Away From The Light

I wasn’t quite sure which category to submit this under. I was guessing sci-fi though it could also fall under interracial or maybe even romance. Anyway, I hope those who have enjoyed and read my previous material will continue their kind support and suggestions.

**************

“No! No! For God’s sake somebody help me!!!!”

“Oh God!” Kumiko screamed.

“Don’t look back!” Tyler yelled at her as he pulled the terrified woman along behind him, “Run! Don’t listen! Just RUN!”

The scream spiked through the air and echoed through the empty city streets. It was a scream beyond agony and fear, enough to freeze the heart and bleach the soul. Not so much a scream of physical pain. It was the sound of a life knowing it was coming to an end. Worse, it was a life that was not prepared to end.

But there wasn’t a damn thing anybody could do about it.

“AAAAHHHHG!!!”

Another one gone.

“Run, Kumiko!” Tyler gasped, his own lungs bursting, his own throat raw, “RUN!!!”

The screams happened less frequently these days. Maybe half a dozen or so every hour — 24 hours a day. It’s simple logic as a species nears extinction: Less of those to hunt, less of those to scream.

Ironically, when the minute the genocide of the human species had started just a scant 3 weeks ago, the elimination of millions, billions, of people at the same time was much more silent and serene. The mesmerized multitudes had stumbled outside, crowding the streets and looked up into the sky. Whether it was daytime or night, whether they were in the frozen arctic or standing on the warm soils of the human birthplace in Africa, everyone saw the same thing: The Light. It quashed the light of the sun, blocked out the moon, so bright and beautiful yet it could be looked upon with uncovered eyes. At one point solid white then the next an ebb and flow of millions of colours, it was like a living entity singing its siren song to the masses. The people looked at it with reverence rather than fear. You could understand those who thought God had finally come again.

But if it was the Creator, God had not only come again, he was calling — everyone. Now.

The Light came down from the sky and descended on the masses, enveloping them like a glowing blanket around a child. Then it started to absorb the people. Each person felt cold fingers claw at their soul. The people shuddered. God or not, suddenly people realized they weren’t ready to go. A singular cry from the people across the planet, like the start of a prayer chant, barely registered as a hum as it was cut off instantly.

Then they were gone.

The world was a quiet place. Those who had evaded the initial surge, staying indoors or covered and away from the clutches of the Light, soon filled the silence with their cries of terror.

In the first few hours, many of the remnants of humanity unwittingly stumbled out onto the desolate streets and open fields, a chilling sense of curiosity drawing them out. Within moments, sharp beams of the Light shot down and picked off the individuals like ripe, juicy peaches from a tree.

It had cast its net wide at first to catch most of the fish. Then hundreds of focused beams stabbed down to pick off thousands more. Eventually it settled as a single sporadic beam, appearing then disappearing with a sick, casual deliberateness as it snatched away its dwindling prey. Like the devil boy with a magnifying glass zapping the ants that scurry at his feet, it was having some sport.

Those inside who saw the Light take away friends, family, strangers in the distance and two feet away screamed in horror and confusion. A state of panic is a poor classroom when it comes to learning a vital lesson. For days, the lost and disoriented continued to go outside, easy targets. You could go outside, but you had to run, always be on the move.

So people learned to stay inside when they could.

But the Light was learning as well.

*************

Kumiko and Tyler rounded a corner in the department store. They threw themselves behind a row of refrigerators and sat down for a moment to regain their breaths. Only for a moment. Their gasping and coughing for breath replaced their panic for the time being. Kumiko was trembling and numb but as her breathing eased she winced at the pain in her wrist and hand. It was purplish-red just above where the younger man was squeezing it tight with his hand. Tyler looked at her and finally managed to pry his own stiff fingers off.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice hushed.

Kumiko shook her head slightly, offering something that could maybe pass for a smile these days. She rubbed her wrist, felt the blood flow back.

The two stared at each other in silence for a minute. Then, the woman’s dark eyes shifted to the left sending a silent signal to the man.

“Is it…?” she began to say.

“Shh,” he raised his finger to his lips.

Slowly Tyler rolled to his knees and slipped towards the edge of the row of refrigerators. Holding his breath, he peered slowly around the corner, his grey-blue eyes wide open and alert.

The lights were off in the store, only some late day sunlight illuminating the interior. Tyler had a clear view for about 30 feet down the aisle. He swallowed softly but deeply when he saw it creep in from a connecting aisle.

The Light pulled itself along the floor, slowly, deliberately like a corpse dragging itself from the grave. It was bright like fire, but Tyler could feel its icy cloak from where he was hiding. It was more than just silent. It was sucking the sound from the air.

As Tyler continued to watch it move along down the aisle, Kumiko leaned over him and took a peek for herself. She had never known anything so relentless, so unforgiving in its quest. Though she knew what it did, staring at its slithering determination, her breath continued to steady. The Light, was impossibly mesmerizing.

It continued to move inch by inch along the tiled floor as the two watched. Then it did something they were praying it wouldn’t do, though they had seen it do it so many times already. It stopped moving. Kumiko and Tyler’s hearts fluttered to a stop and they held their breaths.

The Light began to bend. Like a snake, it slinked and spilled to it’s left, angling around the aisle corner towards the two terrified figures behind the refrigerators.

“No,” Kumiko gasped, her heart suddenly beginning to race.

Instantly, as the man had done so often since circumstances had linked them together, Tyler went into protect mode and swept Kumiko into his arms and pulled her down. His large frame covered her as the two tried to meld themselves against the refrigerators. His strong arms held her tight against his chest, her face buried against his forearm. They matched heartbeats, a rapid fire rhythm.

He had done this so many times in the little while they had known one another. He was holding her more closely than any man had done so in such a long time. Kumiko knew that this gesture from the young man would mean little against the predator they were facing. Yet somehow, it comforted her. In the hell that she was living in, his arms were like an angel’s wings.

Tyler’s free hand brushed at her dark hair. He hoped it helped steady her. It definitely eased his own anxieties. He didn’t know how long he would have lasted if he had been alone all this time.

They didn’t have to look, they knew it was coming. He felt the woman start to tremble in his arms, her face sniffling in fright into his sweater sleeve. He squeezed his eyes tight, trying to will some courage into her, praying that he could muster up some for himself. It was no use.

Kimiko felt him pull back then she felt his large, warm hands wrap against the side of her face. With an impossible gentleness, he lifted her face to look up at his. Her eyes were red but she managed to gaze steadily into his. That’s what he wanted .

“Just focus on me,” his eyes said to hers in silence.

She looked at him. God he was so young. The thought of such a promising life being snuffed out in this way twisted her gut. But still, like they had done so often in the last few weeks, they somehow found solace in each other.

Their faces came close to one another, eyes never parting. Their foreheads touched. Kumiko’s heart was still racing but for a moment, she realized it wasn’t because of the terror that filled her.

“Tyler –” she gasped.

“Get away! No! Oh Jesus!” a voice shouted from the distant end of the department store.

Tyler and Kumiko looked up. Still holding her back, he again stole a peek around the refrigerators. The Light had resumed its original course, stretching straight ahead across the aisle.

“God! Please! NO!” the anxious cries of an unseen horrified soul echoed through the building. The sound of boxes and falling merchandise and scrambling footsteps mingled with the desperate screams.

As the Light bared down on its new prey, the man and woman cowering behind the refrigerators stood up and made a break for the emergency stairs.

They ran, hand in hand, eyes stabbing straight ahead. They didn’t look back.

“NO! WHY? WHY?! NOOOOOOOO!!!”

They told themselves that they never heard the screams as the stairwell doors closed behind them.

***********

Tyler and Kumiko had been running in fear for 3 weeks. Sneaking through the deserted buildings and empty streets of an empty city, they were rarely ever more than a few feet apart. They had long ago stopped asking questions and seeking answers. The Light appeared. People disappeared, maybe stolen away, maybe killed. Who knew? Running inside or outside made no difference as the Light learned to bleed into even the most airtight of confinements. Those simple realities that had confronted them were enough to keep them moving, aimlessly, without direction, always away from the Light.

They only stopped when they were near delirium with hunger or thirst. Running through the rain or stopping to run a tap over their heads was the closest thing to bathing. When one slept, the other stayed awake, holding close their fugitive partner. Always in step with one another, hand-in-hand, alternating the lead, they seemed bound by an invisible length of rope.

Feet pounding the sidewalk floor they skittered around a corner. Kumiko slipped and would have likely tumbled onto the concrete if Tyler hadn’t had such a grip on her. Swiftly, the young man effortlessly propped her up even before her knee skimmed the ground. Still, just as he stopped to lean her up against the wall, the demure woman collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

“No, no, Kumiko,” Tyler gasped, “Come on. Please, you gotta get up!”

The woman was trembling, her head hanging low and shaking side to side. “No more,” she pleaded softly.

Tyler looked around him. About half a kilometre away, the next block over, a metre-wide beam of the Light punctured through the gray of the evening sky and scanned the ground below.

“We can’t stop here,” he urged her on, his hands on her shoulders, “We’ve got to keep moving.”

She remained slumped over, her head hanging low. He couldn’t see her eyes. He needed to see them.

“K-Kumiko?” he said then swallowed. It was all he could say, his voice already quivering.

“Leave me,” she said softly.

Tyler felt the blood drain from his heart.

“Please. Just–go,” Kumiko said.

This was the first time either of them showed any sign of giving up. Tyler had been trying not to think about it, yet knowing that despair could come at anytime. It hit him harder than he had thought it would. The fear of being alone was overwhelming. Yet even more so than just being alone, he didn’t want to lose her. The angst of possibly being separated from Kumiko was something he couldn’t bear.

“Kumiko,” he said managing to steady his voice, “Look at me.”

He lifted her face to his and brushed away her hair. Her eyes were puffy and red, tears rolling down her cheeks. It shattered his heart to see her like this.

“Just look at me,” he stared hard into her eyes and continued, “I’m not going anywhere without you. I’m not leaving you. Do you understand?”

So many times in the previous harrowing days, he had saved her by just looking at her the way he did now. That reassurance, that strength was enough to fuel her spirits. He had given her so much hope. What sort of drain on him was she? How much further could he have run without dragging her along with him?

Kumiko started to tremble uncontrollably and cried out loud.

“Kumiko! Look at me! Kumiko!” Tyler pleaded, shaking her. He was losing her.

“Go! Just go!” she cried.

“Don’t!” He shook his head. “Don’t say that!”

“I-,” she sniffed and gasped, “I don’t want you to die. Not for me.”

Tyler paused and blinked. His mouth dropped open to say something but then, down the street, two hundred yards away, The Light appeared. It slowly stalked towards them.

His adrenalin automatically kicked in. Hers didn’t. It didn’t matter.

“Come on,” he stood and pulled at the wrecked woman.

She didn’t budge.

The Light continued to approach.

“COME ON!!!” he yelled at her.

Still she just shook her head. Tyler lifted her to her feet, her legs carrying little of her own weight.

“Stay with me, Kumiko! STAY WITH ME!”

Kumiko turned her head. Her dark eyes were filled with the oncoming Light. She screamed, draining her lungs of air. She continued to wail as she collapsed to the ground even as Tyler struggled to carry her rag doll body. The world swirled and spun, the sound of Tyler’s pleading voice just a numb throb in the back of her terrified skull. As her eyes rolled dreamily upwards into the back of her head, the last thing she saw was the unforgiving Light approaching, silently, relentlessly.

*******************

Warmth. That’s what she felt. A blanketing, settling warmth, impossibly soothing. Kumiko had awakened but kept her eyes closed for two minutes. She was anxious about what she would see when she opened them.

Then a single thought filled her head and suddenly her eyes widened, staring straight up.

“Tyler?” she gasped and sat up. She was on a bed, that was the warmth and softness she had felt. At this moment, however, it was failing to comfort her.

“Tyler!” she called out again. She clutched at the blankets. Her head jerked around, and it took a moment to put together the jigsaw puzzle glimpses of her surroundings. “Wh-where…?” she eked.

The bed was in the centre of a very large room with high ceilings. It was dark, lit only by several candles placed around the open loft apartment. She heard the sound of rushing water. A shower? Towards one of the far corners, she could see some movement behind frosted bricks of glass. The image was large, masculine. There was strength in its movements. She listened to the soft strain of pipes as the shower was turned off. Still watching from the bed, the figure moved silently behind the glass. After a moment, Tyler stuck his head out through the door of the bathroom.

“Kumiko?” he asked, “You’re awake?”

She managed an unsteady nod.

Tyler emerged from behind the door wearing only cotton lounge pants. He wiped down his muscular top with a big bath towel. Kumiko blinked, and inwardly gasped, still trying to sort things out in her head while looking at the bare-chested young man approach her. He had shaved, his square jaw now smooth. He covered himself with a clean pressed shirt.

“You okay?” he said as he walked to the foot of the bed, crouched down and looked up at the flustered woman.

For a moment, focusing on his eyes, she regressed to the single thought that had made her sit up before. Finally she managed to answer him, “Y-yes. What…where are we?”

“You fainted. I picked you up and brought you here,” he replied calmly, “I don’t know who’s place this is. It was the first one I could get ourselves into.”

She listened to him carefully as he spoke. Something wasn’t right. There was no sense of urgency in his voice, that persistent and driving voice she had become accustomed to ever since — ever since they started running from…

“The Light!” she gasped aloud. Her body tensed and she scrambled in the bed. She urged, “We have to go! We have to run!”

The young man leaned forward and stopped her as she tried to slip off the bed. His hands gently but assuredly held her down at her shoulders.

“What? Tyler, we’ve got to get out of here!” she insisted.

He looked at her, shaking his head slightly. “No,” he said softly, “No more running for now. You’re going to rest. We can rest.”

“No, no,” she continued, “We need to get away.”

He placed a hand on the side of her face and rubbed her cheek. “We can rest,” he repeated, “It’s okay.” There was a long pause. He continued to tenderly stroke her cheek with his fingers. Her eyes had been skittering about just a few seconds before. Now they settled on his.

“We,” she breathed deeply, “We can rest? Are you sure?”

He smiled and nodded.

After another moment, he was relieved to see her body relax. She still looked a bit unsure, but he could see the tension slipping away from her. He placed his hand on the top of her head and stroked in down the length of her hair.

“It-it must be filthy,” she remarked. Each word of normalcy she spoke relaxed her even more. She looked down at the clothes she was wearing, all scuffed and dirty.

“I only took off your jacket and your shoes and socks,” he said.

She smiled to herself. Ever the gentleman.

He stood up and walked to an armoire against the wall. “Looks like this is a guy’s place,” he said as he opened the door and sifted through the clothes hanging inside.

Kumiko watched as he returned to the bedside holding a forest green silk shirt. He held it out to her.

“It’s your colour,” he said, “It’s soft and clean so you can put it on after you take a shower. I’ve got some candles in there so it won’t be pitch dark.”

Taking the shirt from him, she ran her fingers against the fine material. It was very soft. She started to get up from the bed but hesitated slightly.

Anticipating her lingering uncertainty, Tyler said, “I’ll see if I can find us something to eat while you take a shower.”

Finally she managed a relaxed smile. He watched with satisfaction as the diminutive woman stood up from the bed and walked quietly towards the bathroom.

***************

She was a 34 year old Japanese woman, divorced for 11 years, who had been waiting anxiously at the back of a lounge to meet a man she had been introduced to through an online dating service. “50 000 single people just waiting to meet you,” the service had boasted. All of those lonely people. Somehow, it didn’t fill her with any sense of community knowing this.

Despite the commotion she thought she heard coming from outside, she refused to budge from her chair. She had mustered all of her courage to do this. She wasn’t even really interested in the guy but she knew if she was going to overcome her reclusive, solitary life, she had to go through with this. She had been with only one man in her life and he turned out to be emotionally abusive and unfaithful. Her marriage to him after her university undergraduate studies had ended her ties with her disapproving family back in Japan. For over a decade she withdrew from any relationships.

It took everything she had just to drag herself out of her apartment. Little steps.

So focused and so nervous, she hadn’t even noticed the dwindling number of people in the lounge until she finally looked up from her glass and realized she was alone. And this was supposed to be Happy Hour.

Kumiko checked her watch. Her brow arched upwards and she glanced around the lounge anxiously. It was deadly quiet. She stood up.

“Hello?” she called out softly. “Are you still open?”

No reply.

She stood nervously behind the table for a minute before she finally picked up her bag and slowly made her way through the empty lounge. She stepped past the bar and could see the front street window. It was getting dark outside. She thought she noticed a flash of light from outside and she paused for a moment before continuing to move towards the lounge’s door. It didn’t look like there was anybody outside either.

What was going on?

She opened the door.

“Don’t!” A hand from behind her shot past her head and slammed the door shut.

Kumiko yelped and spun around. Before she could scream again, a large hand pressed up against her mouth. Her eyes widened, her vision filled with the image of a tall man leaning in close to her. His own grey-blue eyes were wide and nervous.

“Shh! Shh!” the man hushed her. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Don’t go outside! You can’t go outside!”

She trembled, terrified. He leaned his full weight on her, pressing her up against the door. She couldn’t move and her cries were muffled by his hand.

“Something’s going on out there,” he continued, his voice filled with urgency, “People are disappearing. I don’t know what the hell is happening!”

A tear streamed down her face. Why was this happening to her now?

The younger man gazed at her. The strain on his face eased slightly.

“Okay. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said to her, “I’m not going to hurt you. I swear to God. Believe me? Please, believe me?”

She could feel his weight shift off from her and the pressure on her mouth ease slightly. She watched him nod at her, pleading with his eyes. Something inside of her told her to nod back once.

“You won’t scream?” he asked her.

She nodded again.

“And you won’t try to run outside?”

She shook her head.

As his hand moved away from her lips, she gasped and coughed. She felt his hands on her shoulders.

“You okay?” he asked, “I didn’t mean to-”

“Get away from me!” she snapped and she pushed past him back into the lounge.

“I’m sorry!” he called out to her. He ran his hands through his hair and grit his teeth together, “God!”

Kumiko had no idea what to say. Confusion overwhelmed her and all she could do as she aimlessly made her way around the tables of the lounge was glare nervously at the man blocking the doorway.

“You don’t want to go outside,” he kept repeating. “Trust me.”

She frowned and said, “Why should I? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head and looking at the floor, “People — people are being taken away by something. There’s a light. Then they’re just disappearing.”

Kumiko finally stopped pacing and simply stared at him. He looked like a big jock but he was acting like a scared child. She shook her head, “What the hell are you talking about?”

He took a deep breath. His was flushed red and his eyes were watery and shifting endlessly. It suddenly dawned on her that the young man may have been high on something.

“Look,” she said, “Do-do you need some help?” She was still nervous but she calmed her voice somewhat, hoping it would bring him down a bit.

His eyes were shut as he shook his head. “There’s something going on outside,” he said trying his best to remain coherent, “Hundreds…thousands of people just disappeared in a matter of seconds and now something is still taking people away now. I don’t know what. I can’t explain it.”

Kumiko looked to the side, frowning. She had no idea how to help him. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her cell phone and started to dial the police.

“Help me!” a cry from outside the window interrupted her. “For God’s sake! Somebody help me!”

They both turned to look outside the bar lounge window. In the middle of the city street, a frantic man ran between the abandoned cars. Kumiko moved closer to the window and the young man peered out from behind her. The man outside turned his head back as he ran. Without looking where he was going, he slammed into the tail of a car and flipped himself hard onto the pavement. As he painfully tried to pull himself back up to his feet, something began to glow behind him just off to the side of the window.

Kumiko took a step towards the door but she felt the grip of two strong hands on her shoulders.

“Wait,” the young man said, holding her fast from behind, his eyes fixed on the scene outside.

Looking back and up at him, Kumiko twisted her body, trying to shrug off his grasp on her. “Let go of me,” she demanded.

“Wait!” he insisted.

“OHMYGOD!” the man on the ground outside screamed. His terror resonated through the glass, sending a shiver through both of their bodies.

It stopped Kumiko from struggling and, like the man who was holding onto her, her eyes focused on the bizarre happenings in the street.

The man tried to drag himself away from the approaching light. Finally, she saw it: a beam of light, glowing like the sun. Somehow it didn’t strain her eyes as she watched it. She didn’t even squint.

“It’s—beautiful,” she muttered despite the growing anxiety she felt swelling from her gut.

The Light seized the man. Kumiko gasped. The young man behind her held her a little tighter but she didn’t feel it. Her eyes were tethered to the eyes of the man beyond the glass of the window. His terrified eyes widened enough to reflect her image in them. The man screamed as he was absorbed into the radiance, his body almost becoming translucent for a fleeting second before it faded from existence. The Light disappeared along with any trace of the man. Kumiko’s blood drained from her face.

“Wh-wh-what…,” the shocked woman couldn’t process a thought. She could still see the man’s eyes, filled with cold fear, even though he wasn’t there anymore.

She felt herself being spun around. After several blinks, she finally saw the very much alive but no less panicked grey-blue eyes of the young man. Her mouth hung open eking out squeaks of gibberish.

“Stay with me,” he said to her, a vague calm in his voice. “My name is Tyler. Stay with me.”

She hadn’t trusted a soul in over 10 years, never reached out to anyone. Now a stranger was begging her to follow him.

His eyes never moved from hers. There was something about them. Something…

Kumiko’s chin lowered then raised itself, possibly a nod.

Immediately, Tyler took her hand and they ran together to the exit at the back of the lounge.

*****************

The water rushed down over her body. Each droplet that touched her golden skin was a micro-step towards soothing her tattered soul. Even still, there were moments in the shower when Kumiko would raise the back of her hand to her mouth, desperately stifling her whimpers before she exploded into a full blown panic once more. As she rubbed the soapy foam all over her body and through her hair, she wished she could feel it.

Tyler moved around slowly in the kitchen. His body ached and he was exhausted. It was a strain to even use the can opener. He paused every so often, doubting himself, wondering if she wasn’t right, if they shouldn’t just keep moving. But where were they supposed to go? For three weeks they were running around like rats in a maze and they were still in the city.

He put down the can and dragged his hands down his face. He held them over his mouth and looked across the loft to the bathroom. From behind the frosted glass, candles illuminated the supple body of the woman he had been running with for the last few weeks. She moved slowly, gracefully, stretching her limbs and wiping down her body. He hoped she was feeling more relaxed. It warmed him to watch her like this.

After a few minutes, Kumiko emerged from the bathroom wearing only the over-sized green shirt over her panties. She rolled up the sleeves as she made her way slowly towards the small cafe dining table. It was all aglow with candles. Her companion came around the side of the kitchen counter holding a couple of soup bowls.

Tyler stood at the table and shrugged, “I’m afraid it’s not much. Some crackers and cold soup from a can. But at least it’s organic.”

She actually chuckled softly at his remark.

“And,” he added as he placed the bowls on the table and reached back and grabbed a bottle from the counter, “Some very expensive red wine. At least, I think it’s expensive. I don’t know much about these things.”

Incredibly, Kumiko chuckled again. Tyler joined her with his own slightly nervous laugh.

Standing across from one another at the table, the glow lighting up their somewhat refreshed faces, they managed to smile at one another.

Tyler arched his eyebrows up and spoke softly, “We won’t talk about…that.” He tilted his head towards the windows.

Kumiko stiffened her upper lip and nodded. “I’m famished. Shall we eat?”

The two of them sat down and ate their soup quietly. Aside from their spoons touching their bowls and their soft sips of the soup and wine, it was impossibly silent as was all of the world around them was these days. Yet the silence brought them little comfort. It reminded them both of what was lost and what was also inevitable.

Kumiko stared at the table. It was simply yet elegantly set and pretty with all the little candles Tyler had lit upon it. Suddenly, she felt overwhelmed once more about what was happening. The facade of normalcy of their dinner quickly began to give way to reality. She lowered her chin to her chest and sobbed quietly.

Tyler swallowed and looked at her anxiously. He felt like taking her hand and running once more. It was the only time he felt like he was doing something to help the woman. Instead, he put down his spoon and said, “Kumiko, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Why were you at the bar that night?”

She blinked and raised her head. Her eyes were slightly red as were his cheeks. “What?” she said.

“Were you there with someone? Waiting for someone?” he asked. He didn’t know exactly why he was asking her these questions but he was listening with unexpected anticipation.

“I…,” her small brown eyes wandered away from the table momentarily, off towards a dark corner of the loft. She saw nothing. Looking back at the young man seated across from her she said, “No. No one.”

Tyler nodded, accepting her response.

“And you?” the woman spoke, sounding a bit more assured than a moment ago.

The young man wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up from the table. He walked towards his pile of dirty clothes he had left in a corner and returned to the table holding a folded up piece of paper. He offered it to her and then sat back down.

Kumiko gave him and the piece of paper a curious look. She noticed that he couldn’t quite hide a slightly satisfied smile on his lips. She unfolded the paper.

“It’s a certificate of graduation,” she said reading over the page, “From…high school?”

She looked up, a little confused.

“King Tyler. That’s what I was called in high school,” he grinned as he stared at the empty wine glass in his hand, “Top jock. Top party guy. The one everybody wanted to be with for some stupid reason.”

Kumiko lowered the piece of paper. She watched the seated man across from her intently.

“King Tyler! Ruled his world with an iron fist,” he thumped his hand on the table. Kumiko jumped slightly in her seat. Tyler firmed his jaw and said, “Well someone forgot to tell the king that he was actually supposed to get some studying in while he was at school. Apparently, in the world out there, good looks and bravado are just small change.”

He filled his glass again and took a sip. He continued, “So I became just the big dummy who was held back a year when he should have graduated. The people who called me their friend couldn’t be bothered to wait for my life to catch up to theirs so they just left me behind. I wasn’t very strong on my own as it turns out. I dropped out of high school soon after.”

Kumiko said nothing. She didn’t move.

“My mother didn’t care. Kept saying that it was alright, but she didn’t care. My father resented me. I left home, found some jobs, enough to pay rent,” his voice trailed off slightly, “But it was kind of lonely, you know? Kind of lonely.”

Listening silently, she made out every quiver in his gentle voice as he spoke. She could seem him rocking faintly in his chair. Her heart was melting.

“Five years on, I’m thinking what’s the point? I’m doing nothing for anyone or for any reason,” he rambled on, “So somehow, I managed to drag myself back to class, finish my high school credits. I got my certificate that day. I was going to take it home, show my mother and father. Then I was going to all of my ex-classmates from school. Sounds so stupid, right?”

Kumiko smiled and shook her head.

“I should have gone home,” his head lowered as he spoke, “I should have gone home but I stopped at the bar to celebrate. By myself. I should congratulate myself first, right? I did it all by myself, right? Right? So stupid. So goddamn stupid…”

Dammit. He didn’t want to get this way. Not by himself and not in front of Kumiko. He had carried her for all this time. He wanted to be strong enough to carry her till the end. Yet he couldn’t deny the tears of vulnerability he felt swelling in his eyes.

Then he felt a soft hand touch his on the table. It didn’t clutch at his in desperation or squeeze it tight in need. It just held him. He looked up. The warm face of a pretty dark-haired woman greeted him with a caressing smile. She didn’t speak. Her calm expression was all that he needed.

He held her hand. He levelled his handsome, youthful gaze on her, focused on her. “Kumiko,” he strained, clearing his throat, “When you said to just leave you on the streets, it nearly killed me.”

The woman’s expression shifted uneasily. She felt his hand tremble in hers.

“You told me you didn’t want me to die for you,” he said in a low voice. He steeled his gaze on her small dark eyes, “I’m living for you.”

Kumiko’s mouth was agape. Blinking, she drew several quick breaths but all she could say in reply was, “Tyler.”

Tyler’s eyes shifted unsteadily as they looked at each other in pregnant silence. He sighed and stood from the table. Letting go of her hand, he walked away and sat on the edge of the bed. It seemed like the furthest the two of them had been apart during the entire time that they were together, a flooded stream of released emotions flowing between them.

They each took a moment to piece together their thoughts and feelings about themselves, about their very existence, about each other.

Kumiko looked over towards the young man seated on the bed, barely registering from the glow of the candles on the table. His head was held low. She witnessed his loneliness, imagined him this way for the last few years of his young, promising life, and her heart swelled. The woman rose from her seat.

Tyler stared at his hands for no particular reason. Lost in thought, he hadn’t even noticed Kumiko standing over him by the bed until he felt her hand on his shoulder. As he looked up, her other soft hand gently brushed away the strands of blonde hair hanging over his brow. She leaned over and kissed his forehead. It felt like a feather had caressed his skin. The glow of the candles scarcely managed to cast her in a silhouette, yet for Tyler, she glowed as if the sun was rising behind her.

He stared up at her, stunned. “Kumi-Kumiko,” he eked.

“Shh,” she hushed and her lips came towards him again. This time, she placed them upon his.

Neither of them moved. Her long, soft black hair dropped down and brushed his face but he didn’t flinch. It was silent but the silence no longer bothered them.

A single tear drop rolled down unnoticed down the side of Kumiko’s face.

When she finally stepped back she could hear him breathing hard, see his broad smooth chest rise and fall. His anxious expression was mixed with uncertainty.

With a wavering smile on her own face, Kumiko raised her hands and slowly began to undo the buttons on her shirt. Tyler’s mouth quivered open as the first button pushed apart. He felt the swells in his stomach rise and fall, his heart beat against his chest, and a twinge at his crotch as he felt himself harden quickly. For a moment, he sat there, mesmerized. Then without a thought, his hand reached up and grabbed hers.

“Stop,” he gasped, shaking his head slowly, “Kumiko, we don’t have to…”

Her smile growing more assured by the second, the woman took his hand in hers and held it at her chest. He felt his knuckles brush against her tender, warm skin where her shirt had parted. Her other hand came down and touched his cheek.

“Trust me. We don’t have to run anymore,” she said, her voice sweet yet passionate, “Stay with me, Tyler. Please, stay with me.”

With that she leaned over and they kissed once again. Uncertainty was cast aside into the darkness. Tyler couldn’t think of anything or anyone else. He grasped at Kumiko, his fingers tangling into her spun-silk hair. He fell back onto the bed, pulling the lighter woman on top of him. Their bodies slid against one another, his hand slipping around her bum and up under the back of her shirt. Their mouths moved with urgency, lips folding over one another, nimble tongues entwining, and damp, steamy breaths passing between them. Her fingers also burrowed through his tangle of hair, holding him tight to her.

Tyler’s strong hands slipped to her waist and with a subtle, smooth movement, he flipped her over onto her back on the soft duvet. He pressed his lips onto hers, drove his tongue deep into her mouth. She tasted wonderful. Kumiko strained her quickening groans into his throat.

Breathing hard now, Tyler sat up in bed and tore his shirt apart, buttons flying to the ground and on the sheets. He stripped the clothing off his muscular frame and tossed it away. Kumiko watched him, saw the rugged lines and curves on his body, admired his body. As his hands came towards her chest, as his fingers continued what she had started and undid the buttons of her shirt, her whole body trembled, nerves racing with anticipation and also anxiety. He was obviously at his physical peak. She was older and, up until recently, not exactly focused on her physical appearance.

Yet when the last button fell away, and when he carefully pulled her shirt apart revealing her fine, supple body, there was nothing but appreciation and longing in his eyes as he gazed upon her. He dragged the back of his hand gently up and down her smooth skin, over the slope of her round breasts and across her soft, tender belly.

Tyler was about to make love to the most beautiful angel he could ever imagine.

Slipping off her shirt, they came together once more in a impassioned clench. Their bodies tingled as they pressed their flesh together, her breasts pillowing his hard chest. Tyler’s mouth moved downward, tracing hard, wet kisses down the soft skin of her chin, her neck, her collar bone. Kumiko gasped and shut her eyes as she felt his hot probing lips on her chest, his tongue dragging languidly around her nipples. He scraped his teeth across them before sucking them into his mouth alternately, pushing her breasts with his firm hands. His rough fingers sank against her forgiving mounds and she wriggled her body uncontrollably beneath him.

His downward descent continued, kissing and licking her trembling belly. His fingers hooked both sides of her panties as he slid off the bed, kneeling on the floor beside it. Kumiko felt the fine material being drawn down her legs and slipped off of her feet. She ran her hand through her hair, breathing deeply and looking up at the ceiling. She felt his hands on her calves, slipping her legs over his shoulders. She felt him kiss her inner thighs. Just as she looked down across her own nude body, Tyler buried his face into her crotch. Instantly she threw her head back again and groaned.

Tyler nuzzled his nose and mouth against her sensitive quim. His tongue slipped out and prodded her outer folds of skin apart. As the woman wriggled and shook her hips with his every kiss and lick, his fingers slipped in, spreading her pink flesh further apart. He kissed and tongued her clit eliciting even more deep cries from the woman. She was so sweet, so tender.

One of her hands moved down to clutch at the curls in his hair, the other moved across her chest, teasing her own nipples to jutting attention. She arched her back. Her mouth was constantly aquiver, cooing and moaning as he pleasured her down below.