IVY — Hive

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Silence. The courtroom is silent as people wait the verdict. My eyes stray for a second taking in the faces of the people who await my sentence anxiously. Familiar and unfamiliar faces among the throngs seated on the wooden chairs of the Supreme Court of Justice. But it is only for a while because my eyes find her again. Short red hair sitting relaxed atop her slender neckline. Lashes long and lush, I can see them from this distance still. Lips in her signature nude color, eyes downcast. Is she sad? Will she miss me? I silently pray that she looks at me, those emerald greens I fell in love with at first sight. She needs to look at me…

"This court hereby finds the accused, Mr. Dylan Jon-West, guilty of manslaughter and is sentenced to twenty years in prison..."

It is like an volcanic eruption the reaction that follows. I hear my mother’s loud cry first. I bet my father is consoling her but I cannot look. Not when I have to memorize the face of the woman who has haunted me. Why won’t she look at me?

"...he will also be placed on the anger counselling support by the state rehabilitation center for delinquents..."

Like her name, Ivy, she slipped into my blood like poison. Hard to detect, fast effect. When we bumped into each other at the town mall and she mistook me for my twin brother, I was certain I had seen my one true love. She held my arm and inquired what I was doing in town. I never got the chance to speak and she babbled on, lost in her world of euphoria. Her eyes crinkled at the sides when she looked up at me, pearly white teeth exposed to the sun. I was struck.

"What is up with you? One would think I was harassing you." She said

I could not say anything. I was dumbfounded. I had never felt like this before for anyone, much less someone I’d just met. Before I could make sense of it all, that smile disappeared when my brother appeared. She went from terrified to confused and finally to comprehension when my twin, Darius, spoke,

"Missed me?"

I watched this girl who had just ripped the world from under me walk away and run towards my brother. It was almost like I never existed. I watched as she pounded his chest with her tiny fists, he laughed and hugged her to him, kissing her forehead and for a minute, just one minute, I saw red. But she turned those eyes to me again and it felt like light penetrating through the red haze clouding my vision. The world was lost and only she remained. Pale skin, almost translucent, a beauty mark underneath her almond shaped eyes. I was lost. Lost in her…

"Sorry bro. I thought to let her find out the classic way." My brother’s voice drew me out of my thoughts. For the first time in a while, the face staring back at me did not look like mine. He was not my brother. He was just someone I knew and he had something I wanted. Something I really want…

"It’s okay. You should grow up though. She would have had my lips if you were any later."

They both laughed and tried as I might, her voice filtered into my ears like a sirens’ call. It was sweet, melodious and lulling. Almost like the song of a mermaid. I had to will myself to lift my eyes back to my brother. He was carefree. As always. His dark hair glistening from care products, sharp jawline and deep blue eyes like mine. We shared the same physical traits down to the tee. It was hard to tell us apart if we wore the same clothes but our personalities were so different. He was the typical playboy, the live on the edge kind of man. I am anything but…

Hours turned to days and days to weeks and weeks to months. I was biding my time waiting for when he would dump her as he did the others. My brother is not the type to stick to one woman. I will wait. Soon, he would move on to the next 'hot thang'.

Spending time like now with her was more than I could ask for. Just breathing the same air as her made me feel alive. Her red cashmere wrapped around her neck to block out the cold. Winter had rolled around and with it; the city was aglow with the spirit of Christmas. We sat on a bench at the amusement park waiting for my brother to come. He had asked me to go ahead as Alice, one of his many affairs, had barged in demanding his attention. I was more than happy to leave.

Ivy was always a sight when I saw her. Even now, wrapped from head to toe, she looked breath taking. Her eyes glimmered a bit when she saw me until she saw it was just me.

"Would it take long? He said he had a surprise for me." My interest piqued. Darius was not one to indulge in such frivolities as he called them.

"He’ll be here soon. Father wanted to speak with him on some business." I lied

She nodded. It was no secret that Darius, unlike me, was interested in the family business. He wanted to inherit it all and I was more than happy to let him have it. I had planned to live out the rest of my life by the sea working remote for my brother of course, but now, I want whatever Ivy wants. If she wants to stay in the city, I will. Where she goes, I follow. I just want to be where she is. She is where my heart beats.

He arrived one hour later in the flashiest limousine, a bouquet of blue roses and… a red box. My brain could not make sense of what was happening. It felt like a movie playing before me. Darius was proposing to the woman of my dreams. My ears rung and that red haze grew thicker by the minute until I blacked out…

When I came to, my brother was dead; I was in a hospital and Ivy…

"Where is she?" was my first question

"Who?" My mother asked heartbroken

"Ivy. Where is Ivy?"

"What nonsense!" My father boomed, "You bastard! You killed your own brother! And you ask for a woman?"

"I did not mean to… I truly did not mean to…" I was crying before I could tell, "Mom please. I really did not mean to. I just lost it."

My mother’s sobs grew louder, my father paced the room like a mad man and I… I just wanted Ivy.

Ten years has passed since my indictment. Ten years I paid for my grave sin and healed from scars gotten in prison as a 'pretty boy' among 'scum'. I have been receiving counselling too and released early for good behavior plus the persistence of my parents and good lawyers.

Ten years and she is still as breathtaking. Her hair is longer, her face fuller and body thicker. Two young girls with red hair walk with her on each side, hands linked together. She is smiling, her eyes crinkling as they do. I cannot breathe. As she walks passed me, oblivious to my presence, I feel my soul leave with her. Looks like I would be living the rest of my life alone after all.

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