The wind ripped at her long hair and lashed it across her face as she walked the rough edges of the cliffs. The pale moon seemed to hold no sympathy as it smiled with indifference and lit her path below. Beneath her the waves threw themselves against the sharp rocks in a frenzied dance, trying in vain to climb the steep walls of rock that rose to contain the sea's vastness. Tightly she wound her arms around her waist attempting to prevent the wind from biting her skin through the light material of her night gown. She had come here to offer up desperate pleas to the heavens, begging that the morning would never come, knowing that if it did her life would end.

Suddenly a sound reached her ears above the wail of the wind. Hoof beats. She turned towards the noise, but the sight that met her eye robbed her of the last hope she had clung to. The rider that approached was not the shining knight she dreamed of, but rather the dark nightmare of her reality. This man in black astride his midnight steed was the man who was to hold the key to her prison. This man was the man her parents had chosen for her. This man was the man to whom she was to belong come sunrise. He was coming to bring her back and force her to live out the horror her life was to become.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of light. She looked longingly in the direction of its brightness and saw out above the water, her love. He sat upon his white horse, clothed in armor that rivaled the sun. The black hoof beats grew louder and louder. The white knight reached out his hand. Her jailer drew closer and closer. Her savior beckoned and knowing what she must do, she stepped out to meet him.

©   1998   Deep Thoughts