The grass beneath her feet was thick and damp with the early morning dew as she walked along an invisible trail. From behind her she could hear the soft sounds of laughter, of kids doing what they did best – be young and carefree.

Slipping past the shadows she walked alone past thick tree trunks, past shrubs, past the echoes of a history within the foliage. Pausing, she stared out over the winking blue and silver of the lake before sighing and continuing.

She stopped to kick off her shoes. With an agile move she picked them off the ground and resumed her walk along the edge of the water. The feel of the cold water lapping at her toes was heavenly but she ignored it. She had much more important things to concern herself with.

Ignoring the rocks, the twigs, and other debris under her bare feet she moved toward an age old spot. A sanctuary, a sacred spot that she’d never revealed to anyone. Slipping past the thick group of trees, a hand automatically went out to push the branches aside she stepped into the cool, shadowy clearing and smiled.

“Hello.” She whispered to the stone statue that guarded her place. Moving forward she set her shoes at its base before reaching up to her neck and pulling a thin silver chain off. Her fingers closed around the rectangular bits of metal.

Dark eyes stared at the engravings; nails sharpened by use and hardened by time traced the digits. “Come home to me, my love. Come back to me, even if you only want these.”

The sudden sound of a crow crying out drew her gaze skyward for a moment before she turned back to the statue. Bare fingers, pale by lack of sunlight traced over the carved stone easily, familiarly as if to warm each crevice.

The stone revealed no secrets, no hint of life and yet each caress was freely, lovingly given. Soft as a whisper, gentle as the spring rain, as though she was tracing over a lovers flesh each stroke was filled with longing.

“Someday, I’ll touch you like this. Someday, there won’t be anything between us, no fabric, no distance, nothing but the heat that fills us. It’s been so long, there’s been such distance, such pain between us, and I have no way of healing the wounds. They don’t understand, my love. They don’t see that to be whole we need each other. How I wish I could make them understand, make them realize that by driving you away, they were killing both of us. Please, please come home.”

With a pain filled sigh she settled at the base of the statue, her eyes searching through the foliage, through the greenery for a life that she knew would not be there just yet. Pain, like a razor’s slice cut through her, drawing tears as one would draw poison from a wound but she refused to let them fall. Refused to give those who would imprison her more power.

The crunch of a heavy boot had her gasping and lunging to her feet. A moment later a long, dark shadow slid into the clearing.

“So, you ready to run yet?”

Laughing softly she raced to the figure standing eying her, a thick Cuban cigar hanging from his fingers. Wrapping herself around him she giggled, his arms wrapping around her. “I thought you’d never ask.”