She grabs my hand and throws money down on the bar. 'Come on!'¯ she says, her smoky voice made thicker with excitement. Waving to the bartender, she runs to the door as I stumble behind her, handcuffed to her by her surprisingly strong grip. 'We'll miss it,'¯ she says, speeding up.
Once outside, she drags me across the parking lot, her long legs sprinting fluidly while my own struggle to keep up.
The night is cold and clear, with each star standing out brightly against the jetty sky. The waterfalls, which fall from the same cliff on which the bar is built, shine with the reflection of the Northern Lights. The aurora are so close that they seem to touch the falls, dipping into the water.
Even as I race to keep up with my mysterious companion, I cannot help but marvel at the aurora borealis. I moved to this chilly country only a month ago, and these startling natural wonders still amaze me. Rainbows seem lifeless when compared to their dazzle, and the stars' light seems grimy in when seen next to the northern lights.
So wrapped up am I in my admiration that I don't realize where we are headed until it is too late.
'Take a big breath,'¯ she says, laughing. I snap my head around to see what she means and nearly scream as she leaps over the cliff.
I try to pull away, but she holds me fast, and we plummet alongside the falls. The water sprays us, soaking our clothes with freezing water. Again I attempt to shout with terror and pain, but the shock has stopped my voice and tightened my chest so that I barely make a sound.
The woman turns to look at me, her white teeth gleaming in the starlight as she grins. ''You ain't seen nothing yet!''¯ she quotes, pulling on my hand again. Her ethereal looks which had been so attractive to me earlier'the bone-pale skin, the electric-blue eyes, the white-blond hair streaked with light pinks and blues'now seem freakish and alien. I hate her.
Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I try to pray, but my mind is numb with shock. I had heard that one's life passes before one's eyes in these situations, but instead just a terrible blankness overrides all thought.
'Look up!'¯ my tormentor commands, and as her hand, impossibly, begins to pull me upward, I venture a glance against my will. I gasp at the new astonishment and my eyes widen in awe and wonder.
We have landed among the aurora borealis and are riding the light, flying amongst its brilliant beams. Every color of the rainbow dances around us, caressing my frozen body with feathery softness.
The air is thin and freezing, a sharp wind blowing deep to my bones, and I begin to shiver. 'Cold?'¯ she asks, looking at me with concern. I nodded, and she begins kicking her feet. 'Then we'll go faster,'¯ she says, doing so. I imitate her motions, and soon we are zipping back and forth. Still holding hand, we speed across the lights.
'Try this,'¯ she says in a few moments, and she pulls me so that we dive toward the earth. As we near the ground, I draw in a nervous breath, but she flings us skyward again with a fingerbreadth to spare. Then she sets us spinning and we loop-de-loop, and soon I am laughing too as we play amongst the Northern Lights. The wind has dried our clothes and I immerse myself in the joy of this impossibility.
Eventually I notice that the aurora borealis is beginning to fade, and I look at her with disquiet. She looks back, her smile gone. 'Do you trust me?'¯ she asks.
I nod solemnly.
'Goodbye then,'¯ she says, and lets go of my hand.
Instantly, gravity seizes me and I fall like s tone. I barely have time to register panic before she catches up with me, her eyes dancing with mischief but sad. She leans forward and finds my mouth with hers, keeping the rest of her body out of my reach. She kisses me and I feel . . .
Imagine riding a lightning bolt.
Imagine being smothered with the scent of the night sky.
Imagine a thunderclap echoing in your soul.
Imagine drinking the wind.
Imagine seeing Heaven, and its perfection is such that your heart breaks.
I do not know how I land on the ground, for I do not become sensible to the world again until the sun has risen to the top of the sky. I do not know where she is, that beautiful creature of midnight and unexpected wonders who took me into her world and showed me the realm that dwells outside the ordinary. All I know is that I am back to my average life. I do not think that she will return ever again, to take me into the sky and into the light. All I can do is remember the Aurora and the way we flew, remember the chill of the air and the clear night.
Perhaps that will be enough.
