by M J Porter
Blue Diamond
One heart to give.
Two women to love.
Forced to choose between the two women he’s met whilst studying on a remote island, Andy makes the decision that feels ‘right’ to him, choosing the woman he knows he can’t live without, Rebecca. So that when Sapphire disappears in a flash of blinding blue light on a rain soaked evening, Andy spares little time and effort in searching for her, too busy trying to fulfil his hopes and dreams. Three years later, on his wedding day, he finds Sapphire’s parting gift to him and as his idyllic marriage turns to dust, he increasingly finds his thoughts returning to the mystery of Sapphire, for where could she have gone?
Blue Diamond is a 20000 word YA romantic short story, with a touch of the supernatural.
Copyright notice
Porter, M J
Blue Diamond: A YA Romantic Supernatural Short Story and extract from Unknown Part 1
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Preview of Unknown Part 1
Chapter One
He stood, his gazing switching between the two totally different, beautiful women before him. They were complete opposites; the one tall, blond, blue-eyed and fabulously well toned; the other, petite, dark and green eyed with rich brown hair cascading down her small back. He had not known and now realised that there was no way he should have known. They were so different, so unalike, how was he to know they were sisters?
When he looked at them individually, he could feel his heart pounding with desire and exhilaration. He’d met them both within days of each other, and his love for both had grown quickly, although guiltily. How could he love two women in this way? He knew it was wrong, had forced himself to decide between them and must now face the consequences of his decision. He must find the ability to speak, to say what needed to be said. He didn’t want to lose them both.
Sapphire let out a small sigh, and his attention shifted to her immediately. She was the tall, blond one; with the most piercing blue eyes, he had ever seen. It was almost as if she’d been named for her eyes, or that her eyes had grown into her name.
She was wearing a long denim skirt that reached as low as her feet and yet somehow accentuated her shapely legs. She also wore a light and airy blouse in a blue to match her eyes, and again, while it should have made her appear un-shapely and unattractive, it had the opposite effect.
All that he took in in a mere moment for he was transfixed by her eyes and the deep sadness he saw there. He had said nothing and yet somehow she knew. She didn’t speak, didn’t utter a word of denial; simply walked away. Her head held high and her beautiful hips sashaying, as they always did, as she left him. He wanted to cry out, to call her back, to change his mind.
He didn’t.
He’d made the correct decision, no matter how much it hurt right now, and irrespective of that when he blinked he was haunted by the anguished look in her beautiful blue eyes and he knew that he couldn’t live without her sister; the petite brunette in front of him. She was looking at him with some confusion and he assumed that her sister had said nothing about the situation she’d so instinctively grasped on their less than fortuitous meeting. He was overwhelmingly grateful to Sapphire; now there would be no awkward moments; no hesitations.
He reached out and took her small hand in both of his. Her face lit up with a blazing smile, and he bent slightly to plant a warm, gentle kiss on her lips. In mere moments, it became passionate, and they pulled away from each other only when they heard footsteps coming toward them along the dark and badly lit side-street.
He grinned at her, and she grinned back before stretching up on tiptoe to kiss his nose and his eyelids gently and softly. Then with her face still faintly pink from their passionate, interrupted kiss, and the footsteps of the passing stranger dying away, she reclaimed his lips, and they began where they’d left off. Yes, when he closed his eyes, he briefly saw Sapphire in his mind’s eyes, distracting him from his purpose. Soon, though, even her presence behind his eyelids faded away as he was consumed by the desire burning inside him, which was fuelled by her ardour.
The intense feelings that overwhelmed him were exhilarating. Before, he’d always held back, always aware that it was wrong to be in love with two women at the same time. Now he let his emotions run wild; his hands entangled in her long curly hair; his lips tracing hers and then moving lower to kiss her neck; her collarbone and then back to her lips as she sought him out again.
He ran his hand over her tight body and felt her gasp as his hands brushed her breast as they attempted innocently to find her waist. Instead, he repeated the action and felt his desire rising as she touched his neck, his chest and finally circled his waist with her hands. He needed to stop this before it became too intense; too difficult to stop; but he couldn’t. It was already too late. He needed her; all of her and he needed it now.
Bending down, he gently grabbed the top of her thighs and brought her up, close to his body. She was so light it was almost as if he lifted air. Only her reactions to his movements proved him wrong. She wrapped her legs around his waist tightly, and he was consumed with an intense need to have her here and now, where they were, practically in the middle of the street, the very thing he’d been attempting to stop by picking her up so that he could carry her home without breaking contact. He wanted to get away from here. To be somewhere more romantic, less exposed and far more intimate.
He let out a groan of suppressed frustration and her mouth came away from his to let out a cheeky giggle. It worked. It broke the moment, and he found himself more able to think clearly when their lips were apart. She nipped his nose with her teeth and wriggled in such a way in his arms that he knew she wanted to be put down. He obliged, his arms and legs shaking, not with the effort, but with his suppressed need.
Once he felt her hit the ground, she took his hand and began pulling him towards his temporary home. She obviously had the same wants as he did. He smiled in relief, and his excitement flared as he followed her alluring walk down the street to the crossroads where they would turn left and soon arrive at his home. He idly wondered if his room was tidy if he’d made the bed before he’d left in such a hurry, so short a space of time of ago, with his decision made after a day of agonising over it, and his resolve set. Only moments ago, and yet, so much had happened. He’d not expected it to end so well.
As they reached the crossroads, he glanced left and saw a flash of blue, as the heavens opened amidst a crash of thunder and what he assumed was a spark of lightning. The rain lashed at them both, and they ran doggedly through the rain to his front door. He had his key ready in his hand and they tumbled through the door in a wet, giggling embrace, both desperately trying to undress the other and both failing in their haste. He bent to kiss her nose, but she moved, and instead he kissed her shoulder. She then stretched to kiss his lips as he bent to reclaim her nose. They met, lips touching, halfway and all else was forgotten as they stumbled through the short hallway to the bedroom. He certainly gave no further thought to the flash of blue he’d seen.
> He woke later, his arms around the woman he loved, feeling a tranquillity that had always been missing. She slept, on her side, facing him and he traced the contours of her face and then hesitantly her back and breast where they lay uncovered by his blankets.
Her skin was darker than his own and far less covered in freckles. He admired it as he compared it to his own and as she let out a soft groan in her sleep, he felt his excitement rising again. Once she woke he would be able to reaffirm his desire for her or perhaps, he could wake her with it? After all, she was already aware of him as she moaned in response to his soft touches to her back, breast and stomach. The thought made him smile.
Then his eyes strayed from her beautiful face, and he found himself glancing at the most beautiful and the largest sapphire he’d ever seen. It lay in the hollow between her breast, and he wondered why he’d never noticed it before. It reminded him of something, something he’d seen recently.
And then he had it. As they’d walked passed the crossroads he’d seen a flash of the same colour. At the time he’d thought it was lightening. Now he wasn’t so sure. Immediately an image of Sapphire came to his mind, and his thoughts of pleasure and passion died instantly. He knew without knowing how that it had been something to do with her and he felt fear, not of discovery, rather fear for her. Something had happened to her, and he needed to know what it was. Now.
He gently disengaged himself from the woman he’d vowed to spend the rest of his life with, knowing in that moment, and despite his worries for her sister, that when he returned he would ask her to marry him, and hope that she agreed. He didn’t care that they’d known each other for only a few months. He’d made his decision, and he was happy with it – ecstatic with it!
Only a deeply profound fear was making him leave the warmth and joy of his bed with her now. He knew how much the sisters loved each other. They’d often talked of each other to him before he’d known. He was aware that tonight, out there, in the dark of the storm, the flash of blue lightning had not been blue lightening and that somehow, it concerned Sapphire.
Rebecca didn’t stir as he slipped into his discarded clothes and crept out the door. He hoped she’d sleep and would not wake to find him gone. It wouldn’t be an auspicious start to their new life together.
Outside the house, the wind whipped and moaned. He’d never known anywhere so windy in his entire life. It was either windy or raining or both. It was very rare that the sun shone and the air was still, although those days were a glory to behold and enjoy and did, almost, make up for the terrible weather the rest of the time.
He slipped into his coat (which for some reason he’d not been wearing earlier when he’d been caught out in the rain with Rebecca, a sign of just how spontaneous his rush from the house had been) and opted for his sturdy green Wellingtons in place of his slowly puddling white Nike trainers of earlier. He also grabbed the torch from the side table. To live somewhere without outside lights was a little strange to get used to, but by now he had, and the torch lived permanently by the front door when not in use.
As he opened the door quietly, he switched the torch on and then had to grab the door to stop the force of the wind knocking the door into the wall. There was already a significant dent in the wall from where it had happened so many times in the past, not only to him but also to previous tenants of the student flat.
As he stepped out onto the front step, he was assaulted with a freezing face full of cold, hard, fat raindrops. He pulled the hood of his jacket up and made sure the lapels of the jacket were up. He then slid his already freezing, rain-slicked hands into his pockets and hunched himself to face the onslaught of the weather. Why was he doing this, he thought to himself?
Pushing the thought aside he strode down the small front path with the broken and uneven paving slabs. Water sprayed up from the floor with every step, and he was pleased he’d put his Wellingtons on. If not, his feet would have been soaked, again, in mere moments.
The storm had turned the night black as pitch, and he swung the torch in front of him as he was going. Even so, if he’d not known where he was and where he was right now, he would have struggled in the deep blackness of the night to know in which direction he should be walking. The rain was so intense it hit him in the face and practically drowned him. He closed his lips firmly against the rain to stop himself swallowing it. The rain fell so heavily he doubted if he would have been able to see anything if he’d been driving his car, even with the windscreen wipers on full.
He reached the end of the short, uneven path without misfortune and stepped out directly onto the road that ran in front of the house that contained his student flat. The water was gurgling noisily as it wound its way to the drain, down the side of the road. He stepped out further to walk in the middle of the road and realised just how much rain had fallen in such a short time. Even here, there were a good few inches of standing water.
His boots squished as he trudged through the water back towards the crossroads. He was glad now that he’d only recently replaced his old worn boots; otherwise, he'd have wet toes for sure by now.
Once at the crossroads, he stopped, briefly, to catch his breath. He’d hurried through the rain; desperate to check what he’d seen wasn’t true while being equally desperate to get back to his warm bed and even more heated Rebecca. Now he felt out of breath and not a little confused by his actions.
Looking left he expected to the flash of blue lightning again, in the same place he’d seen it before, but he didn't. However, he thought he saw a faint blue glow, further away, near the car park for the tourists who visited the island. He couldn't be sure. The rain was streaming into his eyes, stinging them. He wanted to turn back; to dismiss it as a fragment of his imagination as he looked back, longingly towards the road that would lead him home and then he strode out, in the opposite direction towards the light he thought he’d seen, trusting his half observed instinct.
The road was wider here and the surface water shallower. Even so, he squelched as he walked, his Wellingtons making that plastic on water noise as he strode onwards. The rain tore into his face, and he could feel it dripping from his nose and almost into his mouth. The few drops that landed in his mouth tasted good, almost sweet. He slammed his mouth shut again. He didn't want there to be anything enjoyable about this hellish journey in the driving rain.
The car park came into rain-smeared view, and he briefly turned the torch off. He scanned the rows in front of him. It was deserted, no cars. Then he saw it, a faint blue glow in the far right-hand corner, as far away as possible from any of the residential houses lining the road. Leaving the torch off and attempting to walk quietly, he strode off in the direction of the faint glow. He didn’t take his eyes from the blue light, fearing it would disappear before he reached it.
Luckily it didn't, and he reached it in only a few moments to find Sapphire standing, back-lit by the faint blue glow. There was no other word for it; she was drenched from head to toe. So much water poured from her that it was almost as if she’d become a living conduit for the rain, easing its path to the ground so that it didn’t disintegrate on impact, the drops of rain so huge that those not benefiting from her intervention landed with an audible plop. Her long blonde hair was plastered to her face, her neck, her shoulders and her clothes simply stuck to her, revealing her beautiful curves in all their glory. He inhaled sharply. She was a beautiful woman.
It took him a mere moment to notice all this and then glance at her eyes. They were masked in shadow, and he couldn’t see their dazzling blue shine. That didn’t stop him from seeing the sadness they held. It was so vast that he felt he could have drowned in them. He opened his mouth to speak. She immediately stepped forward and placed a wet, frozen finger on his lips. Her own smiled a sweet, sad smile that matched her eyes. The smile seemed older than her; somehow, it contained too much pain to have been from her short life. It made him wonder, and his heart constricted.
No matter how much he knew he’d made the
right decision, seeing her like this, so distressed, tore at him and made him want to crush her in his arms and kiss away the pain. He made a move towards her, his instincts replacing his carefully worked out reasoning of the afternoon. She stepped back, taking her finger with her. Where it had been on his lips, his skin burnt, not from the heat of passion, rather from the cold of her frozen touch. He was sure he could feel blisters forming in the wake of her finger. It was an unpleasant feeling, mingling with the constant drip of the rain.
He looked at her quizzically, unsure now of her intentions towards him and how he should react.
She raised her hand, one finger extended again, as if she’d place it back on his lips. She didn't. He realised she was thinking, and stayed silent, waiting for her to speak.
The rain covered them in a downpour that was starting to leak down his back. He felt cold and suppressed a shiver. He would wait no matter the discomfort, and he would try to control his slowly growing anger at her bizarre behaviour. She’d evidently been waiting for him ever since he’d seen the flash. She’d been stood here, shivering and partially drowned in the storm while he’d shared his warm bed with her willing and sweet sister. He would wait. He owed her that much. Maybe it would appease his guilt at his actions if he stood here and suffered a little.
Minutes went by and still she stayed silent. She seemed to be struggling to know what to say. On a few occasions, she sucked in a breath and defiantly met his eyes. Every time she did, she quickly looked away and let the same breath out slowly. He wondered what she was finding so hard to say. Earlier she’d seemed to accept his decision, to be happy to walk away. Now he wasn’t so sure. He hoped she wasn’t about to make this even harder than it already was.
When she finally spoke he was unprepared and had to cast his mind quickly back to the here and now. He’d been daydreaming about her long, sinewy body in his bed, and he visibly shook himself to clear the image from his mind.
“Sorry, I didn't catch that”, he finally had to admit as he knew there’d been a sound, had seen her lips move even though he’d been paying no attention to what she’d said. Her sad smile remained on her face, though it dropped a little and he knew that he’d again hurt her feelings without meaning to. Man, he was bad at this. His ran his frozen hands through his drenched hair and concentrated on what she was saying to him.
Her voice was soft, barely audible above the loud raindrops drumming on his hood and onto the gravel floor.
“I said I’m glad you’ve made the right choice”.
The words were gentle, no irony, and no recriminations. They didn’t match the look in her now hooded eyes or her bedraggled, soaked, and trembling appearance. She smiled at him. It was a beautiful, heart-wrenching smile. A smile that said, I understand, I love you and goodbye without her even opening her mouth to speak again. He felt his heart stutter and then restart again. What had he done?
She dropped her hand to her side and momentarily the blue glow around her dimmed. He wondered about that. Wanted to ask but thought better of it.
She put her hand in her pocket and withdrew something large, a rock or something. It seemed to glow now the same dull blue, and it momentarily caused sparks to appear before his eyes, undoing all the work he’d done in adjusting his eyes to the black conditions around him. With his eyes temporarily unable to focus correctly, he felt her cold hand on his and a slight weight being placed in his right hand. Instinctively his hold on whatever it was tightened. He didn’t want to drop whatever it was. It was surely important to her, and he’d already hurt her unintentionally enough tonight. Whatever it froze his cold hand further, and the sharp edges dug painfully into his skin when he closed his hand around it.
She stepped closer, the cold emanating from her rain soaked body, brushing briefly against him as her cold lips whispered in his ear,
“Something to remember me by, I love you”, and then there was a blinding blue flash, and when his eyes finally cleared from the after burn, she was gone, and he was left holding a faintly blue glowing rock. He opened his hand in wonder. It was heavy, and it glowed the steady blue that had so recently illuminated her.
He looked up from his hand and then whirled quickly around. Where was Sapphire? He’d not heard her move, but she was gone. In his hand, the rock glowed brighter and then fainter, almost as if it had a heartbeat. He looked around in confusion and then spoke her name quietly. There was no response.
In the brief moment since the flash of light, the rain had finally stopped and the night felt strangely quiet and subdued after the noise of the battering storm. He realised he was beginning to feel angry to cover his confusion. He shouted her name, and it bounced back from the sleeping buildings around him. In his hand the rock continued to glow and then dim. He didn't understand any of this. What trick was she playing on him? Where on Earth had she gone?
With a cry of anger, he flung the stone away from him into the hedges and brambles delineating the car park and marched home, water pooling all around him even though the downpour had ceased. There was a deep silence apart from the gurgling of the drains.
Where had she gone, and more, why did he care? He had Rebecca. He had what he wanted. In the still of the night, he heard a cry that sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. It was primordial. He turned his torch back on and decided right there to forget everything that had happened since he’d left his warm bed and even more heated lover. He would have to notch what had just happened up to experience and forget the whole thing. Perhaps, after all, her acceptance of what he’d decided had not been as complete as he’d thought.
