At Midnight We Meet

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. It was the most picturesque view; they would linger as if unaffected by inertia through the seemingly endless space that were the skies. They appeared suddenly and with them they brought an explosion of colors, which were deep magenta, pink, and even reddish tints of color that came out and expanded into the night sky, leaving a lonely trail behind. With their presence, the woods looked so lonesome, it was like a village in the middle of a firework show, it was lonely. The smell of pine trees which would be escorted by a cold humidity that arrived with every soft blow of the wind, a blow which produced the loneliest sound as it swiftly passed by, it was a whisper. The pines gently swaying, as if dancing a waltz with the wind, and the caressing music it caused. The ground was covered in dead leaves, sticks, and all the forgotten fauna that was left behind. One could step on it and sink, but the creatures that roamed those woods knew where and how to step. The roots that sprouted out of the pines almost as if it were in an involuntary motion were stout, long veins that gave life to the pines. There were deer wandering around, rising their heads, and their tails jerking up and down at the sound of any anomaly. The rabbits that would swiftly move around with their tiny puffy tails, and quick large ears. The foxes would scurry around, hiding in between the remains of the dead fauna, and sticking their heads out, and all other creatures that would every night at midnight come out of their hidden caves just to watch the spectacle. And there they were, all in communion, and in their eyes was the reflection of that beautiful enigmatic outburst of colors that painted the night sky, and made the night seem day.

But deep into the forest, and far into the innards of the swaying trees, there was this cabin. It was an old cabin, there were even several planks fallen, holes in the walls, and the foundation was inclined to one side as the old roots of the pines had gone under the cabin and in an attempt to come out it caused it to be uneven. There was a man and a woman outside the cabin, the man had under his arm a suitcase. He was very tall, almost slender looking, with his hair slicked back, and in the back of his head he was bald, but he tried to hide it with his hat. And in front a young girl, she must’ve been around fourteen. She had long ravishing brown hair that would extend down her back. Her face was perfectly symmetrical, thin lips, her nose, like a boat’s bow it was as aerodynamic when it fought the wind, and her eyes, she had the most beautiful green eyes with a slight tint of blue that would sneak by, uninvited. There were dark patches under her eyes, and tears which looked to escape from the imprisonment of her eyelids. She was bawling at him, and tears were flowing one after the other and then they all flowed like a river does towards the ocean.

“You can’t leave me! You can’t possibly leave me here all by myself.” She ejaculated.

“I’m not leaving you; it is just a couple of weeks.” He said, visibly concerned.

“We need the money Jenn, and it’s going to be a quick expedition to an island nearby, it is not far by boat, and I will come back.” He continued.

“But the forest… h- how can you leave me here in the middle of the forest, all by myself, in this consuming darkness.” She said, wailing. Her back was arched, and her shoulders would shudder as she looked dreadfully into his eyes.

“Jenn, come.” He said tenderly as he got on one knee, and with his hand he rubbed her shoulder ever so softly. It had hit midnight and the spectacle had begun, and it was then that it seemed to be so close, one could almost touch it if only it was possible.

“Look, if anything happens, or if you happen to miss me, or hate me, or love me, just look up at the purple clouds. And there you will always find me, even if I’m indeed in the other side of the world, I am sure that there you will find me.” He said softly, as they both looked at the purple clouds that lingered ever so peacefully in the night sky.

They hugged, and she wailed, her tears would come with the most desperate gasps for air as she held on tight to his clothes. “I love you” they both whispered before they finally let go, and he walked away and into the forest. With only a lantern in his hand to guide his way. He looked back once and there he could see her, shuddering, alone, but she was indeed not alone. The light of the clouds shone idyllically upon her, and the dancing trees covered her with their regard, as if they were her mother. He smiled, turned, and went into the forest. And she saw how his tiny, yellow dim light, slowly was consumed by the darkness of the forest. And as his light grew dimmer and dimmer, so did the clouds as they moved away with the wind, seemingly in the same direction he had left in, turning the flamboyant sky into night once more.

That night when she tried to sleep, she could not, she was haunted by the darkness of the forest, and all the sounds that now seemed closer than ever. The crickets, the small vertebrates that roamed the lifeless ground of the woods, with the leaves moving and breaking as they stepped on them, she could hear it all. She could hear the women screaming deep into the forest, far from her home, but at times they would come to be so close, it was unbearable, she was terrified. She had remembered when her dad told her those screams were the foxes, scaring off their competition, but never did they sound like foxes, and less did they sound like them now.

The days passed, and soon she became used to the darkness, the weeks passed, months, and then years. She had never forgotten her father, and she knew, somewhere, he was still there. Every night she would fight off the haunting memory of him as she remembered their last interactions, and she was taunted by her behavior. She would cry every night, gasping desperately, and shuddering, with the woods being the only witness of her demeanor. And every night, without fail, the light of the clouds would appear, and she would look it, even though every day since he had left, they had appeared farther and farther, and now, they were barely visible. But she would look at them with spite, she despised the clouds, she hated the forest, she was resentful of the coarseness of it all towards her.

But one night, and she remembered this one night very clearly. She was in her usual manner, stacking the woods one on top of the other, her hands were rough because of the constant moving of those, when suddenly she saw as a tiny, purplish ray of light sneaked in through a crack, and she saw it fallen on the floor. This would be her occurrence every day, and she would look at it for some time, trying her best to ignore it and just look away, but the ray just became bigger and bigger as the clouds shone their fiendish light upon her. She continued to move the wood, and to stack it, and she walked from a side of the cabin to the other, visibly concerned. Her jaws tightened involuntarily with the sounds of the forest as all creatures came out of their den, and with them the sound of their legs walking ever so slowly, with their hesitant walk as they approached the enigma that became of the skies at night. She briskly closed the drapes on each of the windows, but the light still managed to sneak through that crack. It was then that she felt the fall of something on the floor with her feet and the sound of the logs falling back. She was startled and looked behind. The light was now stronger than ever before, and the light that sneaked in almost stretched into the corners, it was as if a candle had been lighted, giving the purple color to the scenery. When she went to pick up the logs, she felt it, and heard it once more. She had a few books in her shelf which had fallen, and behind those books was left as in the open, a photograph she had forgotten about. It was her and her father, it had dust on top of it, and she looked at it with tears in her eyes. Her heart was in her throat, and she could feel it in her ears. She seized it, and it was when she did so, that the light of the clouds slowly died down, and it was then that she was left in devouring darkness. That night she could not sleep, and it was then that she had remembered that this was not the first time it happened, it was not the first time that when the clouds appeared something would suddenly fall, or a sound would be made. The enigmatic nature of the clouds did not frighten her, but it was the idea that they tried to tell her something that evoked fear into her.

Every night after that she looked desperately for a sign. “There must be something else” she thought as she wandered nonplussed around the cabin. But there was nothing. Not even the light appeared as strong as it did that lonesome night. She had dark patches under her eyes, her back was arched, and her eyes had become this slight tint of red with her fearing that at any blink she would fall asleep.

But one night, one forlorn night on which she had found enough courage to go to sleep, was when the clouds displayed their incandescent light onto her lonely cabin, with the pines doddering from side to side, and it must’ve been the sound of it all, or simply the effervescent light that sneaked in through a small window that was right under the cabin’s ceiling that woke her up. Her heart pounded at the sound of a thousand elephants marching by. At once she ran outside, kicking the door open, walking backwards as she tried to get a glimpse of the light. The pines never looked so colossal; she kept moving back as to see the clouds, but the pines would move side to side as the wind passed by. When she got a glimpse of it, her heart stopped, she was shuddering. Slowly she saw as the dark innards of the forest filled with purplish fog, and how it slowly seemed to consume it out, flowing like water in between the trees, approaching her. Never had the clouds been this close, she had seen the spectacle several times, but it was too far to even mean something, but now it was right in front of her, and inside the clouds she could see a tumult forming, it moved and there was a light twinkling inside, but it was not allowed out, and she could see its desperate attempting to rebel, but with no success whatsoever. It was as if the clouds were speaking to her, she was mesmerized, and could not move. Her eyes were filled with the purplish ebullition of fervor that displayed the clouds, and she could see how the wind slowly took them away.

“He was right, they have come for me.” She thought to herself.

In a haste she went inside the cabin, grabbed a set of car keys, and then went to turn on her truck. It was an old pickup truck which her dad had left, and she had not used it for quite a while. It was inclined to one side, the windshield was filled with dust, and its paint was partly scraped off. But it turned on, after a few jerks, and prayers, it turned on. And she started, with her foot pressing heavily on the accelerator, and her sleepless, almost lunatic eyes looking out for the clouds. She even lowered one of the windows to look for them, but it turned to be an arduous task. The forest had filled with the purplish smoke, and she could feel the back of her neck tingling, never had she felt this sensation. But no matter what she kept on driving, the car would bounce up and down every time she passed over the roots of the pines, and they looked at her with fervorous anger as their branches would hit the windshield of her truck. The light would sneak by through the pines, but she would get the look of it briefly as its stay only seemed sojourn. The trees would block her view, one after the other, as if they had been placed to do so. “Come on, come on, don’t leave me. Don’t do like he did.” She broke out, breathing heavily. The fog was too intense, and the forest had now turned this purplish tint, she could barely see what trees stood in front of her. The jerk of the truck continued, moving up and down like the tides of the ocean, she even felt as at one point one of the truck’s wheels had fallen on a hole but quickly, she got out. Suddenly she saw as this colossal dark thing came closer and closer, the fog was too acute, and it was too late when she figured it was a pine. She hit its trunk directly, and her head hit the steering wheel, bouncing off and hitting the back of her head with the cushion of the truck. She could smell the smoke coming out of the truck, and even her vision had become distorted, and all sounds of the forest had suddenly become much stronger, with her hearing the howling of the dogs in her ears. She seized the gear lever, and jerked it around, and at once when it had stayed where it had to stay, she moved back, and then did the same thing and continued forward. Now the smoke was less intense, and she could see the strong light piercing through her window.

She saw as in her far view, a barbed wire fence appeared. She pressed stronger on the accelerator, and with enough haste, the truck passed right through it, leaving almost no trace behind, except an entire section of the fence being missing. There was a road right in front of the fence, she got on it and drove straight. She could see the clouds moving hastily in front of her, and she followed them. Her hands were filled with perspiration, and so was the steering wheel. And a single blood drop that had left its trail fell on her eyelashes and then slowly sneaked through them and fell on her cheek, but she was unbothered by it, she could not tell if it was sweat or anything else, so she kept on driving. The drive seemed to stretch for eternity, the clouds continued to move with the wind pushing them with their outermost force. She could see the colossal, stout pines of the forest pass her by hurriedly, and the holes and marking of the road pass in the same manner right under her. That was her view until she finally arrived at a place on which the clouds had stopped their movement, and even the wind stopped blowing its air. The trees nearby did not sway, and it was all in a silence, so petrifying and terrifying, that even she hesitated to keep on driving. But she did, and it was at that end that she saw a lake. The purplish fog had now turned gray, and she could not see what was on the lake, but she knew it was a lake because the light of the clouds reflected off its glassy, tranquil surface.

Her truck came to a stop when its front wheels had buried themselves in the wet, muddy soil. She got off. Her jaws were tightened, and her hands had turned into fists, she looked around with wariness, skeptic of it all. Skeptic of the silence, of the motionless water, of the stiff trees, of the slumberous fauna. It was as if all life had been removed. She placed one step and then another, and into the fog as she got closer to the lake. And the more she walked, the more she noticed her steps were the only sound there. Hers were wet steps, it was as if she were stepping on mud, and that was all she could hear. But the closer she got, the more skeptic she was. There was the silhouette of something, she could not define if it was a man or a woman, a god, or a beast. Her heart was pounding at the sound of marching elephants, her mouth had run dry, and she would swallow intensively in an attempt to save her from that fate, obviously unsuccessful. And her forced gulps of saliva could be heard by even the clouds if they wished to, it was all so quiet, almost too quiet. The closer she got, the clearer the silhouette became, and it was then that she could see that it was a man. A man in a robe and a hood on, holding fiercely onto the lever of a small wooden boat. She saw as the closer he became, the less fog there seemed to be, and the more intensively the shining light of the clouds seemed to be.

“You came.” He said, almost in a whisper.

And in her eyes, the welled tears that hid behind her saggy eyelids, then one by one would flow out, falling down her cheeks leaving their salty trail behind. And she could not stop herself, she was trembling.

“I did not expect to see you again.” He said, with a smile, even though it was not visibly apparent.

“I looked for you.” She whispered finally after a long pause of absolute silence.

“But you were never there for me to find… the clouds were there, but you were never there. Their light shone ever so disgustingly, but you were never there.” She continued.

“Where were you?!” She said abruptly, moving a step forward and closer to the boat.

“Look at me Jennifer, look at my feet.” He said, morosely.

She looked down, and there was a chain that was wrapped around his foot, and one that stretched out the boat and into the lake. He jerked his leg, but he could not move out the boat.

“I am forced here, Jenn.”

“That mustn’t be, there must be a way.” She cried as she desperately tried to unwrap the chains, but with no success whatsoever. She would try to turn them apart, untangle them, but nothing.

“You can’t do anything Jenn; the clouds have forced me here. I am their ostiary, and they are vigilant of me.”

“What happened? Are you even alive? Are you real?!” she yelled.

“I hope I’m alive, but with all honesty I can’t tell. I don’t even want to try touching you because I feel my hand will pass right through you, and that frightens me. But it’s been me that has caused me this. I was in hopes of seeing you again, and when my boat sank, the clouds offered me a chance. They offered me to be the ostiary to the other side, to their dimension. But I am forced to be tied to this chain for eternity. I accepted eagerly, knowing I was to see those beautiful eyes of you once again.”

She did not say a thing, but rather she jumped onto his arms, shuddering and bawling. The tears would fall to the lake and leave their lonely wave behind.

And it was then, that every time the purple clouds came as close as they did that night, that she would follow them to visit her father, and he would smile at just the sight of her. And she would too, and they would talk and share until the clouds moved away, and with them, him. This would continue for years. Wrinkles would slowly appear on her face, and she even had children, she had brought all of them to him. He was so happy to see them, and she was so joyful to show him. But there came a point, on which her walking had become acutely arduous, and even a pain. Her wrinkles were now prevalent on her face, and her children were the ones taking care of her. Until one lonely night, she wasn’t there to meet him, and then another, and another. And he was left in a mournful state of awaiting his never arriving love. And now the purple clouds were the only witnesses of his tears every night when their fiendish light sneaked by, causing his chest to ache, and a knot in his throat to form. Every night at midnight, for the rest of eternity.