Beyond Eternity

DAY 2

A bright light woke the girl up, she opened her eyes and sat down.

“Morning already huh? I didn't notice that I dozed off.” She said as she stretched her arms.

As the girl left the watchtower through its actual front door, she walked by the path through the woods to return to the castle. it took her sometime to reach there but she managed, there she saw a figure leaving through the castle's front door, immediately realizing what the figure was, the girl hid behind the nearby well.

“Phew, that was close.” She said, “I almost forgot that I'm no longer the only person here, so much for my excitement yesterday.”

 Looking around her, she asked “Is he gone yet?”

For a few seconds, the only sounds that could be heard we're those of the nearby insects and birds, she then looked let out a sigh of relief.

“I see, thanks” she said as she sneakily left the well and searched for the boy.

The girl stopped in her tracks and hid behind a tree upon spotting the boy climbing another one in an attempt to take its fruit, the tree the boy was climbing had under it a small basket with a few fruits within it.

“It seems that he took that from the village” The girl thought.

The boy on the other hand, grabbed him a few apples. “There we go.” Said he.

he then let go of his apples in an attempt to have them shoot inside the basket, when only one out of four did, he let out an irritated grunt.

The girl witnessed the entire ordeal. “Too bad for you.” She thought, snickering to herself

There was a rustling in the nearby bushes that caught the attention of the two people, unlike the girl, the boy was startled and lost balance at the branch he was sitting on, there was an audible thud on the ground as the boy fell, the girl was trying to prevent her own laughter from leaving her mouth. Just then, out of the bushes left a small group of squirrels which scattered and went where they pleased.

“Ooow, my back.” Said he, looking around him, he was relieved for he found out that he had not fallen on the fruits, he let out a sigh and said to himself “I guess I'll head on back for now.”

He walked in the direction of what he thinks lead back to the castle, his pace was slower than usual and he rubbed his back on the way.

“That’s not where the castle is.” The girl thought to herself.

After a short moment of contemplating, the girl made her choice.

“Not there!” shouted she.

The boy who heard this got anxious, “Is somebody there?!” He cried, there was no response.

After a few seconds, the boy said “I could swear I heard someone's voice just now... Now that I think about it, isn't the way back over there? Huh, hearing things like this, perhaps I've really gone insane.” And snickered.

The girl, still behind the tree, thought to herself “Should I really have said that? I just risked my cover... Though it helped him didn't it? It was a good act right? Yeah, it must be.”

Still, it seems to me that he always says what he thinks, it’s like he doesn't know how to think silently, or maybe, he just longs to see other people so much and thinks nobody can hear him anyway, yeah, that's probably it.” She continued.

The boy, still holding the basket of fruits, was walking towards the castle, still confused and tried to contemplate on what had happened.

“So let's see, I was picking fruits, got frightened by a bunch of squirrels, fell on my back, walked the wrong way, heard a voice telling me so and then found the right way, did I hit my head? No, that can't be, otherwise, I'd be complaining on my pain there rather than my back. No, I'm sure that didn't happen. Then maybe being in isolation for some time makes me hear things?”

“Now that I think about it, that voice sounded so much like a girls', so perhaps I'm missing people from back home, my friends, my family. It didn’t sound like somebody familiar though.

“Wait a minute.” the boy continued. “What if that voice is the byproduct of my deprived mind? Let’s see, I never was engaged and the girls I’ve liked turned me down so quickly… Yeah, that’s probably it.”

The girl who was following close behind yet remained hidden muttered to herself “Does he realize how loud he’s speaking? I just said what I said and that’s how he interprets all that.”

As she continued moving from tree to tree, she thought “Then he must indeed be delusional, not to mention having a disgusting way of reasoning.”

It was midday when the boy returned to the castle, there, he sat by the balcony and ate from the basket, looking down, he noticed a garden filled with the same fruits he picked and more.

“If only I noticed sooner, I would’ve taken fruits from there instead. There was no point for me going all the way of hurting myself.” He thought.

“I suppose I should just gather fruits from there” he said as he was munching an apple.

The girl, who was at the garden itself, saw the look of defeat written on the boy’s face.

“Oh, it seems that he realized” thought she whilst peeking at him from behind a bush at the garden.

Just then, the boy said, feeling that he truly was alone, spoke as he leaned on the railing. “It appears I'll be staying here for a long time, perhaps I'll die here, now wouldn’t that be anticlimactic. I guess I'll just write a journal of my life here, who knows, when I'm gone, someone else could arrive and pick it up.” His voice being audible from where the girl was.

“It sounds like he’s acknowledging that this will be his grave and its only been his first day after washing up here too, his mentality must be weak” The girl thought.

“Wait, did I use that word right? Mentality I mean, I just read it from a book but it means the mind right? Let's just go with yeah.” She wondered to herself.

In a few moments, the boy left the balcony with his fruits.

“I guess I'll just leave him alone for now, I reek” thought the girl as she walked away from the scene, heading towards where a lake was. In a location that took more than a moment to walk to from where she was, it lay.

Upon arriving, the girl touched the water with her toes, feeling its cold. “Hello again, a fine afternoon we have today is it not?” She said as she was stared down water beneath her.

She looked to her side and said “Good, you're here.” She said as she looked to her side.

In a few moments, the girl took of her clothing, folded them up and said “Here, take them there.” pointing at a large rock by the lakeside.

 She waded by shallow parts of the lake and soon found herself completely submerged underwater from toe to shoulder. There she stood for a while, looking around her, staring blankly into the sky, she began to let her imagination get the better of her.

“It’s not like that boy would happen to be strolling around these parts right? After all, this isn't part of some cli·chéd plot from a book.” She thought to herself, as she began floating, her face towards the sky.

“It’s not like he'd just 'accidentally' waltz in, embarrass us both, apologize deeply after being beaten up by me, be forgiven and begin a romance from there on out.”

No no no, this isn't that kind of fantasy, sheesh, I've read too much of those kinds of books.”

“Those writers are really… Crude.  Although considering how I willingly read each book through the end, that makes me no different... What has become of me?” Those thoughts among many others kept floating within the girl’s head like how she is floating by the water. She stayed there for about an hour or so. Later she returned to where her clothes have been placed.

“Thank you again today.” She said.

The girl, after drying and clothing herself, walked back towards the castle and said “Tell me where 'he' is.” As she looked to her side. Retracing her steps, she reached the castle without a hitch.

She entered the castle by one of the back doors meant for its would-be servants and from there, walked towards the throne room through one of the would-be secret paths meant for those servants. From behind a small door, she peeked at the throne and saw the boy just sitting there, the fruit basket beside him.

“Thank you for your assistance.” Said the girl, careful not to reveal herself, looking beside herself, she then directed her eyes to the boy.

“And what might you be doing in here?” She said under her breath “You must be down and are thinking of how you are to live in complete isolation your entire life here.”

“Well, allow me to cheer you up a little, at least before you begin thinking of killing yourself.” She continued.

 With two loud claps, she frightened the boy who was up until that point, too preoccupied with his thoughts into alertness. From the echoes within the castle walls, he couldn't tell the source of the sound. Within the split of a second, the sound of flapping accompanied by the sudden unmistakable sound of something falling was heard by the boy, now nervous, he stood up from the throne and from there, looked around the room to find something that wasn't there before, a lute.

The boy said out loud “Is this for me? If so, I thank you, ghosts of the castle.” and took the lute.

As he returned to his seat at the throne, the girl said in a whispering tone, “If there were any ghosts in here, they wouldn’t appreciate you being around and calling them in a mocking tone.”

Looking into the distance, she said “Good job there.”

The boy began playing the lute and made up whatever sound he could from it. Returning to his seat, he entertained himself with it, his efforts only producing random cluttered noise.

“How disappointing.” Said the girl, “Well, I sort of expected this anyway.”

She left for a moment and returned with a lute of her own, knowing that her location couldn't be traced through sound what with the walls around them, she began strumming a tune, a slow, mellow and calming tune. The boy stopped his own attempts at playing and eagerly listened.

“Beautiful music” He said, all the while looking around him to find its source but to no avail.

Dusk had passed some time ago and now the sky is covered in darkness, with only small dots of light to fight against it. The boy, who had been listening up until this point felt drowsy and was soon asleep. Realizing this, the girl stopped playing her lute. She took a blanket from one of the servant rooms and went up to the boy, still sitting at the throne with his lute, eyes closed.

The girl, with a faint smile on her face, covered him with the blanket and whispered “Goodnight.”

Leaving the castle grounds, she felt mild sense of joy and excitement.

Later, the girl traversed the very same route she was used to and returned to the same watchtower she had been on the night before, staring once more at the same night sky, glad about that day, feeling free from the cyclical days and focusing on what could be next, she was asleep before she knew it.