It Was Midnight by Jordan Link (elon musk reading list txt) 📖

It was midnight. The moon was full, casting its subtle glow down on the landscape below. The silver light shone down upon the Lores Palace, which sat upon a dark green hill beside the cool, unmoving, glittering green waters of Lores.

Inside the palace, a masquerade was taking place. Natives and tourists alike were dressed in dazzling evening gowns, the costumes topped off with wild, colorful masks that were based on creatures and elements of all kinds. Soft music played from the front of the palace, where ten talented musicians carefully ran their bows and fingers across their wooden instruments.

I made my way towards the front of the hall, carefully dodging the hundreds of graceful dancers who were in the midst of their waltzes. I was dressed in a golden brown gown, my light brunette hair adorned in the purest of diamonds. My mask was a simple jewel-lined frame, inspired by ornate treasure chest that sat inanimate in the corner of my dimly-lit room.

“Maria!” A girl’s voice shouted from behind me. I recognized the voice immediately, identifying her as my long-time childhood friend. She was known as the less intelligent of the duet, but I couldn’t help but to adore her. I spun around immediately to greet my golden-blonde other half , amazed by her sparkling white dress and swan-like eyes. But when she looked into her friend’s eyes, mine, like she always did when we talked to one another, I was met with bowls of tears.

My friend fell into my arms, sobbing profusely, her breath coming in rapid gasps. “It’s your boyfriend, Maria. It’s Sean. I saw him, just now.” She choked up, still crying, quickly wiping her eyes before looking away, hiding behind her mask in both shame and guilt.

My heart fell abruptly, and hot color rose in my cheeks. I knew it, knew it as I saw the dancers stop their waltzing, and as the music slowed to a droning crawl. I knew it as I saw my best friend cover her face and run to the door, and as Sean approached me with open arms and that perfect white smile, with those perfect black eyes and slicked back hair.

“Maria, you look beautiful as always.” He leaned in for the kiss as the music restarted, taking my hands in his and beginning another waltz. I accepted it hesitantly, savoring the cool taste of his lips on my warm ones. But then I gently withdrew, noting the unpleasant aftertaste, dreading the moments that were to come. And immediately I knew that had been our last kiss. “Sean, who is the other girl?” I asked quietly, my voice a whisper in the hall.

The cool, suave stature that always hung about Sean’s face instantly disappeared, replaced by hesitance and defensiveness. He stopped dancing, releasing me from his arms as if I were some pest to be eliminated. I wondered briefly how many other girls had witnessed this same change, had felt their hearts drop and their relationships flash before their eyes. “Maria, are you accusing me of seeing another girl?” He inquired firmly.

“Don’t lie about it!” I shouted, more loudly than I had intended. A few couples stopped to stare, and I fretfully retreated from the room, pushing through gowns and displays of flowers as I made my way out into the cold night. It was so pure here, out in the natural world of Lores. Here I could escape from my problems, my worries, and be by myself for a while.

I walked around the hill sullenly, ignoring the fact that the bottom of my dress was collecting mud and grass. I didn’t care anymore. Even as it started raining I could recognize all of my faults, not physical but mental. I was easy, easy to manipulate and easy to control. I had been lied to, over and over again. I couldn’t count the amount of times that Sean had told me that he loved me. Now I knew that he had not meant any of it, that he only wanted to go behind my back to see another girl later, while keeping me around. I wanted to cry, but couldn’t. I wouldn’t, not now, not ever. That cheat wasn’t worth my tears, and I recognized that.

I lay on my back where I had stood a moment before, oblivious to the drops of water that fell on my mask and spattered about, dripping down through the holes and onto my smooth face, the water mixing with the salt of my tears. No, I wasn’t crying for Sean. I was crying for myself, feeling sorry that I had been so stupid and blind for so long. I undid my hair candidly, hurling the metal band that had clasped it it far into the depths of the Lores River, watching it sink, just like my relationship had. Oh, there were so many similes to failure.

Someone lay beside me, and I ignored them until they rested their hand upon my shoulder. I knew it was Sean. Hatred and confusion filled my heart, and I wanted to cry out. Why didn’t he just go away and leave me alone? Why prolong the suffering, make the hatred even stronger?

Sean sat up a bit, resting on one arm and staring intensely at me. I avoided his gaze, focusing on the ripples where the band had sunk. Sean’s eyes followed my gaze and rested on the spot. “I didn’t cheat on you, Maria. Who said that?”

I moved around to face him, trying to sit up as well, but he pinned me to the ground, blocking the rain, forcing me to stare into his eyes. His wet hair fell towards me as he smiled, a genuine smile, a smile that I knew so well. “Remember that time when we bathed in the clear springs, Maria? We were barely ten then.”

I didn’t respond or react. I was still, questioning my own doubt. “I remember. There was another girl there, too. I think it was Eleanor!”

“It was Eleanor. Remember the time we spent together in the center of my friend’s little garden maze, the one with the fence covered with roses. There was a stone bench and fountain, and he made those overly-sweet lemonades.”

“I remember.”

Sean stood and pulled me to my feet, and in that moment I remembered how well we meshed together. We completed each other in so many ways, and I wanted that to stay forever and ever. But I didn’t want to be the easy girl again, the one who fell for the questionable character. I wanted to be me.

“Maria, I have to tell you something. I know what you were thinking earlier. But just remember that I know you’re perfect, that to me you’re the only girl in the world that completes me. That’s how it will always be.” He looked down with a faraway expression before lifting his head again, those strong eyes penetrating into my heart. “Your friend saw the ring earlier, the blue-sapphire ring that I had placed in my pocket.”
The weight was gone instantly. My world was afloat.

The kiss that followed could only be described as pure happiness. It was everything that I had anticipated from the early age of thirteen, everything that I had dreamed and read about in the fairy tale books that I’d found in the surrounding village’s dusty old library. Sean’s arms wrapped around me and he picked me up in them, lips still locked against mine, as he led me to an empty clearing. It was only then that he stopped kissing me, that he placed me on my feet and withdrew his soft lips from mine, bowing down on one knee and proposing.

Publication Date: 07-06-2012

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