A Small Respite

Darkness - Her Story

            The wind blew gently through the trees as she walked slowly along the moonlit path. A cold spring breeze tossed her hair aside. She gazed at her feet ignoring everything else around her. There was no path, no trees or wind. There were no stars in the sky only darkness, an endless abyss that seemed to build up deep inside of her pushing, forcing its way out.

What if we could go back in time?

            The thought bubbled up from the depths of the abyss and she started to cry. It took everything she had to hold the existing fragments of her shell together. She stared at the ground, looking but not seeing, feeling nothing but the darkness.

Do you wish to return?

            The girl heard a voice coming from the abyss. She did not jump in fright; she did not react as though anything had happened. The shell of a girl did not care to be asked such questions.

I can take you back, I know you want to go back.

            She has stopped crying and was listening. Not hearing the words the voice spoke but simply listening to the meaning behind such a cruel sentiment. The girl understood.

            A faint smell drifted through the wind thrown trees and surrounded the girl. Swirling, dancing and lifting her head towards the sky. She took in the sight of a million stars but the only one she wanted to see was already gone. Feet as heavy as stone filled sacs began to reluctantly move forwards. She knew where she needed to go. Back to that place, back to the past.

Do you trust me?

            The girl smiled slightly and nodded. The voice was as smooth as whipped cream and glided through her mind like warm silk. She could go back.

Walk little one and I will take you back. It’s almost time and you don’t want to miss the window.

            The girls’ feet became lighter; she swayed her whole being in an effort to move forward. Keep moving forward. She could see it now.

We are here.

            A thousand waves danced along the shore as the girl reached her arms to the stars. The roaring thundered through the abyss as if it were applauding her very existence.

We will go back, we will go back, we will go back now.

            The girl smiled.

“No, you will go back. You will go back where you came from and never return.” The girl spoke into the night.

            One step forward and they would go back, back to a past where he was. Back to a time before he was no more. The past where the darkness inside of the girl did not exist, where the voice had not commented such atrocities.

As I am you and you are I only your wishes can I abide.

            The girl gazed into the starry sky. The wind caressed her tear stained face and she smiled. She closed her eyes and gently thought.

We will go back to the past. The only way backwards is to fall into the abyss so my love we shall fall.

            The waves crashed against the rocks in a stampeding harmony as the girl sank into her darkness.

“Raeya…. Raeya!” A shout rang out from down the hallway, bouncing off the walls.

The girl heard her name being called but didn’t care to answer, she knew it would only cause her trouble.

“Raeya answer me or I’m going to leave without you!” The voice was further away now.

Answer him

“Shut up, shut up don’t tell me what to do!” Raeya whispers through clenched teeth.

“Wyren I’m here don’t leave without me!” The girl got up from her little desk and headed towards the door.

            The sun was shining down from a clear blue sky as the boy and the girl stepped outside. Their little cottage was nestled at the base of a grand mountain. A beautiful field of wildflowers stretched out before them as far as the eye could see while a dark and powerful forest rose up behind the cottage and into the mountainside.

“Why didn’t you answer me sooner?”

            Raeya stood in the sun and looked at the boy. Wyren was a few years older than her but seemed much more so with his mature and sometimes overbearing nature. He carried his lean, sculptured figure with grace normally reserved for nobles and those of high breeding. Long, thick wavy hair was loosely tied on the left side of this shoulder and locks of that wavy chocolate coloured hair framed his face. Raeya looked into that face and it still took her breathe away. Long eyelashes slowly flitted exposing emerald green eyes placed perfectly in his tanned skin. Her graze followed the curves of his high cheek bones and strong jaw to rest at the sight of his plump and slightly pouty lips. She sighed at the sight and could feel her brow knitting.

“I don’t want to go to the market.” Raeya looked away and off into the distance.

“Is there a reason?” Wyren gave a slight chuckle and started to close the distance between them.

“You know the reason Wyren.” Raeya braced herself for what was coming.

“Raeya, look at me please.” Wyren was now standing within a hair breath of her.

            Raeya gripped her arms tightly across her chest and stared straight forward into the chest of Wyren, she did not want to look into those eyes.

“Raeya… Let me speak to them” Wyren whispered, reaching out his hand.

            Wyren softly, gently slide his fingers down the side of Raeya’s face, being careful not to get caught in her curly hair. She looked up at him now and wondered exactly what he saw in her. Whereas Wyren was a noble beauty, Raeya figured herself for a mud covered peasant. Her short auburn hair never listened to her on a good day as it messily framed her baby like face. Dark brown eyes took in the beauty that was in front of her as she gripped her chest even tighter. Neither skinny nor plump she was a girl you would call average. Average in every respect except for one.

“Can you hear me” Wyren cupped his fingers on Raeya’s chin.

            Silence.

“How about now?” He leaned in and whispered.

            A hand shot out like a snake from the grass and adept fingers wrapped themselves around the girl’s throat. The force of the strike caused the boy and the girl to lose their balance and fall backwards onto the wildflowers. Raeya tried to bring her arms out from across her chest but they were pinned by the weight of Wyren’s body straddling her.

“You know I hate doing this.” Wyren gripped tighter, squeezing the last ounce of breath from her throat.

            Raeya struggled to breath, to see, darkness clouded her eyes, her throat burned with the desire to scream. No sound would come she was falling backwards, falling into the abyss.

We…. Are here.

A coolness enveloped Raeya as she drifted through the darkness of the abyss and slowly, she opened her eyes. Not surprisingly she could see nothing, not even her own hand in front of her face. She concentrated in the darkness to try to hear a sound, any noise which might ring out from around her. Nothing. She laid back and relaxed the tension which had built up around her, allowing her body to float weightlessly in a world she was all too familiar with.

You seem calm child.

            A voice sang through the darkness and seemed to pass through Raeya as if she were air. It was such a strange sensation to feel a voice rather than to hear it.

“…” Raeya forgot she could not speak in this world.

Project your thoughts child and I shall take them in.

            Raeya brought her hands together across her stomach and began to entwine and release her fingers over and over, she was calming herself.

I am not your child. She thought of the words and they formed into existence, slowly drifting out of her ethereal body.

            Somewhere in the darkness the voice laughed. It was similar to the morning song of a small bird perched on a dew covered branch. The bird-like laughter began to die and silence fell once again. Raeya relaxed herself into the darkness once more.

It frustrates me to no end that you feel no desire to follow human instinct. Where any one person in the living world would be asking irrelevant questions, you lay in the darkness as if it were your own bed.

            Raeya opened her eyes. She did not need to do so as they could not see, but she felt compelled to as she answered the voice in the abyss.

You would know. You are the one that made me this way. You are the one that took my humanity.

            The words did not drift from Raeya as they had before, they felt sharp like small razors scoring her skin. She would have liked her words to cut the voice instead but the thought was useless, it would not be affected by such trivial things.

If you wish to speak then do so now. Before the others return.

            The others. Where were the others?

I… who… The words would not come. She had to calm herself to form thoughts into substance but fear had gripped her body. Why did she only think of this now? In one instance there was only her and the voice, how did she forget about ‘them’?

Wyren, where is Wyren? Why did she ask such a stupid question? She knew he was in the world of light and she was in the abyss. Fear gripped her body even tighter as if wrapped up in a constricting blanket.

He is in the other world, child.

            Those spoken words were enough to calm Raeya and bring her back from the fear that was about to drown her. The voice never lied. A thought Raeya possessed with no actual proof but she knew the words to be true as anything. Wyren was in the light, but he was also with ‘them’.

I wish to return. Raeya took short, choppy breaths as she tried to will her body to move.

            An unimaginable pain seared through her body beginning at her feet and crawling up the length of her legs. She shot upright in the darkness and began to claw and her legs to relieve the pain, to do anything to make the pain stop. It was moving across her stomach and without stopping into her chest and reaching for her neck. She writhed in agony trying to scream but no sound would emerge. Raeya wished to be granted death, she would do anything to make the pain stop.        

As you wished, you shall return. But remember those words for there are things you will need to do on the other side.

            A warm breeze gently blew across the meadow of wildflowers. The light summer dress Raeya wore fluttered along with the wind and she slowly began to stir awake. She wondered why she could only feel the breeze across her body and not the sunrays on her face, and why she felt warm but not from the sun. As she opened her eyes Raeya stared straight into two pools of ethereal green and wondered for a brief moment if she was actually dead and in the world beyond. As soon as she thought that she realized she was curled up in Wyren’s lap as he leaned over her.

“You’re awake.” Wyren half whispered, still staring into her eyes.

“I…ahem…I am.” Raeya had to clear her throat before she could finish speaking.

            She searched the beautiful face that was so close to her own as he gently held her in his arms. His face showing no signs of emotional response to their situation. Although she was not yet familiar with this particular scene, Raeya could not feel anything herself except for a slight irritation for the beauty which was so close.

“Let me up Wyren, I want you to tell me what happened.” Raeya slowly sat up in Wyren’s lap while he supported her back, she went to swing her legs around to stand up but he stopped her by placing his hand on her knee.

“Do you remember anything?” Wyren had leaned over slightly to be able to continue to look into Raeya’s eyes.

            Raeya could never get a straight answer out of this boy. She would ask him questions and he would always choose to ignore them. She knew that he chose to ignore her because once she had asked him something similar in the past and he answered with ‘I don’t wish to say’. Everything about him was a secret, and yet she somehow knew that she was everything to him.

“Just like last time I don’t remember anything. How long was I asleep? The sun did not seem to move much so I guess it was only a few minutes.” Raeya was rambling, she just wanted to get up and leave.

“It was only a few minutes, you woke up very quickly this time.” Wyren spoke softly to her, never drawing his gaze from her face. She could only endure keeping eye contact with him for a small amount of time before it became unbearable. As that thought passed she realized he had begun tracing circles on her back where he was supporting her, his other hand squeezing her knee as if trying to bring her closer to him.

“Wyren…” Raeya began to fidget, she wanted to get out of his lap.

“They spoke to me this time.” Wyren’s gaze finally broke.

            It felt as if someone had punched Raeya with all their might. She could not catch her breath which caused her to fly into a panic, she began to struggle to get out of Wyren’s embrace as quickly as possible. He would not let her move. As she turned to get up he pulled her back into his lap and wrapped his hands around her stomach, pinning her back against himself. Raeya could feel her face become damp as she started to cry. She could not take it anymore, she had had enough.

“Raeya, please. Don’t cry.” Wyren whispered softly into her ear. He was holding her so tightly.

            The tears were starting to subside, she was angry again at her reactions. She could not help herself though, this was a first. Not only did Wyren actually tell her something, never in the past had the others spoken.

“Raeya it’s time to go.” Wyren pulled back from his hold on her and began to stand. Raeya had no time to process the sudden change and before she knew what was happening he was already standing over her.

“Wait, wh- what? Finish what you were going to tell me!” Raeya was annoyed.

“I have nothing more to say, we need to get going before it’s too late.” Wyren bent down and unceremoniously picked her up from underneath her arms. She did not even care, she just wanted answers.

“Wyren! This has never happened before! Please, I am begging you just tell me!” Raeya swore she would not cry.

            The beautiful boy gazed at her standing in front of him with a ferocity that could stop her heart. She could see him shakily gather his breath before releasing it as a long-winded sigh. She watched as the lines of his face went from passive indifference to something she could not even begin to describe.

“There is no need for me to tell you anything, you are but a vessel which has been entrusted to me.”