Summer's End

Even now at dusk it was hot. The dying sun bore a terrible heat upon what little it still shone on and cast a fading haze upon the landscape. Through squinted eyes as he looked out into his yard as the world around him slowly darkened, shifting from bright orange hues to shades of deepening red. He felt her lean against his shoulder and a delicate hand worked its way over his and wove its fingers between his. He turned to look down at her as she lifted a glass of water to her mouth and sipped daintily from it. “You wouldn't believe fall was coming, would you?”

The voice in his head was soft and musical, like always. “I can still believe it. The leaves are changing colors.” He chuckled – she hadn't quite grasped the concept of rhetorical questions. “What's so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing, I just keep remembering how much more I have left to teach you about human communication.” He freed his hand and rubbed the top of her head lovingly. “You've made pretty good progress though.” He heard the soft clink of the glass being set upon the deck and felt the soft petals of her hand brush across his cheek. He smiled and looked down at her as another hand came up and cupped his face. “In some places more than others.”

She brought her head closer to his – her lips brushed almost imperceptibly across his. Again the musical tones in his head came to life, “As far as this one can remember, you placed a great deal of focus on the physical and emotional aspects of human reproduction at first. It was quite amusing.”

He gave her a dirty grin. “You mean to say, “As far as I can remember,” “I”, you're not “this one.” The gentle hand cupping his face rubbed his face slightly. A musical giggle dances across the ether of his thoughts.

“Forgive this one. She is stuck in her ways,” she chimes to him.

“Sort of. You remember the personal “I” when it counts,” he said, grin broadening. She dropped her gaze from his face, a flush forming in her cheeks. Half-formed memories, feelings and urges washed over him as her floodgate gave slightly. He saw a ceiling, a shower, this very deck. Twisted sheets and grasping hands. Echoes of gasps. A murmured proclamation, audible only to her, “I love you.”

 He lifted her chin to face him and kissed her properly. The petals played across his cheeks again as she cupped his face in response. The memories that flooded him were clearer now as the familiar tones of lust and love resonated in his head. He saw his own face towering over him, reflected in the shine of tiles and mirrors. He heard the familiar musical voice echo in his head, bouncing back and forth in his consciousness before coalescing into a single, vibrating tone, clear in his mind. “I love you too.”

For now, he thought, for precious few hours, she was “this one” no longer, but instead, “I.”

Her slight frame slumped backward onto the deck to the sound of a glass clinking as it fell over. His hands crossed up and down her body to the tune of soft breaths and quiet sighs. The folds of her dress were moved aside and followed with the intoxicating sensation of fullness. Her hands moved from his face to his back as she gently drew him closer. Beads of sweat formed along his brow and ran down his face, neck, and plastered his shirt to his back as he swung into their familiar rhythm. He planted soft kisses across her face, neck, and clavicle as the images and emotions bounding about in his head began to blur together as she lost herself. He saw his face melding and shaping from one angle to another, heard sounds blend together as the unfocused imagery changed rapidly in color and brightness.

He felt her arms slide from his back and push gently on his chest. The memories flooding his head shifted from sights of ceilings and skies to landscapes. He saw his own face shift from floating somewhere above him to somewhere below him now. He obliged and laid himself back on the deck and looked up at her delicate figure as it bounced atop him. She hunched down and pressed a loving kiss into his lips as her pace quickened.

And then, the images, the sounds and sensations that flooded his thoughts became nearly incomprehensible. Somewhere outside his head he felt a quivering form slump over him, felt the vague spasms of his own body beneath her, all nearly eclipsed by the thoughts flooding him of countless previous occasions. For an instant, somewhere near the apex, the thoughts stopped. A quiet, musical voice came to life in his mind. “I love you.” The thoughts flooded back into him, now a receding tide and reality came back into focus before his eyes. Her hands held his head, pointing her face towards his, beads of sweat rollicking down her face to the beat of soft pants. He lifted his head enough to kiss her and slumped back onto the deck. Above him, her light frame sagged down upon him as she dropped her head onto his chest. Her legs locked around one of his as her breathing steadied and she drifted to sleep. It was uncomfortably warm, sleeping as they were now, but he bore it as he too slipped out of consciousness.

His eye cracked as a bright light hit his face. Even now at dawn it was hot.