The stars were shining above us. Each dazzling star was a light that Adam and I danced under. The night was dressed in inky black to match my clothes. We swerved in and out of the trees to our own beat. Grass was the perfect dance floor. The softness of it cushioned our steps. Nature was all the music we needed. The chilling wind was our pipes, seedpods were our maracas, and the pecking of a bird was our drum. The leaves so high on the trees were swaying with us in the wind. This part of the world seemed meant for us, away from all the hardships of life.

How long could this last? A second, an hour, a lifetime? The crisp air held no answer for us. We just kept weaving back and forth in each other’s arms. Time was not our problem. Nor was the hate, envy or competition of the outside world. This moment was perfect, and could never be forgotten.

Adam and I were spinning around a rose bush; our feet off beat with nature’s orchestra, when I heard a crack of a gun and Adam went limp. Reality from the hateful world was rushing back to us. Confusion overcame me. I didn’t know what was happening.
Adam’s body fell into the rose bush with a sick-cracking noise. The thorns of hate lashed out at him putting deep cuts on his arm and legs. I could see the blood of innocence seep through his shirt and spill onto the thirsty ground to become food for the blood- thirsty plant. The dry reality of soil sucked up the blood and once again, hate pricked the innocent until it could stand no more.
I dived into the bush after Adam. The hateful thorns reached out to me also but I ignored their calling. My precious Adam was losing so much blood. The hate of the gun and bush broke him down into this vulnerable being. My silent tears mixed with his blood, or was that rose petals and thorns? Each thorn was some sort of hate in our world that slowly took over the innocent. I couldn’t even pick out the innocent from evil anymore. What has this world come to?
I could hear police sirens in the distance. They weren’t going to get here in enough time. My silent tears turned into agonizing sobs that came with the realization that I would lose Adam.
Sirens could be heard getting closer and closer to us. When finally a floodlight fell upon me I pulled myself apart from Adam. The ground was wet with my tears and Adam’s blood as I tried to release myself from the bush. I crushed a rose with my heel, punishing the bush for what it had done to Adam, when I heard a faint sound. I turned to face Adam and then I realized his pale lips were moving.

I fell back into the thorny roses to kneel at his side listening. I took both his trembling hands in mine, as he whispered, “ Remember me Alli and our midnight dance.” The thorns had taken a toll on his life, while the gun pushed him over. Then Adam left the horrible world, left me, and left an unfinished dance that could have lasted a lifetime.