The rain poured down outside the window, pattering noisily against the roof, sheltering the room from any view of the world itself. All that existed was this room, small, cramped, warm. It was dark, but she couldn’t tell if it was the darkness of night or the dark of the raging storm. No light shone in from the window. A small candle burning in the corner provided the only illumination.

They were huddled together on the twin bed, strangers and lovers all rolled into one, stuck in this tiny haven until the storm were to pass. The sheets were long since dirty from their lovemaking, but neither of them seemed to care. An eternity in a single moment, that’s what this was. Life would resume, normal life, as soon as the rain stopped. But this was no ordinary rain; it was driving rain, thundering on in a rage, tearing from the clouds as though in desperate need of escape. It had been three days now, three days of flooding and despair. The universe that existed outside of the room was being ravaged piece by piece, and Mother Nature took no prisoners.

She felt his breath hot on her neck. He held her to him in his sleep, squeezing her tighter still as he dreamed. She wondered what he dreamed, wondered if it would matter when the rain stopped. Normal life, she thought. What was it? She couldn’t even remember anymore. Three days and she couldn’t recall where she had been, who she had been before. Before. The word seemed to take on a new meaning for her now. Before. Before him. Before this. Before.

Her back was pressed against his chest; they fitted to one another as perfectly as two bodies could. She felt in that one moment in time that they were two lost souls, that perhaps they were the only two who existed in this weary world. She thought of the Bible and Noah and the flood and secretly wished that this bed were their ark. They could float away and never look back, never having to return to Before.

She ran her hand along his arm, swirling and caressing his skin. Safe, she thought. I am safe. The heat of his flesh against hers kept her in a cocoon of contentment. She wondered if she loved him. She had never considered it. Love seemed such a banal term for their union; it seemed beneath them somehow. She rolled over in the bed to face him. He slept soundly, his eyelids twitching as he explored the land of illusions. His face was peaceful in slumber and she knew it would be burned in her memory for all time. She would never require a photograph of him or any such worldly thing. She reached her hand up and touched his cheek. He had not shaved in days and his skin was rough to the touch. She liked it. A lock of dark hair fell in his eyes but she made no attempt to brush it aside.

Her hand lay softly against his face; she realized she wanted him to be awake. Their time was so precious she could not fathom spending a single moment of it in sleep. When he was sleeping, she missed looking into his eyes. Green. An unworldly green with soft flecks of gold. They were like a forest in that single instant between summer and fall.

She glanced idly toward the window. It was opaque still with the tempest that flared outside. Outside. Another word she could not stand to fathom now. She wriggled in closer to him, shielding herself with his body, hiding herself from the world. Reflexively he adjusted in his sleep so that he held her even as she moved.

A chill ran through her despite the heat of him. A feeling of foreboding, of untold dread came over her. The storm would end and so would they. She would go back and suffer her life without him. She knew she would die a little bit every day from the moment they parted. The ark would not shelter them forever no matter how much she wished it.

She dozed then, drifting in and out of consciousness in the circle of his protection. She dreamed elusive visions that she could not quite grasp. She reached out to grab them and they would dance away. It was a restless respite. She awoke to find that the noise that had been constant for three days had stopped. The rain. The patter against the roof and windows. It was finished. She lifted her head and looked toward the window yet again. It was foggy now, but the rain was over. No, she thought. Not yet. Her heart filled with despair and her eyes with tears. His face was so peaceful, he would still be safe and happy as long as he slept. When he awoke, he would know their time was ending. But she didn’t want to be alone with the knowledge of it. She didn’t want him to remain in the dreamland he now occupied. She pressed her lips to his, her tears spilling over and streaming down her cheek. She tasted the salt of her own pain in the kiss.

He came to slowly, as though the journey back from wherever he had been was long. His eyes opened and he saw her. He was immediately stricken, knowing too quickly what the expression on her face meant. She kissed him again, urgently this time. He returned her desperation and their lips melted together in a silent plea. He wiped away her tears with his thumb as he kissed her, deepening the kiss more and more each second. She sobbed now, her body shaking. She wanted to squeeze her eyes shut to stop the flood of her anguish, but would not risk missing one single minute of looking at him. His eyes burned into her with a passion that was unrivaled on earth. They gazed at each other while they kissed, lips and tongues moving in harmony with each other, igniting fires that had slept as he had.

No matter how many tears she cried, he continued to wipe them away. Her arms went around him and their naked bodies pressed together as closely as they could while still occupying two different beings. She wanted to be one with him, would have shared the same body if she could.

She felt her own wetness, the hot burning between her legs. The ache she possessed for him was almost more than she could bear. His hands groped her skin, her everywhere, his need for her a palpable thing, a religion worth dying for. He worshipped her with his fingers, paid her homage with his lips. He kissed away her tears and when at last he entered her, her life became that one single breath, her existence summed up in a flash. Everything she was she saw in his eyes as he moved inside of her, filling her to her soul. Nothing and no one existed outside of their bed.

The bittersweetness of their union consumed her; somewhere in her mind she knew she would have to say goodbye and soon. But her mind had gone for now. All she knew was him and them together. She felt the sparks of pleasure flowing through her entire body. It was agonizing in its goodness, painful in its beauty. She wanted more of him; she wanted all of him. Clinging to his body, she danced with him this timeless ballet of limbs and lips and sweat. Her body erupted with an orgasm that shook her to the core, it moved through and through her in such a way she thought to never be the same again. He came inside her, his seed pouring forth into her womb.

They lay in a tangle of each other, moist with the heat of their union and laboring for every single breath. Neither was prepared for what would come next, the future, the real world, their lives. She wondered if she could go back to Before with just the memory of this, with just a vision in her head of the fleeting splendor she had once shared with him. She didn’t know, didn’t want to know. The thought of this being nothing more than memory caused her more grief than she had thought herself capable.

He kissed her head, stroked her hair, whispered sweet words into her ear. What he said to her she would never forget. She would carry it with her for the rest of her days, locked inside a tiny chamber of her heart saved only for him. The moonlight shone in the window through the now cloudless sky. Their time had come; the flood was past. She knew then that it was not the Before or even the after that would ever matter to her, but only what had existed in between.