Free Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance by Bryan W. Alaspa

they been kissing?
    “I don’t want this
night to end,” he whispered back.
    She smiled.  “I
know.  Me, neither, but it is getting late.”
    “What time is
it?”Jimmy asked.
    “I’m not sure,”
Sapphire said.  “I think it may be after midnight.”
    “Impossible.  How
can time have gone that fast?”
    Sapphire snuggled
closer to him.  “Time flies, as they say.  I know this is strange, Jimmy. Trust
me, I know.  I wish I could explain more.”
    Jimmy stepped
back, holding her shoulders.  “Nothing you’re saying makes any sense,
Sapphire.”
    She looked
frustrated.  She shook her head and then looked back up at him with pleading
eyes.  Jimmy wasn’t sure what to say.  So, he said the first thing that came to
his mind to keep her calm, which was completely contradictory to what he had
just said.
    “None of that
matter.  What matters is how you make me feel.  Sapphire. I have had a lot of
crushes on girls, but never had a girlfriend.  I’ve never even had the guts to
ask a girl out.  You’re the first.  You’re the first girl I’ve ever kissed. 
All that matters is us and when we can see each other again.”
    Sapphire looked
down again and shrugged.  “I don’t know right now, Jimmy.  I shouldn’t even be
here now, so how can I predict when we can see each other again?”
    Jimmy reached down
and put his finger under her chin, lifting her face up to his.  Her eyes
shimmered.  She looked like she was about to start crying.
    “I think I may be
falling in love with you, Sapphire,” Jimmy said.  “I’ve never said that to any
girl, either, but, as we’ve established here, nothing about this has made sense
so far.  I want you to know that.  And I think that when two people are in
love, they can cross any distance and solve any problem together.”
    Sapphire smiled. 
“You should be a writer, Jimmy.  You’re very good with words.”
    He felt himself
blush.  “Thanks.  I’d like to be a writer, actually.”
    She kissed his
lips gently.  “You’ll be a great one.  Come on.  Let’s walk back to the road.”
    They walked
hand-in-hand along the riverbank.  The smell of the river was not foul; in
fact, it had a strange, natural quality to it that Jimmy found rather
appealing.  They talked about school and life, but Jimmy did not ask any more
questions.  He decided that the time for questions would come later.  He had to
get back home and face his mother and his best friend first.  Then he had to
face the jocks at school on Monday.  Right now, just this moment and just them
together in that moment, was all that mattered.
    They reached the
road and Jimmy turned to face her.  She stood there, her arms folded in such a
way that she appeared to be trying to keep them attached to her shoulders.
    “Goodnight,” Jimmy
said.  “Look, can I give you my number or something?  I have to see you again.”
    She shook her head
slowly.  “I’ll come find you.  Don’t worry.  Somehow.”
    She moved quickly
into his arms again.  They kissed again and, once more, they were lost in it
for what seemed like an eternity.  When she pulled away, her eyes were
shimmering again, but still burning deep inside.
    “I love you, too,”
she said quietly, almost too softly for Jimmy to hear.
    Then she was
running away from him, disappearing back down the bank of the river.  Jimmy
reached out for her, but she was gone back the way they had come.  Jimmy ran
over to the bridge and looked over the side.  He gasped.  He saw only the
moonlight and stars shimmering in the slowly flowing river water.  There was no
sign of Sapphire.  He stood there with his mouth open, a shout frozen in his
throat, his eyes frantically searching the riverbank.
    He could see his
footprints in the muddy and strangely sandy ground, but as he looked more
closely, he realized that the second set of footprints was missing.  It was as
if Sapphire had been floating above the ground the entire time.
     

7
    When