Sublime

IT WASN’T AS SIMPLE AS slipping into the blackness and finding him there waiting. She expected it to be simple. She moved with the same instinct as before. But instead, she was back in her mirror world, alone, and more aware this time. She’d never been lonely there before, because she’d needed only to look out into the other sky and see him. But when she returned alone, she remembered every minute with Colin, every smile, every sensation of him.

Time was her sole, begrudging partner. It twisted and slept, lingered interminably and then would burst past her in the few moments Lucy let herself enjoy her lush memories of togetherness. Minutes passed differently under the lake than they did above it. A minute here could be a second or a year to anything on earth. How long would it take him to get here? How long had it been?

Every time the strange sun rose, she thought, Today is the day we’ll be back together. Every day she walked to the gate, but the longing to walk through was gone, like it had drifted off with her body into the snow.

And then everything changed.

It was a different sort of morning, cold like the first day he went into the lake, with air so sharp you hesitate before taking it into your lungs, even if it gives you your shape and its coldest elements are your only essence.

She had a good feeling that morning, one she couldn’t explain. It was weather that would make Colin’s eyes flame golden and she would know he was thinking about falling into the water, about touching her with same hands and same lips and same skin.

The trail was deserted, of course. Downy snow buried the dirt and grass. Apples that hung ripe and round the day before lay like glittering rubies in the snow. And then he was there.

His eyes were full of confusion. He looked at his arms, at the apples in the snow, at the ice-blue sky, and at the path in front of him. When he saw Lucy, his face relaxed and he blinked once and then twice for her, the second one bringing with it a smile.