At the Waterfall (The Soulmate Effect.)
Prologue
The Forest
Summer 1924
“I can’t do it,” her voice broke the silence like a fallen branch. “I can’t run away with you.”
His turn was sharp, confusion mirrored in his eyes, reflecting the green of my leaves. “Why?”
She trembled under the weight of their reality. “What if we’re caught? What about my Godmother? They’re not ready for us, Eadrick. Our love is too much for this world.”
Eadrick and Ifunayla had dared to dream of a future together, fleeing from a world that demanded they remain apart. However, their worlds were parallel lines, not meant to be crossed.
He was the heir to the richest family in the north. She, an orphaned black servant with no legacy but her courage. Her birth claimed her mother’s life, and her father remained a shadow she’d never known.
He pulled her close, their tears blending with the sound of the cascading water. “I love you so much,” she sobbed into his embrace, the weight of their impending separation breaking her. “I can’t bear the thought of you living a life I’m not part of. Or you with someone else, kissing her the way you kissed me, making love to her…” her voice faded into the rustling leaves. I felt her heartache as palpable as the chill of the night that settled over my canopy.
“Ifu… My Ifu,” he murmured, drawing back just enough to look into her eyes. Gently, he wiped her tears with his thumb, kissing the trails they left on her cheeks, and then her nose. Despite the agony tearing through her, his tender gesture coaxed a small smile from her. She always loved it when he did that. “I could kiss no one the way I kiss you. My kisses are whispers of my heart to yours. And making love… I could never make love to anyone but you because you’re the only one I’ll ever love. A life without you… without us…is unimaginable.” He drew her even closer, their bodies pressing together as if to meld their souls into one.
“If we forget, maybe it won’t hurt as much.” She whispered. “But know, even if my mind forgets, my heart will forever hold you.”
The surrounding air, filled with the scent of pine and earth, whispered memories of laughter and promises, now overshadowed by the pain of a goodbye neither was prepared for.
With a silent agreement, forged from a love too vast to be confined by memory, they prepared to cast the spell by my waterfall. Following her Godmother’s instructions, they stood at the water’s edge, their love and memories ready to be surrendered to the magic of their necklaces.
Water’s flow and moon’s glow.
Into these necklaces, we tuck our story.
Each memory of love, laughter, and tears.
Yet, let our souls forever entwine.
In this life and beyond, let our love shine.
Our memories fade, but our souls align.
Bound by a love that defies time.
With nothing left but their love, they took the leap into the water below, making love for the last time under the moonlight, fully embracing the magic.
Although they woke up as strangers the next day, their hearts would forever stay connected, entwined in the essence of my leaves and the whispers of the waterfall. I believed that their souls, intertwined with love, would find their way back to each other, seeking the happy ending they deserved.