The Fall of A Man - 1. A Short Story

The plane touched down on time. It wasn't surprising given that I'd paid for it, 20 years of servitude for the opportunity to set foot in this, the land of traffic and taffy. This was my opportunity to finally take my life into my own hands, to do what I wanted, to be in control. Until this point I'd simply followed the course hardware had charted for me, taken the path presented, stepped in the spaces provided.

Form the time I was born until now fate was but a doctor and this life the prescription he provided me. The abuse, the loss, the pain, the suffering all part of his medication. But now was my time to break free. And boy was I going way, way off reservation.

The sun was bright and warm as I set foot on the tarmac for the short trip from the aircraft to the helicopter chartered to take me to my destination, the Ardent Royale hotel nestled in the heart of downtown, and avoid the traffic that at this time of day was so full of people in such a rush to get to wherever they were headed that they ended up moving at a snail's pace. Just yesterday I was one of them, thousands of miles and a world away.

The helicopter itself was quiet and quick as it ascended from the concrete lowlands and made its way into the concrete jungle. Everything here was bland, shades of grey and beige, of concrete and steel and glass. Everything but the Ardent Royale, resplendent in its full art deco glory.

To step into its lobby was to step back in time. It was filled with the ornate treasures that had made it a crown jewel upon its opening and which gave it a grandeur its newer neighbors couldn't replicate. It gave such an impression upon first entry that you expected to be elbow deep in the fashion of the period, serenaded by the notes from a piano and accosted by the commotion in the bar just off the lobby.

He was waiting for me as I entered my room, his voice as deep and rich as I remembered.

"I'd heard you'd broken free and would be in the city. I never thought it true until this very minute."

He was sitting in the chair accompanying the desk, his dark brown suit perfectly smooth against his frame, his hair belonging on someone twenty years his junior the way it was shaved on one side of his head, the rest swept to the side in an angular cut, long and just as chestnut as I remembered.

"You've saved me, more than once. I felt it only apt to try and repay you somehow."

He stood as I set my bag down, moved toward the center of the room as if he could defy gravity, made it appear as if he could float, and worst of all, made it look effortless. His skin was the color of sand, the perfect contrast against the coconut brown of his suit. Even his eyes fit him, perfect green orbs, as full of mystery and intrigue as they were all those years ago.

I returned his smile as I moved toward him, my arms finding their place around his waist. His smile melted into a mischievous grin as he returned the embrace, the electricity just as potent now as it was the first time our lips met, their caress foretelling events to come.

It wasn't long before our clothes were scattered all over the room, discarded with little care as the passion consumed us. We made love long past the sun setting, through the night, finally resting as the sun started to break on another day.

I enjoyed holding him as much as I did having him, and it was in his arms that I found myself drifting off as he scolded me for the time that had passed. "I hope you're here to stay" was the last thing he said before exhaustion took its toll.

I awoke some hours later to the soft thrum of water on glass, a rain cleansing the world outside this hotel room, the first in a number of years. He was getting dressed, sorting his clothes from mine as I sat up in bed. "I want to stay as much as you want me to but I promise you, it won't be twenty years before I'm back here, and next time will be to stay."

The look on his face was so full of sorrow and hope my heart couldn't help but resolve itself to his reply. "I hope so, I really hope so."

And with that he walked over, gave me one last sweet kiss and left, and I knew that this was my new fate, his heart my future.