Mother's Song| A PRN Short Story

Seven

"Was I alone?"

He's asked me dozens of questions and all of them have been about me. Questions about my opinions and beliefs, questions about my experience, questions about my life, questions about my existence. It's the first question he's asked me about himself. I don't have the heart to lie to him, though I rather not talk about it at all, I bite the bullet. He's been rather cool about this encounter and my confession. I have to say, if anybody deserves to be abducted by aliens, it might be him.

I sigh, heavily, facing him dead on. "You were." Prince's expression falls blank but I can see his internal struggle as he blinks away the pain of the hard pill he has to swallow. "But you are loved by many..." I pick up his hand, cradling it in my palms as I assure him that though he may have been lonely, he was never truly alone. "In fact, I think you may have been loved by too many and you just really, really didn't want to let them down."

Prince remains silent.

"Besides," I say to him, "I can't even guarantee you that we're living the same universe. Sure, I'm in the past but this is also your present. My present might not be your future. Things could be completely different." Prince somberly nods as he remains distracted in his thoughts. "Please tell me how the hell you are so calm right now? I'd be shitting bricks, I'm tellin' you."

He cracks. Prince's blank exterior breaks as he lets out a genuine laugh. "I almost 'bout fainted fifteen minutes ago but... I don't know." He shrugs his shoulders. "It's outrageous in logic but it makes sense in spirit. You make sense to me."

"I'm that much like Auntie Char?"

"No, no, no. You're your own person... I just know that I've felt what it feels like to be around you before. Not your mom or your aunts, just you. I feel like I'm in one of those dreams."

"What usally happens in those dreams?"

"Depends. Sometimes you stare me in the eyes... I get tingles all over my body, a cold sweat like I have the flu... Then you just fade away with this look in your eyes... Like your soul is smiling at me." Prince's eyes wander back to my own. A soft glistening in his stare makes my heart flutter as he exhibits his explanation. Naturally, I return the enamored stare. "Like that," he says just above a whisper. My lips extend up toward my nose as I smile, scratching my eyebrow out of nervous habit. "Promise me you'll never leave if I make love to you..."

His request sounds more like a question. Innocence coats his words as he blatantly clings on to a sense of security that I won't leave him any time soon. I can't help but wonder if this request is specially for me or because of some issues I'd find tweets about on the therapist side of twitter, the side diagnosing the narcissistic baby daddies and ain't shit hoteps.

My heart drops. I swallow the lump in my throat as I am forced to verbalize the cold, hard truth that I've been trying not to face since waking up in this version of myself. "I don't think I have the power to do that," I confess to Prince.

"Promise you'll kiss me like you do."

Prince pauses before me as I gaze into the golden pools of his yearning soul. My silence may be misleading to some but with the vibrational frequency we're sharing, Prince catches my drift. Our agreement is sealed without a handshake. Our agreement is sealed with a kiss instead. He's gentle when he scoots closer to me, our knees bumping as Prince leans in to further seal the deal.

A strong hand of his sinks into the back of my neck as the other benignly cradles my head. His lips are softer than cotton candy but just as sweet. I'm relieved to learn his exaggerated kissing style is nothing more theatrics. Dominant enough make the initial move when it comes to slipping his tongue in first though considerate enough to wait for me to return the sensation before proceeding, he proves himself to be well endowed with experience in this department as I am pleasantly surprised. Breathing through my nose becomes second nature as our lip locking touches the 30 second mark.