Once Upon a Time Writing Contest: Once in a Lifetime

Once in a Lifetime

The sobs and moans of the seven echoed through his head like that of a cavalry charging off to war. Deafening, it drowned his thoughts with the exception of a solitary word: why? Heart broken and numb, still he could not cry.

Someone so perfect, lifeless in his arms. This could not be how it was meant to be. He heard the whisper, he brought his foggy gaze upward, but only a white beard stared back at him.
“Kiss her…love can overcome all obstacles.”
He glanced to the woman still cradled in his arms, limp and without life, so close yet so far away. He pushed strands of her raven hair away, clearing her porcelain face and lips as red as a summer strawberry. In his heart he knew she was the one he had waited for his entire life as he leaned in and softly kissed her lips. Nothing, he kissed her again, holding his lips to hers tasting for a single breath, but still nothing happened. He looked up as the sound of the forest joined in the mourning and he pulled her limp frame to his tightly as the tears began to fall. It was not to be, he would live his long life, knowing his one true love was lost to him…

...he could smell the aroma of the tea, his mouth watered with anticipation as he brought it to his lips. He opened his eyes, the warmth of the tea still in his throat, his concentration broken by a never forgotten laughter. He had lived many lifetimes but only once before did his heart beat full of life, a time long ago. He twisted in his chair and looked to each table in the small café to find the source of the woman’s laughter.
She had taken her seat only a few tables away, with a book in hand, her long raven hair fallen down around her shoulders. Her blue eyes met his and her strawberry lips formed a smile…