Be Mine...

Sometimes obsession, like a great love, lasts a lifetime...

Almost instantly, she knew that she loved him. The first moment she saw him, as he eased across the classroom to a seat not too far from her, an energy sparked between them for Marlene Stevens. Even though she did not know his name she knew that she was seeing her future husband...

So begins an obsessive love that will travel the roads of time more than thirty years until Marlene Stevens-- the 'Lover'-- and her 'Beloved' are together again in a fateful reunion...

'I loved this campus before I loved him, all of those sad and lonely days prior to my meeting him when we were both students here. The echo in the halls and ancient elevator enchanted me. I craved the adventure of discovering the many tunnels that ran beneath the campus connecting one building to another. My spirit would soar on the fourth floor where the art classes took place. For serenity I would hide in one of the piano practice rooms. All of my literature classes took place in large rooms lined with wide spans of paned windows looking out over the beauty of the woods that line the campus. I love this campus. I love him. Today is Valentine's Day. We are being given another chance...'--Marlene Stevens

'There were signs--warnings of the thing that was going to happen to me. I passed by them too quickly the way that a motorist speeds past traffic signals cautioning dangers ahead. Small alarms went off. I was too busy racing toward inevitable collision. There were signs that I should have been noticing warning about the thing that was going to happen to me. I ignored them.
On my stomach in the back of the van I crawl across the filthy metal flooring the best that I can with my arms and legs tied behind me, all four limbs fastened together at the small of my back so that the heels of my wingtips press hard against my buttocks...'--Professor Thom Manning

'Before I met Thom Manning I had a life. This thought lingers in me. Attending Saint Edwards was a mistake. I was aiming much higher, for the University of Chicago. That didn't happen. I was crushed when I was not accepted to the school of my choice. Saint Edwards was not my second choice. It was the school I finally managed to get into. Despite my interest in learning and scholarly ways I did not look god on paper I was told. Junior year of high school was a mess for me. It was the year that colleges looked at most intently, I learned later. That was the year I learned who my father was...'--Marlene Stevens

The Valentine's Day reunion Marlene Stevens has been planning for years is about to happen, no matter what she has to do to make it a reality...