KEEP BREATHING
Maryah
After everyone—mainly me— calmed down, and the rest of the kindrily had been updated, Nathan suggested we take Eightball for a walk. I eagerly agreed. I was in desperate need of fresh air.
The rain had stopped and it felt much warmer than the night before. We strolled along the cliffs talking endlessly until the sun slowly descended from the sky. Guilt had been suffocating me all day. I couldn’t keep it bottled up anymore. Nervously, I apologized about River. I rambled through excuses and details, and when I got to the part about almost puking when River kissed me, a grin spread across Nathan’s face.
“You felt nauseous when he kissed you?”
“Yes, I mean, I’d never kissed anyone before so maybe I—”
He put two fingers over my lips. “It’s who you kiss that bodes what you feel.”
“I don’t know,” I argued. “What if I’m just bad at it?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close to him, and tucked my hair behind my ear. My heart soared. I started trembling.
“Breathe,” he ordered gently.
I took a deep breath and shakily let it out.
“Again,” he whispered. His lips were less than an inch from mine.
My next breath was more calm and fluid.
“Keep breathing.”
I closed my eyes. Slowly, his breath synchronized with mine. Every time I inhaled, he exhaled, and every time I breathed out he would silently draw in my air. By the fourth or fifth cycle every cell in my body tingled. We were only breathing each other in, over and over, but I felt euphoric.
“Maryah.” His voice sounded like harp music.
I opened my eyes and met his gaze. His lips cut through the invisible cloud of energy floating between us as he smugly—but sweetly— smiled. Before I could return the smile, his warm lips closed over mine.
It felt like the Earth fell out from under us, like we were floating into the sky. With each caress of his lips I floated higher, a whirlwind of electricity swirling around us. He gently pulled back, and I let out a moan of pleasure. He kissed each of my eyelids so softly it felt like silk brushing against them.
“Are you nauseous?” he asked.
I opened my eyes. “No, but my whole body is weak and tingly.”
“Yes, I know. Your knees gave out sometime ago. I’ve been holding you up.”
I blushed and regained my footing. “That was incredible.”
“That is how a kiss is meant to be, and I assure you, you did exceedingly well.”
“Mmm,” I felt drunk. I craved more of his kisses. I glanced around to make sure Eightball hadn’t run off, but he was stalking a lizard nearby.
Nathan looked at the sky. “Bollocks.”
“What?” I asked, confused by his frustration.
“The irrational part of me hoped our first kiss would return your star to the sky.” He laughed. “Brainwashed by fairytales, I suppose.”
“The stars aren’t even out yet.”
“The stars are always shining. You can’t see them, but I do.”
His take on the world seemed so magical compared to mine. “All Elements have a star that represents them?”
“Yes, the older the soul, the brighter the star. If you could get close enough, you’d see every detail of a soul’s history in the light and energy of their star. It’s similar to how we see history and details in each other’s eyes. A star contains everything: every thought, feeling, action, and desire. It’s intense.”
“Wow.” I craned my neck and scanned the shades of pink and purple weaving between the clouds. “Every soul is a story shelved away in an infinite library in the sky.”
He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it. “You used to say things like that all the time.”
My hand tingled from his kiss. I couldn’t get enough of him, but I also had so many questions. “You said my star fell from the sky before I was born, and I still can’t see yours. Is that because I erased?”
He sighed. “You reset your soul. You’re operating on basic senses, unable to see the energy around you.”
“When we were in the other realm or wherever, before we came back here, wouldn’t I have told you I planned to erase?”
“It’s different there. Talking is a human function. Souls communicate in the Higher Realm, but through energy, not words. Plus, linear time is an Earthly concept. In the Higher Realm, decisions are made in what would feel like the blink of an eye here. You wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone.”
Tears formed as the new me—the ordinary, furthest thing from a superhero, oblivious person I was—despised the old me for what I had done. “How could I have done that to you? It’s so selfish.”
Nathan held my face in his hands. “You must have had a paramount reason. Although we don’t know what that reason is, I’m certain it was selfless , not selfish. That’s who you were, and who you still are. We need you to believe in yourself and have faith in the magic of this world.”
A rainbow had formed a bridge between Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock. I pointed to it. “Anything magical or mystical I should know about rainbows?”
“Yes.” His grin made me shiver with excitement. “Whomever you kiss beneath a rainbow will be yours, then, now, and eternally.”
Nathaniel, my soul mate, leaned down and kissed me for the second time—well, second kiss of this lifetime—and made me believe anything was possible.
