• Rosaline twirled around the spaceous hall. Her emerald green dress billowed in waves as her long dark brown rinlets carressed the air. She giggled in pleasure as a man the same height as her plucked her graceful hand from the air and spun her into his arms.
    "Having fun, love?" He whispered against the smooth canvas of her cheek. Her vibrant green eyes met with his intimate chocalte brown eyes. She melted under his gaze and hugged him even tighter. Not wanting to let go, not even if the stars willed it so. For what could be worth the agony of seperation? Absolutely nothing. She held his hand lightly as the man turned back to the counter to finish his business with checking in to this beautiful hotel. They were staying at The Nines hotel in Portland, Oregon. It was a collection of art and beauty to behold in every turn.
    "Your room is on the thirty fifth floor. Have a pleasant stay," the woman offered them a seemingly genuine smile when really, she just wanted to find one of those lovely beds at the hotel and rest her little head from the hard nights she's been working. Rosaline and her partner left the reception desk, hand in hand, a young lad pulling their luggage behind them.
    "Nicolai, dear, promise me something?" Rosaline asked the man.
    "Anything my love," Nicolai kissed her hand gently and brushed a lock of hair back from her face.
    "Promise me that our souls are one. That no tears, no pain, that not even death can tear our one truly shared possesion apart. That we'll be together forever. We'll transcend space and time. As one," Rosaline breathed this worry to her lover and prayed for the best. She did not want him to say that he wouldn't promise that, or that she was being silly, or for him just to humor her. No! She wanted a promise. Rosaline felt...she felt anxious. Helpless. A feeling she did not enjoy. Why? She had her beloved, thats all she needs. So why does it feel like it's all going to be lost?
    Rosaline shook her head clear and looked expectantly at Nicolai, who had a small smile on his face. He took both of her hands in his and stopped walking.
    "Now and forever, forever and always, we will be one with each other and the world. Don't doubt it mi corazon. Nothing and no one can keep us apart. Not even that reaper. So don't be so down! We have each other! That's all we need," He smiled even gigger and kissed Rosaline gently. She returned his kiss with ehough passion to make sparks fly and hit the pooor bellhop in the eye. They pulled apart and continued on their way.
    In the elevator, Rosaline's anxiety piked. She did not know why though! Rosaline enjoys elevator rides and here she is on the verge of a full-blown panic attack! She maintained her composure.
    "Is something wrong Rosaline?" Nicolai whispered in her ear, noticing her stiffness.
    "Nothing Nicki. It's nothing," She said with a small smile for his sake.
    They exited on their floor and quickly headed towards their room. Once the bellhop had left hastily, they rushed towards each other and kissed with true fire. Rosaline wrapped her delicate hands in Nicolai's black curly hair. He wrapped his hand around her waist crushing her tighter to him as he sat upon the bed. Clothes slipped to the floor and bodies were caressed in love and tenderness. Passion filled the air and reeked through the room. They lay in bed, ever so gently, Rosaline leaning on Nicolai's chest, looking out the window towards the star-filled sky above.
    "Oh it is my lady! O it is my love, that which she knew she were...Something like that," Nicolai smiled at Rosaline who planted a kiss on his cheek and fell to sleep. A light sleep with dreams of falling. Falling ever so hard...
    "Love, wake up! Its almost time for the sunrise! We need to hurry!" Nicolai shook his darling awake and slowly realized what he was saying. Suddenly, it clicked and she gasped and threw off the cover and dived for her suitcase to get some clothes. Nicolai dressed himslef in simple slender cotton jeans and a black cotton shirt. Rosaline wore and elegant 100% cotton black dress that fell just below her knees. She graabed two white candles and some matches before leving the room with her Nicolai. Walking towards the elevator she handed him his candle and a few matches. Before entering the mirrow lined elevator, she stopped. NIcolai looked back at her in confusion. Rosaline kissed him. Kissed him like never before. With a hot and fiery passion that burned like a million suns. He grinned and returned the kiss best he could and stepped into the elevator, Rosaline in tow.
    Going down two floors. Fine. Now three. Still fine. Four? From above, the lovers heard a snap like a whip cracked against a bone. They were flying. Or hovering I guess. The elevator screeched to a halt as their feet slammed back against the floor making the elevator drop another twenty feet and tossing them back against opposite walls.
    "Mon Deiu! Are you alright Nicolai?" Rosaline stared at her mate as he righted himself.
    "All is well my love. Are you ok?"
    "I'm fine. How do we get out of here?" The light in the elevator went out and the darkness took over.
    "I think one of the cables snapped. Oh God. Don't move at all! It might cause this damn elevator to fall even further, eventually dropping us to our death," Nicolai said in a strained voice while using his brain and lighting the candle and motioned for Rosaline to do the same. Nicolai looked at the buttons on the wall and reached over and tried pressing the emergancy help buttons but came up short.
    "I think we're going to die," Rosaline said calmly.
    "Why would you say that?" Nicolai said sounding more helpless than she felt.
    "If we move we could fall. There is no way to get help 'cause we don't happen to have our cellular devices. And we only have so much oxygen. Part of it we are sharing with these flames. But Nicolai-Nicolai!" She said with more aggression as he started to look away in agony, "death I do not mind. Being apart from you is my heart's thorn. How even in these last moments, I can't hold you in my arms and for the last time in this world murmur how delicious you smell. Do not despair. Please," she reached a hand into the void between them. He barely caressed her fingertips with his.
    "Today we were going to go to the forest to sit in the morning sunlight and declare our love vows for each other and to the Goddess. Whose to say we still can't? I will promose thee my heart here and now. For my chest can no longer contain my heart. Like it no longer belongs to me. It belongs to you Nicolai. You and only you." Her eyes glowed like gems in the candlelight.
    "Rosaline Juliet Thoreau. I from the moment I saw you I knew. From the moment we wooed, I saw the future. Or maybe it was wishful thinking," he said with a chuckle, "But I couldn't let you get away. I couldn't get over you. And I didn't want to! For why would anyone give up something so beautiful? Something so...so...so you? So yourself but not. To see your passion reflected in anothers eyes and to know that you cause them joy and happiness as well as pain and sorrow. To know that a single glance at you could make their day. Just to know...to know someone is there for you . Wherever, whenever, my love Rosaline, I am with you. Heart and mind, Body and soul. I am there."
    Rosaline leaned forward as Nicolai's words seeped into her. Oh what joyus sorrow this has come to be! At her yerning lean, the elevator dropped a few feet, putting her right back against the wall.
    "If there is no rescue, no departure from the situation beside the obvious. Then I propose the obvious," Rosaline said, willing her voice not to quiver. Nicolai looked at her with wide eyes.
    "Are you proposing we kill ourselves?"
    "Love, I will not stand about and wait for death as he takes his leisurely walk here. I want the last thing I feel, to be thy lips upon thy face. Unless you decline of course?"
    "I say my dear. What would I do without you? Since when have your powers of persuasions over failed you? The words that spill from your mouth are as alluring as your voice and eyes. And oh! The way your mouth shapes those powerful words! So how, my dear, could I ever decline?" He smiled.
    "Thus with the thoughts of the Goddess and her Eternal Garden in my mind i say two things: A thousand times goodnight! A thousand times more to want thy light. And Adeiu. May this budding love prove to be a beauteous flower when next we meet," She let her most charming smile slip across her face as the elevator scooted down a couple more inches. She could practically hear the tension in the wires above.
    "And I say my parting goodbye: I love you. For I have nothing left to say! I have already said all the most gorgeous words in trying to describe the feeling but there are no more words. No picture nor portrait nor words can capture even the slightest essence of feeling. So I say, farewell, parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight, till it be morrow," he ran a hand through his curly hair and flashed Rosaline that look she loved. The moment was...it was...I am at a loss of words for how amazing that single moment was. They dropped their candles simutaniously. As they spluttred out on the floor, these lover ran the short distance towards their other half. They collided in a shower of hope and peace as the elevator fell and they hovered, still molded together. They slammed into the ground level, the world as they know it collapsing around them and on them in a shower of the dark. The reaper had finally reached and touched their hands. They were holding his hand as he led them away, a split second before the pain. Pulling them from their last bloody embrace. For the little thing that very few figure out in life is this: Death isn't heartless. Simply feared. Simply feared...