And The Heavens Fell Silent by Maria Louise (beach read TXT) 📖

  When I reached the hilltop I could’ve cried with joy. There, surrounded by dunes, was an oasis. A small pod, a bundle of scraggly trees, and some half wilted grass, the veritable picture of Heaven. I dropped to my knees, ignoring the now scorching sand. Suddenly I was knocked over by a sudden rush of movement.

  I looked up, Yram was dashing towards the oasis, a crazed smile stretching on her face. As she and the mare came alongside the pond Yram leapt and landed in the water, joining Whisky with a laugh. For the first time on this journey Yram seemed genuinely happy. Somehow, this made me smile while I picked myself up out of the sand. I stumbled down the dune and wandered to the pool. I stuck my hand into the pool, the water was warm, but not uncomfortable. It had been heated by the sun for years, but still bubbled fresh from an underground source.

  There was no greater relief I could think of at the moment. The water cleaned the dust, mud, and blood from my skin, the taste was fresh, it hadn’t been touched for years, and it refreshed my mind. For the first long while I could relax, and relax I did. The bubbling noise seemed to clean my mind, just as it had my physical body.

  “Phoenix, GET OUT!” Yram shouted while she turned her head back to me. Our moment  of quick relief was over and suddenly everyone, with the exception of Whiskey, was a lot more serious. I left the water, abandoning its cool serenity for a sand smoothed rock. In the not so distance air space I heard the call of a bird. The call was strange, almost archaic, a long gone happy memory. I let my eyes wander to the small grove of weedy, desert trees. The bird was plain, the colors were nothing special but the it still stood out. The difference must have been the bird’s attitude, it possessed the demeanor of  a lion.

  A lion? Where did I get that from. Surely I knew what a lion was, they were great beasts large in stature and great in courage, maybe. Trying to remember a lion was like seeing a skeleton, the general outline, no real form behind it. I wasn’t really focused on my surroundings and my vision returned to the pool. Yram and Whiskey were swimming together, Yram’s sun tanned skin was almost clean, unblemished and smooth.

  An unnatural warmth rose in my cheeks, I could tell I was blushing, she was radiant. Her pure glee made it look like she was glowing. A sharp inhale, her cheeks were filled with air had been pushed out in a ridiculous manner. In a blink she was gone, all I could see of her was a plume of hair. It looked like a moving cloud of blood. She surfaced after what seemed like a supernatural amount of time, her hair was plastered to her head, shoulders, and back. She was sopping wet, her white shirt had become completely transparent and the water rolled off of her leather pants in large rivulets.

  My heart rate jumped, it felt as though I was running through the satan house again. My face burned bright, but was drowned out by an intense, wondrous feeling from beneath my stomach. It was a weird, yet pleasurable, sensation. The feeling only intensified as Yram pulled her shirt up to wring it free of water, revealing the lower half of her dripping breasts. 

  Her eyes darted to me, then down my body. She blushed, a red almost as intense as her hair, a bewildered look on her face. She stumbled back just a little, then ran her hand over the sand, raking her fingers through the grit. Eventually she pulled her hand back and whipped it forward in an overhand motion. Suddenly, pain. This was probably the most excruciating kind of pain imaginable, an unholy torture form possibly. Not a thing went through my mind, it was all I could do to double over and fall hard to the sand.

  Through a sideways world I could see Yram giggle uncontrollably then fall, crawling her way to the water...her leather pants were stretched tight over her thighs and bottom from this angle too...I tried to push the thought from my mind.

It is a thin line between light and dark,

between pain and pleasure,

between heat and cold,

between love and hate,

between life and death,

between this word and the next-Cate Jienan

Eventually I could no longer stand the fluid way Phoenixes body rolled against mine with Hosannas rhythmic steps. The sinnamony fires that seemed to ignite on my skin because of him were going to drive me mad, in more ways than one, I must admit. With Phoenix it was a very thin line between pain and pleasure.

     That was why I made Phoenix get off and walk on the boiling sand.

     It seemed that the further away from the army we got, the warmer the weather became and the brighter the sun blazed. The army not only brought with it darkness, but it was darkness itself.

     With each flinching sep Phoenix took, I silently pleaded for his forgiveness.

     My cruelty knows no bounds. I peeled my lip back from my dry teeth, father would be proud.

     I was about to let Phoenix ride and I walk on the tretours sand when Whiskey came hollering by, startling my horse into a galloup.

     I was allowing Hosanna to follow Whiskeys horse over yet another roll of the sand, when I saw it.

     Water!

     My painfully dry throat and mouth contacted in a sticky raw gulp. My thirst did not leave any room for logical thinking. No, I did not think about the fact that I lacked the closure of a bra, nor the fact that my shirt was thin and white. All I could think was, water.

     Diving off of Hosanna I was enveloped in sun warmed, murky, water.

    It was heaven.

    I swam through the lush water the same time I gulped in huge mouthfuls, forgetting to breath. Who needed air anyway?

     The water was delicious. It tasted like a cloud. Musty and fresh.

  The water was like liquid silk. It combed through my hair and fingers, removing all the sticky sweat and sand that had been collecting on my various parts.

     Oh, yeah.

     I burst above the surface of the water, splashing droplets everywhere and laughing in exhilaration. Phoenix was gliding besides me with a huge goofy grin on his face. He looked at me with those fire blue eyes, making me melt from the inside. Water collected in the hollow of his throat and dripped down his wide sunburnt chest-

      “Phoenix, GET OUT!” I frantically yelled, heat forming in my belly. I dove under the water, not wanting to see the hurt on his face.

     How is it I was both horrified and enraged by some goofy grinned, man child, with a hero complex?

     Many minutes later when my body was cooled along with my mind, I resurface and began to crawl to dry ground.

    Phoenixes face was tilted up toward the sun, a shadow of golden hair glazed his face, his lean neck exposed, that was when I noticed his eyes locked on my flesh. I did not care, my eyes were otherwise preoccupied, roaming his body.

     He looked like a sun God. His once pale skin now deeply tanned with a hint of red burn. His golden hair was ruffled and had fallen over one eye in an attractive way. He quickly smoothed it back, giving me a glimpse of his muscled arm.

     My eyes drunk in the way his sculpted chest was flexing with each quick breath.

     A shock wave went through my body and I felt a tingling and out of control. I could not stop the path of my eyes any more than I could the beat of my heart.

     My eyes lowered to the strong curve of his hips, where golden brown hair began collecting at his navel then sloped lower- My eyes widened, my breath caught in my throat, my jaw dropped. I snapped it shut, tore my eyes away and began looking around me.

     Where was it?! I wondered, I was sure my brain was around here somewhere...

     All this happen in a couple seconds, and a couple seconds was all it took for my brain to fall out and become terrified at the same time.

     I had never felt this way before! I never thought I would feel anything for a man. I never wanted to, but here I was with this...desire?... I had only read about in books, and no idea what to do with it.

    I heard cackling behind me.

     Whiskey floated in the middle of the pound, her humored eyes locked on Phoenix's exposure. She was laughing so hard she began to drown.

     Whiskey sank below the water, bubbles bursting from her lips. She pushed above the surface, gasping, coughing and sputtering water as she started to doggie paddle/drown her way back to shore.

    “Im.. changing’ yer... name!” Whiskey gasped laughing at her joke. A slow puddle dripped around her. “No longer are ya Pretty boy, I now call ya, Lover boy!”

      In complete embarrassment I tried to get Phoenix to stop-uh- just to stop doing that, so I picked up a pebbled and threw it at him. I gasped startled at where it hit.

     Laughing at myself I fell backwards into the water. Thank God my desire did not show itself so “largely” like Phoenixes. I did not care to be the butt of Whiskey jokes.

     Phoenix moaned.

     Whiskey laughed.

     I blushed.

     Thank the merciful Lord I was a woman!

That night on a large flat rock by the moonlit pool, Whiskey magically started another fire. It was pointless really, without any food to cook. The only thing the fire did was give us more light, of which, I really did not want. The light revealed all too much of Phoenix, not that I didn't want to see him. No, that was the problem, I did want to see him. Which was probably why Whiskey started the fire in the first place! She may have despised Phoenix, but nobody, and I mean, NOBODY, could despise the way he looked.

     I seriously needed to find Phoenix some cloths or we'd all go raving mad! Sadly there was no cloths to spare.Whiskey certainly had none to spare, her outfit was all strappy leather that barely concealed anything.

     I looked over to find Whiskey and Phoenix glaring at each other while simultaneously munching on something green. I prayed it was a leaf.

     Ugh.

     Before they could offer me some “greens” I silently removed myself from the fire to go reminisce over my deliciously terrible thoughts.

     I made my way through the scraggly grass of the oases, heading towards even more scraggly trees. I would have happily hidden in a cati bush if it was to get away from Phoenix! No, I mustn't think of him...

     I pushed branches away from my hair and I felt a painful jab