Saudade
Long lashes blink against against her cheeks and unlike all the other times, she awakes rather dully. No sound, no shock, or urgency. Just a body sitting up in its usual bed and eyes looking to the same clock hanging on the wall across from it. One that had long since stopped working, but she wished every time she awoke that it would...every time except now. The antique hands on it frozen at twelve-fifty. A constant reminder of when her world had changed forever. That the long life she was doomed to live would be one spent alone. A curse she hadn't thought much of until she'd met him- no! Her fingers clench around her sheets and it takes her a bit too long for one as old as she is to gather herself enough to unclench her fist and rid herself of blurring vision. She knew the stakes of falling for a mortal, had heard the stories and seen those like her drive themselves mad doing so, and while her own heart bled for what once was...she couldn't let herself sink further. As the laws of the universe dictated- they were gone and she remained. As it was always meant to be. Still, as she forced herself out of bed once more- despite the wish to bury herself back in the covers that had long since lost his scent, her eyes lingered on the clock. It was his favorite and his one and only gift to her. One he had said would bring her joy in his absence and held a secret that she would one day find. But she had lived through forty mortal lifetimes and had found not a single one. Yet, this didn't stop her from walking over to it. Gliding her fingers over the crystal like surface, and pressing her forehead to the deep golden frame. She would have to clean herself soon and wander into the- what was it now? A village? A city? She could not keep up with the many changes the mortals seemed desperate to make, eager to cram what little their life spans would allow into objects time would demolish and rebuild anew, leaving no trace of their existence like they had hoped. There is a tightness in her chest and she sighs. "At least I could keep you." Her only act of defiance to the wills of those above. Time was allowed to take everything...his scent, his smile, what clothing he'd left, the letters he wrote. Even his full memory could not be preserved, but this clock...the clock was the only thing time had been unable to claim. Pulling away, her fingers gliding off of it, and makes her way to a door on the left side of the room. Pushing it open she steps in side. A marble sink sits in the middle of the room, her reflection greets her in a mirror that hangs just above it. To her right is another door that leads to the toilet and to her left is a glass door shower. The black and grey tile under her feet is cool to the touch, but she doesn't jerk away and instead walks forward, bending low to reach under the sink cabinet. Reaching into a bucket and pulling out a rag, before grabbing a bottle that holds strange blue liquid. A mixture he took time to teach her and she'd never forgotten. Finally she straightens and heads back into her bedroom and as if to further prove her defiance, she sprays the blue liquid, that somehow comes out clear against the crystal face of the clock, and begins to wipe at it with a rag. Humming to herself. The tune sad, but her eyes held too much joy as she did so for it to be truly sorrowful.
