A feeling of anticipation filled the stale air around her. She sat on a cold stone bench, staring at the statue before her; and angel with wings spread. She had picked out that statue one year ago. One long, lonely year ago. Below the statue was a plaque, it read:
Sierra
A bright angel
in a dark world.
Loved and missed
by many. Rest
in peace beloved.
2/16/1976 – 2/9/1997
The young woman bowed her head, her dark hair fell about her face. Tears fell from her bloodshot eyes. Sadness seemed to seep out from every pour of her fragile body. A gentle white light behind her cast a mockery of her form on the tomb wall across from her. She never noticed.
The brightness of the light intensified as a figure came into focus, then began to take a fully human appearance, except for a bright light glowing about her body, with no possible point of origin. A cold breeze crept silently through the empty cemetery creating an eerie whining sound. Another chill wind swept through the large stone structure. The young woman’s skin grew chilled causing her to look up to see if the door had opened.
The sight that met her eyes froze her in place. For what seemed like an eternity, but was only moments, her breath was held in. Her mind swore her eyes had to be playing tricks on her. It couldn’t be Sierra standing before her, her grief had to be driving her over the edge.
“My love,” she whispered as the apparition before her drew closer. She closed her eyes, counted to twenty and opened them. The only change was that now Sierra appeared to be standing right directly before her.
“Yes, I am here.” Her voice sang out, the melody of the pitches echoing off of the walls. It was her voice, the voice of her beloved, the voice that had whispered such sweet words to her, as they were wrapped around each other in passion, or just relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. A slender hand reached out to touch the vision before her, half-afraid that she would just disappear. Instead her hand encountered flesh, cold flesh, but beneath her hand it grew warm.
“You’re dead … I held you in my arms as the life drained out of you … I saw the coffin lid close, trapping your beautiful face forever under a piece of metal.”
A loving smile curved the lips of the redhead as she spoke, “I have returned to you, but only for a few hours one night a year. From dusk until dawn on the day of my death I am yours.” Tears flowed freely down the black haired ladies cheeks.
“So I am to get you back only to loose you again, over and over, year after year?”
“My love, it is all that can be offered. The rest of the year I watch as you wait for this day to come again, and my pain will be as great as yours, but it is all we can have. Let’s not waste it.”
“Can we…?” the lady blushed as she looked at her beloved, love and lust shining in her green eyes. Sierra stood on the tiptoe and rested her hands on her love’s shoulders. Their lips met, and a year’s worth of despair, loneliness, sadness and loss erupted, causing their passion to ignite. They slid to the cold stone floor and Sierra quickly removed her lover’s clothes.
Over the next few hours as dawn slowly approached, the ladies made love and talked. Sierra listened to all of the things he lover had done, not having the heart to tell her she already knew all she had done, that she had been watching.
The sky slowly lost its dark black color, and hints of blue began to thread their way through the sky as Sierra said her good-byes. Her lover had to watch as once again she slowly slipped away. Her body lost its solid look, becoming once again transparent. She reached for her lover and their hands touched one last time, then she was just gone.
The young woman sat back down on the stone bench and cried, cancer had taken Sierra away from her, then for a few hours God, Goddess, fate, whatever had given her back only the snatch her away again. Slowly tears began to fall again as she pondered the loneliness of the year ahead.
* * * * *
One year later, a black haired lady sat on a cold stone bench as the sun left the sky. A dozen roses sat beside her. As a familiar fragrance filled the air, she smiled. It was time, Sierra was back.
