BRUTUS

With night growing old, and glinting dawn yawning and verging to peek open her eyes, Gayla and her lover were still perched high above the city. Leaning against the altar to keep from falling over from weakness, she sobbed and shook. Her naked, blood-dirtied body was tied into a ball, arms wrapping shins, knees to breasts, matted hair hanging and concealing her countenance.

He just lay there, cooing, and satisfied:

“Goo goo. Gah gah.”

“What have I done!” she cried.

Mustering the strength, she untied. On trembling limbs she crawled to the edge of the open platform, stretched out her neck, and looked up past the stone canopy’s edge, into the firmament. The clouds were gone, and all the countless stars seemed brighter than before, but for one of them.

“Caelum, where are you?”

I’ve never been good at finding him up there without looking twice, but I know he’s the brightest star. He shines forth between the milky pillars, and there they are, the milky pillars, right up there. But there is only darkness where He once sat upon his throne.

“Caelum?”

Once more she batted her eyes and looked up. He still wasn’t there. The pillars still stood, but the throne between them was empty.

I must be dreaming. The ceremonial smoke I inhaled before coming up here has given me temporary madness. It must have.

Gayla sighed, took a few breaths, and rattled her head to come to her senses. No one but me is up here. It’s only me. I just need some rest. A cloud or dust must be covering Him up, up there. He is still sitting on his throne. He has to be. Caelum is still up there, watching over us. But he was still missing when she looked up again, and there were no clouds or dust.

She closed her eyes tightly and spun around. I’m alone up here. I am alone.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

He was still there, jerkily kicking his feet and clenched fists.

“Goo goo. Gah gah.”

“It can’t be true!” she swore as she reached down between her thighs to confirm her purity, but she was opened up, torn, bleeding, seeping his lust.

Gayla was unable to cry any more. She just sat there, staring at him with the emptiness of regret trying to claw out from her bowels. Regret, hatred, loss of piety, no longer pure. Cursed? She didn’t care. It was too late.

“I’m still so young. Now I’ve lost everything.”

“Curse you Caelum. Curse you!”

He jerkily kicked his feet and clenched fists.

“Goo goo. Gah gah.”

There was no way out. Whether or not she had given herself to Him, this was the answer to her prayers and sacrifice, or to the prayers and sacrifices of the priests, of men. Either way, the Lord of the Sky had now abandoned the night, and perhaps every night to come, whether it was folly or intentional abandonment. He was no longer on his throne, between the milky pillars. She was no longer a virgin.

“I’m only a girl! Curse you Caelum. Curse you!”

With unshaken resolve and strong knees, Gayla stood tall, and she was taller than most men. She walked over to him, cleared her throat, leaned over, and spat in his face.

“Bastard.”

 He jerkily kicked his feet and clenched fists.

She grabbed him by the ankles and began dragging him across the platform floor, tearing his naked back across the stone, leaving a trail of glistening blood.

“Gah! Gah!” he cried.

With little effort she tugged his body to the edge, so lithe but full of strength.

She let go and his feet dropped. She turned and looked down over the jagged cliffs and turbulent sea. The darkness combined with the distance concealed the vast waters, making them appear a bottomless void stretching past the horizon.

“I’m only a girl!”

Without hesitation she put a heel into him and sent his body spinning into the air, helplessly flailing and falling fast, into the abyss.

“Spread your wings!” she screamed.

“Gah! Gah!”

To no avail he jerkily kicked his feet and clenched fists.

And so Caelum’s body smashed into the cliffs and tumbled into the sea.