daughter's well-being and future.

The villagers tittle-tattled behind my back and shunned me when I entered the town's borders. Mothers often grabbed their children from my sight, while others rushed to the safety of their homes. As a child, I did not understand their uncertainty or their fear but as I grew older, weaker, quieter, and sicker, my mother revealed the truth. I was cursed from the first intake of breath I took. A crow, black as night, had fluttered through the open window upon my birth and kissed my brow. The villagers believed the cow chose me as a vessel, a vessel for the seed of a monster. Fools. All of them.

None of that mattered as eyes, pure with adoration, caught my own and transfixed me.

The shadow of a ghost stood before me, leaning one arm on the scarecrow's limp shoulder. In the light, he didn't appear as wicked and sanctimonious as he did in the shine of the moon's silver rays. His hair didn't flutter in the breeze as mine did but when I ran my fingers through his locks the previous night, they felt every bit as real as the heat from the morning sun, or the peck from the rooster that despised me.

"My beauty."

His voice, unlike any other, was not that of a pure male, it wasn't hoarse, it didn't pitch, and neither did it snarl with hate. It all came out the same, soft, rose petal sweet and even. I knew, however, just from the impact of each note, what emotions he conveyed and today was no different from the day we first met. Hot, spicy, and lustrous, he craved me as much as I ached for him.

"My love." I replied, licking my lips with a sensual wanton. I once, only once, disclosed a portion of my secret to my mother. The horror on her face would always be etched into the crevices of my mind. I had confessed to the pleasure only married woman partook in. It shook my mother to her knees. An unmarried woman such as myself and one of only fourteen summers had to be preserved for her wedding night. She later demanded I take her to my seducer but when I appeared with my mother in the same field I stood now and watched the man before me, she saw naught. She forbade me from wondering off. No doubt, after the incident she correlated that my illness spread to the mind and unhinged my rationale.