Saturday, August 8, 2015

Sacrifice

sacrifice
verb, transitive. To offer or kill as a religious sacrifice. To give up something important or valued for the sake of other considerations. Also a noun.

He pulled the edges of his coat collar tighter against the wind and addressed her, "Please listen to me, Flora. I love you. You mustn't leave. We can still have a future."

She stood, partially turned away, a few locks of her dark hair streaming on the wind that buffeted them both. He wished more than anything that he could have confronted her in daylight, so he could fill his senses with the sight of her face: her flawless brow, the faint blush of her cheeks, those full lips, and most of all, her sparkling grey eyes. This meeting was his only chance, and he had better make the most of it.

A gust dragged leaf husks past them on the pavement. Bare branches tossed above, shading the moon's glow when clouds didn't obscure it. The wind was getting stronger and colder. He would have to hurry if he wanted to change her mind.

"Please, speak to me, love. Can't we talk about this?"

"You have already sacrificed your career for me. Your family hates me. I won't join a family who will only blame me for ruining you."

He felt stunned. When had his mother and brother spoken to Flora? Why had they decided to interfere? He reached for her, but her arm inside the woolen cloak slipped out of his grasp.

"No!" she cried. "It's too late."

She turned and looked him full in the face then, and for an instant the moon shone brightly enough for him to see those dear, dear eyes. Their bright, loving glow was gone now. They looked dull--almost aged.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

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