Sands of Time

Sands blow harshly in the desert air, stinging my tear-filled eyes that burn from the scorching sun above. For two years I have wandered alone in this desert. Not a single drop of water has touched my lips nor has a hand reached out to guide my steps. I have been alone, save for the memory of a woman I search for in this barren desert. She is out there somewhere, I am sure of it...and it is only with the hope that I will one day see her face again that I have not let the desert sands claim me. I wipe the tears from my eyes and press forward.

Two years alone in the desert give a man time to think, about the steps he has taken to bring him to such a dire situation and where his next footsteps might lead. When I started this trek across the desert sands all those months ago, I knew that I cared for the woman I am searching for, but still I was unsure if I loved her. She told me that she loved me, but I would not say the same, and so I abandoned her in the desert where I expected the sands of time to reclaim her memory. But that did not happen. Instead I thought about her every day, from the moment we parted until this one now. Your memory is always there, which is why I am here, searching through the desert that I might find you again.

Far in the distance I see something, a figure, lone and tall she rises like a single stalk of wheat from the desert floor. Her windswept hair shields her face from the unrelenting sandstorm until for a moment, just for a moment, the winds subside and I see her beautiful face. She smiles...and I am finally happy.

I race towards her, ignoring the searing pain of the soles of my feet as they bake atop the desert ground, ignoring the sands that cut like a thousand razors against my exposed flesh. I ignore the pain as my battered face is fixed only on her gaze, for her smile draws me close and I feel nothing other than the unconditional love for a woman I have crossed deserts to find.

Our stares meet, our bodies separated by only inches as I look into the eyes I have not seen in two years.

"I love you Ornela," I exclaim, my arms outstretched and ready to hold her close.

"I love you too Bobby," she says...and my heart melts. Words I have not heard in two years. Words I have dreamed about every day since last I saw her. She has given me everything I have ever wanted in that simple phrase and for the first time in years I am truly happy. I have found her again...and I will never let her go.

I wrap my arms around her, expecting to feel her body draw close, but instead my hands pass right through her. Her arms begin to crumble, her skin dries and cracks. Wherever my hands touch her begins to be reclaimed by the desert as her body slowly turns to sand. I reach out to hold her arm but it breaks apart in my hand and is quickly carried away by the desert winds.

"Ornela!" I scream, her body disappearing in the wind.

Her body has turned to sand and melts slowly into the desert floor as I desperately try to shield her from the storms crashing around us.

"I love you," she repeatedly says as the winds carry her away before my eyes.

"Please don't go!" I plead. " Please don't leave me...not after I have crossed deserts to find you again."

I try to hold her close but the more I touch her the quicker she breaks apart and dissolves back into the desert. Every effort I make to get close to her only pushes her further away so that at last only her face remains, a face that is filled with tears and sorrow.

"I love you Bobby...I love you," she says, her voice faint and weak.

"I love you Ornela," I gently whisper, as my breath on her face breaks apart the last grains of sand and scatters them into the unrelenting winds that have torn our love apart. I stand alone in the desert and weep.

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Three words pass from your lips...and I am happier than I have been in years. Two years apart... and we are still in love with each other. One decision to make...and our lives will change forever.

I had to pass through my own desert in order to find what I was truly looking for, which I have finally found in my love for you Ornela. The past two years have been a difficult chapter in our story, but I believe that our story is not over yet. I believe that we are still writing it. Now I am handing my pen to you, to write the next chapter of our story, one that I hope will be the beginning of a lifetime together. 

You know that I am in love with you, just as you are in love with me...where our love will take us I leave in your hands. If I thought that you were in love with him I would have stopped trying a long time ago, but I knew that you weren't, just as you admitted to me. Would you look at what your life looks like in 30 years Ornela? Is it with this guy? Is he the one who you can see yourself waking up next to every day, or are you just staying with him because you don't want to hurt somebody's feelings? This isn't about him or me Ornela...this is about you. Stop thinking about what I want, or about what he wants, or about what anybody else wants. Ornela, what do you want?