Edgar's Vigil

A lone figure sat on the sand watching the sun slowly sink below the horizon. He was prepared to wait here all through the cold night if it meant even a single moment with her.

The temperature dropped quickly as the darkness became complete. He wrapped his coat more tightly around himself, but still the chill wind coming off the waves was not enough to move him.

The moon rose, making silver flashes on the water as the tide crept inevitably towards the young man. He sat shivering in the cold, waiting with endless patience, knowing she might not come. He would wait here every night until she did.

The moon tracked a path across the sky. The tide came in, licked at his shoes and then left again. The globe completed its turn and the sun started a new ascent behind him, signalling a new day.

Another night without her. But his heart was full, and he would be here again as soon as the sun began to lower once more. She’d said she would meet him here, and he would wait as long as it took.

He was there again the next night. And the next night, and the next. But his heart never faltered, he never doubted that she would come.

Eventually, a whisper behind him.

“Edgar.” It was the sweetest sound ever heard. His name on her lips.

He turned and threw his arms around her, engulfing her tiny frame. She tucked her face into his neck and he held her tight.

“Annabel Lee,” he said, nuzzling into her hair that was being whipped around them by the cold sea breeze.

“I finally got away,” she said. They sat down together in the sandy hollow that his nights of waiting had carved into the shore. “Father has been watching me like a hawk, and my brothers won’t give me a moment’s respite. I wanted to come sooner, but-”

He cut her off with a kiss. For long moments they knew nothing but each other.

“I’ll wait here every night for you, Annabel Lee, even for just one more kiss,” he said, lifting her chin gently to gaze into her bright eyes.

“Oh, Edgar,” she said, tears welling up. “I love you so much, but my family doesn’t understand. They won’t let me see you, they say you-”

“Shhhhh,” he put a finger on her lips. “Let’s forget about your family for tonight. That’s a problem for later. For now let’s just…” and here the two young lovers dissolved into a puddle of passion. With only their discarded clothes between them and the sand, their desire burned with such ferocity that their skin felt only the other’s caress, and neither noticed the storm clouds encroaching, blocking the shining stars from the night sky.

They lay sleeping in each other’s embrace with Edgar’s coat draped across their naked bodies until a crack of thunder accompanied by icy cold spears of rain cruelly woke them. As they hurried to dress Edgar said “I will wait here for you, every night. Come when you can, Annabel Lee. I’ll spend my nights waiting for you, and my days searching for a way for us to be together.”

“My dearest Edgar,” she held his face in hands and rested her forehead against his, the driving rain flattening their hair on their heads. Her hands were cold as ice but he didn’t complain. “My Edgar, my sweet, my love. Wait for me, I’ll come again, just as soon as I can.” She gave him one last kiss before turning and running off into the downpour, back to the comfort of her family manse perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea.

He waited for her again that night. And the night after that. On the third night she appeared again, like an apparition from the fog. Once more they gave in to their passions there on the beach, with the moon watching overhead.

They held each other tight, and when she coughed a deep and hacking cough, he rubbed her back and tucked his coat more tightly around her shoulders.

“I have a plan, Annabel Lee,” Edgar told her. He explained how he would scale the cliffs below her window, whisk her away down a rope ladder he’d made, into a boat waiting below. He’d row them away around the peninsula to a neighbouring town where they’d elope by train to anywhere she wanted. “It has to be three nights from now, that’s when the tide will be at its highest. Bring only what you must, I’ll come for you, Annabel Lee. Until then, you must rest. You’ve been coughing like an old steamer and you need to be strong for the climb down. It’s a long way, but I’ll be there to help you.”

With a kiss and whispers of unending devotion the lovers again parted, just as the eastern sky began to yellow.

The next days passed with interminable slowness for Edgar. His preparations were all made, his money carefully stowed away, ready to pay for the train tickets that represented their future together.

Despite knowing she wouldn’t return to the beach he maintained his nightly vigil. He’d grown accustomed to watching the tide advance and recede, advance and recede. The ocean was unceasing, like his love for Annabel Lee.

The fated night arrived and Edgar moored his boat at the cliffs below her family home. A steep and narrow path led the way up. His feet and legs knew no tiredness as he ascended. His excitement at what lay ahead of them filled him with such boundless energy that he could climb mountains or swim entire oceans if he knew beautiful Annabel Lee was waiting for him on the other side.

At the top he found the window he knew to be hers and scaled the trellis up to the window ledge. He realised the window was closed, he could see the moon reflected on its surface. He’d asked her to leave it open and he was momentarily filled with doubt. What if she had changed her mind? But he shook it off with the memory of her bright eyes gazing into his as they kissed down on the beach. Surely, it was just an oversight.

He pulled himself up onto the ledge, there was just enough room for him to sit upon it. He cupped his hands around his eyes, the better to see inside the room.

What Edgar saw froze his blood in his veins. The room was filled with figures gathered around the bed. An old grey bearded man, a face so full of sorrow. Four other men of various ages, her brothers. Kneeling next to the bed was a nurse, fussing over the pale figure lying there.

Annabel Lee looked like a ghost. You could barely see her against the white sheets, her tiny body hardly making an imprint against the coverings.

Involuntarily Edgar let out a heartrending cry. Annabel Lee’s father and brothers turned towards the sound, at first confused and then with dawning realisation. The closest brother started towards the window when a skeletal hand grabbed his shoulder.

Somehow Annabel Lee had somehow managed to raise herself from her bed. With a final surge of strength that must have been granted by the God of Lovers she pushed past her brother and drew up the window sash.

Annabel Lee threw herself at Edgar with the desperation of the dying. Edgar caught her in arms, letting go of his hold on the trellis. The force of their embrace overbalanced the twosome and they tottered, foundered, and fell.

As they fell Edgar saw faces appear in the window and outstretched hands grasping, but too late. He landed first, flat on his back, between the house and cliff face. His breath was pounded out of him by the impact and, try as might, his arms loosened their grip from around Annabel Lee. She rolled away from him and as he struggled to gain his feet, he watched her rise and stand, staggering against the strong sea winds. They both reached out toward the other fingers grasping, hearts desperate to touch once more.

The further Annabel Lee reached out towards her love the more the wind was able to catch among the folds of her nightgown, snapping and cracking the fabric, acting like a sail. Her wasted frame weighing almost nothing was lifted from the ground in a gust of wind that blew her over the edge of the cliff. She let out a piercing shriek that was abruptly cut short.

The wind carried Edgar’s howl throughout the town, setting dogs to barking and waking children from their slumber.

A sepulchre stands at the bottom of the cliffs now. A resting place for Annabel Lee. Every night a lone figure approaches and sits beside it. Watching the ocean as the tides advance and recede, advance and recede. Watching the unceasing ocean. As unceasing as Edgar’s love for Annabel Lee.

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Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee.

Written for Randy Baker's Prompted #4 Challenge.