Silverlighters by Ellem May Page A

me.
    “It was you?” I searched his face. I could see the love shining in my eyes reflected in his, and I knew he felt the same way I did. That we were meant for each other.
    How could I have forgotten him?
    At that moment, I felt complete. The empty ache that was always with me was filled.
    And then, he finally gave me the one thing he’d been denying me, before he took it all back again.
    It just happened. There was no hesitation. No thought. It was exactly the way your first kiss should be.
    His lips were soft, his breath cool and fresh as I pressed myself against him, wanting more. Knowing I would never be able to get enough of him.
    But oh, how I tried, my heart blooming as heat rushed out in a fire that consumed me.
    I was so greedy for him. His touch. Somehow I had turned so that I was facing him, my arms drawing him closer. Closer. As though I could make him a part of me. Just having him wasn’t enough.
    When I opened my eyes, we were on the ground again.
    I chuckled, my face warm, happy. “What – were you worried we’d fall?”
    He set me down and pulled me to him, crushing my body against his. The side of my face rested on his hard chest.
    I was so aware of him. The smell of him, and the way his arms felt on my back. The way his strong hands gripped my shoulders.
    He rested his chin on my head, and I could feel his heartbeat against his warm chest, beating time to mine.
    His voice was a low, soft murmur, whispering across the top of my head.
    “I was worried I would fall. That I’d never stop.” His voice was husky.
    Then I realized what I was seeing.
    I gasped. “You – you can freeze time?”
    He laughed, a low rumbling purr that vibrated through his chest on the side of my face.
    “No,” he shifted his arm, running his hand gently down the back of my head, “nothing as dramatic as that.”
    “What then?” I asked.
    Across the road, a young couple were caught mid-stride, their hands linked together, the love in their faces as they gazed at each other making them seem to be two parts of a whole.
    “We just stepped sideways,” he said.
    Not far away I noticed a dog, its leg cocked, mid pee.
    “ Ew , that’s just disgusting.” I buried my head in his shoulder, breathing deeply.
    The strong, earthy scent of him made me hungry for more. I raised my head, my lips already parting.
    His lips were so warm and soft.
    I was truly in heaven.
    I wanted that kiss to go on forever. To never stop.
    But as I pressed closer, he pulled away.
    He turned me ever so slowly, moving behind me, until I was facing the Pizza Parlor.
    Jonathon was only a few feet away, in front of the shrine. The guilt he bore captured so irrevocably in that brief moment in time.
    His shoulders were bowed with the weight of his burden, the sadness engulfing his face.
    I knew I wasn’t meant to see his pain – not like this. I was intruding – but I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
    A single tear hung from his lashes, catching the glow of the candlelight.
    I felt my heart tug as I remembered the way Jonathon had held my hand so tightly, giving me strength. The feelings he’d stirred in me. Feelings that were still there. They’d just been swamped with what I felt for – I tried to turn, realizing I didn’t know his name. How could I not know his name?
    But he wrapped his arms around me, holding me in place, as though he couldn’t bear to look at me again with what he was about to do.
    “I’m sorry,” he breathed into my hair, and before my thoughts could turn into words, he took it all back again.
    I felt it when he stole those precious memories. But no matter how hard I fought to hold onto them, his need to remove them was more.
    He might have been able to remove every trace of himself from my memory, but he could never remove the hole he’d left deep inside me.
    As those last tiny slivers pulled away from me, silvery stars streaked before my vision, and I vowed I would find them again.
    They belonged to me and he had no right