Of Æther and Æon (Short Story) Read online

  “I really should have asked you sooner.”

  And with that, he died.

  “Jonah?” she said, shaking him, but there was no response.“Jonah! Stay with me. I’m here now. Stay with me!” But his eyes, still eerily fixed on her, were empty. Dark.

  “Jonah!” she cried.“NO!” His head lolled to the side, so she pulled it close to her breast, steadying it.

  “I’m here now, Jonah. Don’t leave me.”

  The commotion of the surrounding havoc crept back into her consciousness as she held her lover’s dead body. It was so surreal. Just moments ago he had been kissing her. She could still feel the softness of his lips, his tongue. His cologne still filled her nostrils. Only a short time ago.

  Tears streamed down her cheeks, and it made them sting in the cold morning air.

  A frantic Airman rushed by screaming,“They’re aiming for the balloon! They’re aiming for the balloon!”

  “No. The hydrogen,” Constance said to Jonah’s blank stare. There was no panic in her voice, for the pain she felt was too great. What she felt had surpassed pain. Surpassed numbness. There was no escape, but she would be with Jonah again soon. Forever.

  She held him closely and accepted her fate. Letting everything else fall away, she felt the cool morning air sting the tears on her cheeks. She blocked out the screaming and chaos around her and just felt Jonah’s body pressed up against her. She looked down at his handsome, blood-stained face and brushed her hand over his jaw, feeling the roughness of his mutton chops, then with her finger she traced the place on his cheek where his dimple had been.

  The blast came. It sounded faraway as if in a dream. Then she saw the cannonballs fly, and they appeared to be moving in slow motion. She saw them hit the great balloon, and she saw the beginning of the explosion. As the fireball rushed towards her, she felt as if she was being squeezed into a narrow tube. A horrible sensation of moving backwards, as if being yanked forcefully back into a room you had just left. A blur of brilliant lights filled her peripheral vision, forming a funnel around her and the entire ship.

  Then she was standing on the deck looking into the sun rising in the East. She turned away from the brightness of it, blinking several times to clear the spots still flashing on the inside of her eyelids.

  There he was.

  She watched him move across the deck as she had a thousand times before. Every day, just before muster, he walked this way. And every day, she watched from behind the main canon, peering around the cascabel, hoping that one day he would see her. Notice her. Love her. If only Jonah would look at her, he would see.

  ****

  Thank you for taking the time to read this short story. If you enjoyed it, please find other titles by O. M. Grey at Smashwords.com

  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/omgrey

  Be sure to read her critically acclaimed (and steamy) Steampunk Paranormal Romance novel AVALON REVISITED.

  For more information about Ms. Grey, please visit her webstie: http://omgrey.wordpress.com

  Also discover other Blue Moose Press titles at Smashwords.com

  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/rowanofthewood

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  Of Æther and Æon (Short Story)