Striking eyes bathe me in their gaze, frothing seas of sapphire with waves that capsize me beneath their depths. Frothing seas of sapphire surrounded by a mane of dark cinnamon cascading across Olympian features. Soft ringlets stroke my neck, reaching, winding, constricting. Her features are smooth as rose petals, perfumed with jasmine and vanilla and carved of the most pristine alabaster, a sculpture transcending the work of divine architects with undulating contours and arches that intertwine to birth a glorious idol of ivory dazzling amidst a temple of burnished quartz. Her courtyard overflows with milk and honey as I kneel in revelry before her spiraling pillars and behold as she speaks to me in the cadence of Venus, her lips dripping golden nectar. My siren speaks to me, licentious, hypnotic words that penetrate bone and weave carnal tapestries within.

I am transfixed.

Shapely claws begin their work, cleaving into my feeble flesh. As the cavern in my chest expands, she unearths my innermost prize, a firebrand of sinews and carnelian sap clutched between talons that have become soaked with a ferric ambrosia. I lie in languor as her gaze sweeps a landscape of pulsating tissues with predatory zeal. Her nails burrow into the yielding, snapping fibers, drawing me to her flame like a drunken moth. Her eyes demand authority as I crawl across polished marble towards her spellbinding silhouette, following the trail of blood that trickles from her fingertips. My siren flees me in the languid night, a porcelain gazelle bounding in full stride. Upon my sunken collarbone rest two threads of cinnamon hair encompassing my throat ever tightly, and upon my tongue rests her name, saccharine as honey, tainting my breath.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Braylon James is a sophomore at Ohio University with majors in English and Philosophy. His journey with creative writing began at the age of four after reading children's stories by A.A. Milne, and it has since become his foremost passion. For Braylon, there is no greater delight than creating an experience that will resonate with readers and allow them to develop a heightened adoration for literature. His catalog of literary influences includes friends, faculty, and established authors alike, and he aims to one day inspire those around him just the same. His writing is evocative of his background in classic fiction and philosophy, and he is prone to losing himself within the depths of a particularly enthralling metaphor.

Contents

Idolatry

ABOUT THE AUTHOR