Finding the three of us

2. To the beginning

Henna walked for quite a way before she stopped to take a break. Noticing that she was far enough, she blew the whistle for Chase to come back to her. She waited for a few minutes for Chase to arrive but decided to leave when there was no sign of him. He would catch up to them soon enough, at the pace that she was going. The separation from her baby weighted heavily on her mind and heart as she continued on.

"Did I really make the right choice to leave Sena? I should go back. No, there is no turning back now. I just need to go somewhere, anywhere, away from the pain. Away from everything. While she was still debating if she should continue or go back, she heard Chase bark. She stopped in her track to turn around excited to see him, but then she could hear the other noises following his bark. She didn't wait anymore as she ran with all her might.

Stumbling through the wet land, she tripped a few times over wet patches of moss and tree roots that bulged from the ground. As the sounds behind her grew louder, so did her beating heart. She knew that they were catching up. She followed her pack of dogs as they broke through the bushes onto a cliff overlooking the valley. She slowed down as she saw that she had nowhere else to go. The dogs whined and paced back and forth as Henna stared out into the space in front of her.

"So this is it. This is the answer that I get, for my prayer." She could only laugh bitterly at herself, her heart constricted in frustration. She walked towards the edge of the cliff after a few minutes of silence. The dogs panicked and started barking, pulling on her clothing so she wouldn’t go towards the danger. She commanded them to stop as she walked forward. This time, they stopped and watched nervously, pacing back and forth. As she neared the edge of the cliff, she peeked to see how far the drop would be. It would be a very, very deep and rocky fall. She took a deep and shaking breath in and let it out. Looking up at the gloomy sky, the rain softly landed on her eyelids and cheeks.

She closed her eyes and stretched out her arms as if to embrace all the pain and anger in the world. But mostly at herself. If she hadn't married Amitus and stolen a part of Mia's life away, would she have been happier? No, she would not blame anyone, it had been her decision to marry him. She would not regret her decision if this was her last moment on earth. She leaned forward as she felt her body become weightless. The last thing she heard was Amitus shouting, "Henna, stop!"

Henna jolted awake as her alarm rang, signaling that it was time to get ready for class. She sat up on her bed as she felt tears fall from her eyes.

"What type of dream was that? " I can't seem to remember, but it felt so sad," Henna whispered to herself. She looked around her room to see her roommate, Mia the social butterfly, still sound asleep even after her alarm rang. Henna got off of her bed as she stretched her tense body. She walked over to Mia’s side of the bed and shook her gently.

"Wake up, Mia, it's time for class," Henna called out to her, as she waited to see if Mia would get up. When she got no response from Mia, Henna rolled up her sleeve and said, "Okay, you asked for it."

Henna pulled the blanket off of her in one fluid movement and tickled Mia’s sides. She burst out laughing and rolling around on her bed, trying to get away from Henna.

"Okay, okay, I'm up. Stop. I can’t laugh anymore. You're killing me." Mia gasped for air as Henna stopped and set her fist firmly on her hips. Mia's hair was a tangled mess as it covered half of her face as she panted.

"I told you to get up, but you wouldn't. We're going to be late if you don't hurry, Miss Princess," Henna teased.

"Oh, please. We're not going to be late, and besides, we always make it on time. Even if we wake up later than usual. You worry too much." Mia brushed off her remark and got up, folded her blanket neatly back on her bed, then walked towards the bathroom. Mia turned on the water to wash her face and brush her teeth. Combing her hair and closing the door before relieving herself.

"You won't be saying that when Amitus rats you out to the principal. We've almost been late for class, one too many times. He's itching to find something to use against you. Now, don't take too long, I'll help gather your things and then get ready for class, too." Henna called from outside the door after gathering Mia's things and setting them on her desk. She turned towards her dresser to pick out her outfit when Mia hugged Henna from behind tightly. She hadn't even heard her come out of the bathroom, so it made Henna jump in surprise with a yelp.

"I can always count on you, sweetheart." Mia whispered into Henna's ear and kissed her cheek. Henna blushed deeply and pushed Mia’s face away from hers with two hands.

"Oh, stop it, Mia. Quit being so cringey and get changed," Henna scolded as she looked through her dresser and grabbed her clothes. She dressed quickly in the room close to her bed. She wore a long white sleeved blouse with a knitted green vest paired with a navy blue skirt, the colors of their uniform. Henna walked into the bathroom to comb her short black hair and finished her morning facial cleaning routine.

When she came back out, Mia was dressed in a short-sleeved white blouse and green vest, the same as Henna's, paired with flowing black silk pants. A teardrop earring hung from her small delicate ears with her long honey-brown locks brushed to one side. Her bag was slang over her shoulders as she looked up from her phone on the bed.

"Ready to go?" Mia said as she got up and walked to the door.

"Yeah, just got to grab my bags." Henna picked up her school bag and followed Mia to the door. Closing the door and locking it from outside with their dorm key.

"I can’t believe we only have 1 month left till we graduate from high school. Are you and Amitus really ready for marriage?" Henna asked as she walked side by side with Mia.

She blushed and answered with a shrug. Mia quickened her steps to get away from Henna. She had to speed up to catch Mia. They have been friends since middle school, when Henna transferred to their school as a scholarship student. The school that Henna enrolled in was a school for prestigious families to help their children learn to take over their families' business or be politically involved. Coming from a middle-class single-mother family, Henna worked extremely hard to enroll in their school to become someone her mother and father could be proud of.

Henna's father was a forest conservation worker. He dreamed of protecting wildlife and coexisting with nature. When she was young, her parents would take on expeditions to the jungles of the sss forest, safari in Africa, the deserts in Australia, the deep forests in Asia, to the mountains and forests in European countries. Life had been so perfect until that fateful day. Henna's father had taken an expedition to the deep parts of the sss forest to stop loggers from destroying the forest. He and his crew mates left and never returned. After many months of searching, all of their bodies were found, decomposed on the jungle floor. Signs of attack were seen on their corpses. Most likely, they were attacked by forest loggers and drug dealers. The death of her father weighed greatly on her and her mother.

Henna knew that her father would have wanted more for her than to drown in sorrow. She picked herself up and helped her mother emotionally and physically. She would spend many nights studying for school to get at the top of her class. She volunteered at many centers and helped her mother during the summers for their pastry store. It was hard without her father, but she stayed faithful to her goals and kept on living. After 2 years of hard work, she finally qualified to go to the school of her dreams. There, she encountered the two most important people in her life other than her mother. She had only been a middle school student at the time. Now in their last year of high school at the Burban Academy, her dreams were finally coming true.

When Henna caught up with Mia, she grabbed her hands to stop her. Mia paused in the hallway, looking around to see if there was anyone close by. With only the two of them there, she turned to look at Henna and said, "Do you think I would ever be ready for marriage?"