Maelstrom pressed the cruise control button and settled back in her seat. There was an easy sense of comfort edging into her heart with a light contentment of being in {his} presence. The hunter green Nissan glided along the desolate highway, the only movement to be seen here. Here was nothing, a barren dry waste, not so dry now. It was just breaking dawn and the light of glorious Father Sol mellowed softly through the thin fog. Her eyes moved from the monotonous striped highway to the rear-view mirror, where two strings of plastic beads and a barbie doll head hung with cheerful abandon. Then to the dash where a quarter, a nickel, two pennies and a silver guitar pick walked from side to side with the car’s vibration. Her eyes flashed back to the road dutifully. No changes here. She resumed her gaze right to her passenger. He sat, reclined a little, head leaning back dazedly in utter comfort.
She was glad that she’d taken over, he prolly wouldn’t have been able to stay awake much longer. Her eyes went back to the road, no changes here, just flat orange hardpan and endless highway into the horizon. She moved her head slightly and sighed. His spicy clean scent filled the air, leather and pheromones. His rich hair framed his face in soft, lanky strands as he tipped his chosen back. His eyes were hidden behind thick lashes, closed to the world. Only the tilt of his eyebrows gave any indication of his current state. They were risen in slight arch, a manner which suggested he was very awake still but trying hard not to be. Once again he scanned the road, no changes here.
She watched in the corner of her eye as he took the pick from the dash and leaned back again, just running the pick idly through his fingers as if he were in meditation or on the verge of a great revelation. She wanted to break the silence, felt that it’d been a long time since either of them had said anything, but she decided to leave it where it was. IT was a comfortable silence. His eyes were open, almost all the way, but not quite, and a miles turned his lips sweetly.
HE reached over to the radio, turning it up from it’s former, barely audible volume. Stairway to Heaven. He rested his head against the window pensively as he sang the words to himself. She looked back at the road, just listening to the rise and fall of his melodic voice. Perhaps he wasn’t Pavarotti o Roy Orison, but in all truth had one of the most pleasing voices. Rising, falling, gentle notes in sweeping succession. A the last words fell from his lips she moved her eyes from the road. She felt his gaze upon her and instantly fell into it. The deep crystalline gaze took her in as if it were the warm cabin in the blizzard. Welcoming. His expression seemed to reflection her affection like a mirror river
"It’s been a beautiful stairway so far, hasn’t it?" she finally spoke up. "even if we traveled with uncharted maps." She added barely above a whisper.
He just nodded, smiling widely, and took her free hand. She wanted o much to keep within his gaze but knew her duties on the road and turned away just as he felt her hand raised to his lips. Softly. Back down again he covered it with his other hand and drifted to sleep. Whatever thought which had sprung into his mind was now put to ease.
Maelstrom felt a strong pressure which could have called Mother Nature’ good-hearted scream. The road had been monotonous. The only thing which kept her from feeling the intensity of boredom was the radio and the faint rhythmic sound of his breath. He’d been sleeping peacefully since early that morning, a good long sleep was well deserved after the long drive he pulled in. She really loathed the idea of having to wake him from such a sleep, but also figured a rest stop was in need. She followed the sign which read Redbrook 7 with her eyes, laughing at the idea of any sort of natural water being anywhere in this desert cactus haven. As the horizon grew into a dark line, then to the outline of a town she marveled at the trees here and there and guess perhaps there was a miracle brook running down from the impossibly distant mountains. As she pulled into the Chevron the lot seemed to grow miles. She’d reached the brink of her stamina as she parked the car and ran to the Port-a_can.
She emerged feeling much better, much lighter, and shook him awake gently. Immediately he roused, his groggy expression and mumbling questions comical. She took his hand and led him to the port-a-can and left him to his doings. He emerged very awake, moved the hair from his face with one deft movement of his hand and smiled at her.
"I really didn’t want to wake you but I couldn’t wait any longer." He said slowly as the walked through the door of the store.
"oh that’ all right" he said dismissively as they were assaulted with the scents of incense and Clorox.
The Pakistani man behind the counter gave them a suspicious look as if the idea of a road be-draggled couple struck a suspicious nerve. As they mused over drink Maelstrom caught the light sound of the last waltz playing over the speaker and laughed, taking his hands.
"Ever waltzed in a convenience store?" she asked, swinging him into a stumbling dance.
"can’t say as I have." He chuckled as they swept through the aisle.
They reached the sudden end and for a moment was at a stalemate as to what to do next. He braced one strong arm around her and let her bend until her head nearly touched the floor. Easy. Then with graceless effort she started her way up, knocking over a display of motor oil. Instantly a foreign cry assaulted them as the man flew around the counter. She picked up the only ruined bottle of oil, their drinks and folded a $20 into his hand, leaving him there with his foreign profanity. It took five minutes of dead silence for either of them to realize the humor in the event but they both came to it simultaneously. They laughed until he grew silently and before long he was back to sleep, still very tired.
She herself began to feel the sedation of fatigue but chose to ignore it. Her eyes dropped for merely a second but long enough still to wake to a fluttering melee of black feathers on the windshield. Vulture. She swerved slightly to rid the window of the bird but in doing such she once again woke him. "maybe we should stop somewhere for the night?" he suggested as he rubbed his eyes
"we’d have to pull a nighter in the car, there isn’t another place for miles. I may not know exactly where we’re going but I refuse to back track."
"then we shall.. or I could drive a little more" he offered
"don’t even speak it" she retorted, quickly pulling the car into a rest stop. with the same quickness she unbelted herself and placed her hands in her lap primly. Though darkness had just taken over, it had fallen quickly and the only light available was the eerie green of the dash clock. Green still could not take away that ethereal look to his features. Once again he caught her gaze, only this time she had an eternity to fall into that crystalline abyss. So many things ran through her mind as he fell, bodiless words of love and descriptive poetry, a yearning to run the tip of her fingers along his jawline in simple, artistic wonder. She took his hands and held them for a short time then became distracted by the sky. Caught in breathless awe, he tugged at his sleeve and pulled him outside. Up above lay the vast populate heavens. Twinkling lights glittered a sea which stretched in every direction. They settle atop the hood laying against the windshield, simply staring at the celestial depths. She took in a deep breath, couldn’t help but smile.
"must be you" Her whisper barely broke through the mysterious silence. HE paused for a moment before giving a perplexed "hmm".
"must be you who makes the night sky seem so much more beautiful."
"Now I don’t know about that" he laughed.
"the only 2 times I’ve ever seen a sky as beautiful as this were in your presence. Remember the time we were doing this exact same thing.. watching the sky, the stars from the Leonids shower fall."
HE nodded in remembrance "I saw one, made a wish too"
"and what wish was that?" she asked curiously
"if I told you then it wouldn’t come true. I’ll give you a hint, it’s going to come true very soon now." He told her as if his magic was lit within him. She knew his rare magic,, never did it cease to amaze her.
"the second time" she continued, her voice as low as a breeze"was on New year’s eve… it seems so long ago. Jut as the clock turned midnight I caught the vision of the pleaides and looked all the way up at all those stars and suddenly my chest started pounding. I;d never known such longing in all my life, or such concern. What was I to do but let those tears fall. Orion stared laughing at me for feeling a fool’s yearning, I think. All the same it was there."
He took her into a simply warm embrace. She kissed his cheek and sighed gentle relief.
" you never cease to amaze me." She finalized and fell asleep.
The next morning she woke in the passenger seat, aware that the road had turned dreadfully rough. "where are we?" she asked but really he had no need to. This was part of his magic, the part that no one knew or understood besides them.
"closer" he answered
"I thought we were going to somewhere in ca-"
"I’ve had a better idea.. I know you’ll like it. I know where the stairway to heaven is"
Her confusion was soon stolen away by the scenery, lit by the ever-dimming headlights. All around stood ghosten liveoaks, dangling spidery shadows on the moonlit dirt road. HE pulled into the wood and sat a moment before turning the ignition off.
"this is your magic" Maelstrom said as she opened the door. The outside looked like a typical wooded area but it felt like another world entirely. She knew it was no longer her beloved earth.
"no, this is our magic, it’s about to get better. "He led her to the beginnings of a path and stopped for a moment, as if listening, then tapped her shoulder, dashing away quickly through the trees.
"Tag you’re it" he called as he dove forward. She threw her head back and laughed lie a swift in the eve, dating through the trees in pursuit.
The moonlit tree trunks glowed as he whisked by them, following the sound of his lithe stride through the forest. Suddenly, Without warning she lost him. No ghosten image through the trees, nor the soft crackling of spent leaves underfoot. Nothing but silence.
"come out, my love" he called sweetly as she slowed her pace to a walk. All of her instincts told he to continue forward. Softly, the wind rustled the leaves above like a million tiny hands giving a hearty applause. For a moment she listened to a pair of screech owls calling to eachother form opposite sides of the forest but pulled herself out of the trance, onto the task at hand.
"comeout, my love, my saint" she crooned slyly. Before she could link the forest opened into a meadow. Flawless. The grass rolled like waves underneath the mysterious lunar light. In the center of the meadow sat what looked like an arbor. The walls were flooded with a thin twining vine of velvet leaves and trumpets of delicate, silver flowers. With childish curiosity shetouched one of the silver petals and it liquefied over her finger, holding a similarity to that of mercury. She quickly withdrew he fingers and watched with suprise as the flower reformed as if nothing had happened. She wished he could have seen this but she had no doubt he’d already know about the flowers, and the faint gold light which shone through the vines.
She searched for an inlet until one of her hand sank into the wall and led the rest of her. She opened her eyes, taking in a deep long breath of earthy, humid air, and was swept into a Tolkein-esque fantasy world. It was most certainly a chapel or some sort. The pews were made of carefully carved stone, little stone vines climbed up the sturdy legs and down again to the earthen floor. There was an open majesty to it all, the in ceiling, the vine walls, the visage of "the nameless saint" carved in driftwood over the altar. The altar itself was lit with two torches, which gave off a supernatural light when it mixed with the dappled light of Mother Luna. There perched on the podium he sat, looking especially ethereal, like a cross between an elven holyman and a seraph sitting cross-legged, smiling, his fingers ghosten white and twined together. His eyes reflected the dancing torchlight as his smile soften.
"our magic" he said. Her feeling of disbelief suddenly waned and she let to him, taped his leg before he could crawl down.
"you’re it!" she cried and ran out in warmhearted delight. She ran , her pace pounding steadily for what seemed lie miles through woods, then grasslands, laughing lightly before she was caught around the waist. Down she fell, pulling him with her.
"do I get a prize?" he mused as he rose, helping her up. She just smiled and kissed him amicably.
"maybe" He suddenly tuned way and waved his am over to his right. Deeply embedded into the fog of early morning, within the pulsing beat of the ocean tide, above the rich white sand which the grassland spilled into, was an uncharted stairway spiraling high into the grey sky.
"finally, we’ve found it" he said mildly, taking her hand slowly. She hesitated as he began toward the stairway.
[I shall follow you to the ends of any world] she wanted to say but she said nothing. Up the stairway lay the very place they were fated to be. She let him lead her to the fist step, then the second, as he hummed the ominously apt song under his breath. "stairway to heaven".
