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Yay! I really really like this clip; this is from my book entitled Eden, which takes place in the future, when half of the world is wilderness due to an epidemic that only about 20% of the world was prepared for-- the rich and the middle class-- it's been maybe two hundred years, and Effia, a tribal girl living in the wilderness is "found" by an anthropologist. She's taken to the city and has to adjust, but ends up going back in the end. I write a lot of climactic scenes, don't I? 4laugh

“Levi, I’m trapped,” she said, feeling his arms around her. A silent sob escaped her lips, and she pushed him away. “I’m stuck between a world that I love and a world that I belong in.” She turned around and looked up at him, tears ready to fall. Her lower lip trembled, and his heart fluttered. His mouth was dry as paper and it was all he could do not to wrap his arms around her. “I feel like I don’t belong here, but I don’t belong back there either. I’ve seen too many things her to ever go back to the way I used to be. Your people . . . they kill with malice and hatred. I’ve seen people die here for no reason other than doctors think they’re wasting room.” His breath caught in his throat. Shiloh—she knew about Shiloh then.

“You’re going back?” he asked, barely able to get the words out over the lump in his throat. She squeezed her eyes shut, a tear flowing from the corner of one. His heart fluttered with the tiny wings of hope.

“I have to, don’t you see? I’ve changed, but I miss the open spaces, the trees . . . the stars . . . and the wonderful freshness of the food. I’m being smothered in this city.” She gulped, opening her eyes again, barely daring to look at him. She didn’t want to see what she saw—pain, anguish, fear, sorrow. “There are so many things I’ve come to love here; the weak, the scientists, the sweet, fresh rain. I love all the libraries and theatres and . . . and I love the artwork that your people do.” She gnawed on her lower lip, her heart pounding. I love you too, Levi, she thought, though she dared not say it. It would only make things more difficult.

“And you have . . . a . . . someone they’ve paired you with, don’t you?” he asked, his voice hard. She looked away, thinking of Thanyu. He was the craftiest, strongest warrior in the village, and she was the prettiest, strongest female anyone could offer. They would make a good match, and be able to bear children that would survive. She thought of his bright, happy blue eyes, and how he was always thinking up new ways to catch food and harvest the crops.

Her wordlessness said it all to him. He knew, in that moment, that she truly loved him, no matter that they were about to part. A piece of her heart would stay with him for the rest of her life—she’d never be able to forget him, nor he her. She bit her lip so hard that she tasted blood. This world with its noisy nights and domesticated animals, and water so pure that she could drink gallons and not worry about being sick . . . this world was a part of her. She wouldn’t ever forget one lesson that she’d learned while she was here.

“I’m leaving tonight. Doctor Black has arranged that I might travel with him into the wilderness. He wants to view my village from afar.” She looked up into his stormy gray eyes and felt another tear slide down her cheek. He cupped her face with a hand and kissed the tear away. Immediately, she was holding onto him, tightly, unable to let go. His strong arms wrapped around her lean body, keeping her close. “I have to go now,” she murmured, burying her face in his chest. He took in a sharp breath, and held her shoulders in his bent arms, looking down into eyes greener than any leaves he had ever seen.

“Goodbye,” he whispered, bending over, without thought, and kissing her on the mouth. She was shocked beyond words, beyond movement, beyond anything. Only mates were allowed to kiss—he knew that; she’d told him many times—but this felt so right that she could only stand there, her hands curled in his hair, their kiss the most passionate thing she’d ever known. The choice had been so easy before that kiss. Now she wondered if she were making the right decision after all. Could she really go back to her life knowing that she’d left him behind? She tried to make herself break away, but instead, her arms wrapped around his neck and held him to her, tighter, as if afraid to let him go—as if he would disappear from her memory if she released.

They stood there, in the chill air, for what seemed to be an eternity and a moment all at once. Gradually, they released each other, the fire of passion still burning in each of their eyes. If Doctor Black hadn’t come along then, Effia didn’t know what she would have done. Probably, she would have done a foolish thing and stayed with him, never going back to her beloved plains and forests; would never have seen her father or Thanyu ever again.

But Doctor Black came, and the two young people cried silently as they parted, the sweet taste of love forever remembered on their lips.