Chapter 2
My mouth went a mile a minute, words pouring out in a confused alphabet soup. Though by some miracle, Dusk understood what I was attempting to say through the babbling thoughts in my mind. I could see the distress rising in her eyes once more, and I stopped abruptly.
"Dusk," I appealed to her- my hands clutched in front of me as I almost fell to my knees. I knew that if she was to reject my proposition, that that would be end. For her, and for me. And rejection seemed to be exactly her plan as she turned her back on me and slowly trudged away.
Desperation, desolation and decimation. That is all I saw of my future. Dramatic, it may be but you can never underestimate the power of what a burning hatred buried deep within a whole society aimed towards only you can do to a person. I refused to let this happen, so I began slowly to fight. For the most selfish reasons I had to convince Dusk of how much I cared for her, and how the decision she was making by walking away was going to harm us both.
And so I began over, explaining to her first of all how much I loved her. How she was like a sister to me, and every word I spoke was the truth.
Acceptance- what I filled my words with, with the hope I would receive this simple gift. And once it came, I was not, as you may have imagined, happy. I began to hum a lullaby- my lullaby as it happened to be. About a human child, left in the flowers whilst her mother went gathering, and gone when she returned. Taken by the fae it seemed, yet nothing could be certain in what happened to her, and nothing could be certain in how I came to be here- to comfort me as I plannned and worried, and worried and planned. I explained to Dusk that we would be leaving, now, as we simply just couldn't wait. Not for them to clip her wings, and not for them to take her away and lock her up. She flew off, and I became increasingly worried- if anyone was to catch her, and in particular the other students as they would report her to the Elders without a second glance, and she would be punished. That was another issue in this twisted school, the fae's use of their wings was severely limited so as to prepare them for a life of servitude.
Slavery more like.
After gathering a few things I walked to Dusk's room carefully attempting to disguise myself from the other fae, afraid of taunting I would receive and more so that they would block and disallow my journey to the "Human-lover"'s room. But, as it happened I arrived relatively unscathed.
"Dusk ! DUSK !" She was lying there, on her bed as if on a torture rack- contorted with pain. She didn't react, not a flinch nor a flutter of the eyelids.
It is one thing to say your mind is racing, but it is totally another to have thoughts chasing each other- impossible possibilities disastrous in their number, and content- to be first across the finish line, the checkered flag waving at their victory. Thought cheating, speeding, and calculating an innumerable number of dirty tactics to employ against one another in an attempt to be victorious in that they were what had caused my darling Dusk to be lying there as though dead.
I sat on the floor, unwilling to crush my fail fae friend by sitting on her mattress, but I did hold her tiny hands in mine, willing her to wake. And as I sat I blocked all thought of harm that may have some to her, it was just not feasible for anything to have happened to her in the few minutes we parted, and only planner our escape...
The reason for Dusk's corpse-like behaviour was something I was only to discover much, much late. And it, it alone, would be the destruction of everything.
* * *
Eventually she sat up, sadness echoing within her, yet all I thought of it was her distress over her situation. I pulled her lightly to her feet to her feet where she then held onto me as tightly as she could. I could feel a dampness soaking through my shirt, and realised Dusk was crying. I was bewildered but I knew that now was not the time for contemplation, I just accepted it as the fact she was scared and wasn't sure how else to express herself. I disentangled myself from her arms before looking at her, and questioning her. She only shook her head in reply, before telling me with her odd little mix of eyebrow and hand motions "Let's go."
We carefully made our way down the back stairs- glittering purple, blue and silver filled the stairway with shining stars of gold here and there- solely used when the Ardas came to visit. Of course, you couldn't have royal feet walking upon common ground. I had to shield my weak human eyes from the light and Dusk lead me by the hand, and step by tiny step we went, trying to be as quiet as mice yet moving as fast as was possible in my blinded state. I knew, despite the fact I couldn't see that this was the safest option as the commoners stairs were always littered with bodies, and we would be spotted in an instant, where as these stairs were so rarely used that it was the obvious choice. The Ardas would be hiding in their private glorified rooms, much similar to this stairway in which I now stood, and of course they wouldn't fetch Dusk themselves. The Ardas for all their power are cowards, afraid of rebellion and conflict.
But, I knew when Dusk stopped in her tracks something was very, very wrong. I had to force myself over the temporary blindness and opened my eyes, putting my head on my forehead like a visor. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the brightness, but as it was everything still blurred in and out of focus. The sight I saw before me however was enough to turn anyone blind on instant. A line of fae, blue, green, and purple. Then, lurking behind them all a beautiful Amber figure shone, so similar to Dusk, yet so different...
Fear and horror exploded in a beautifully horrendous collision and sparks flew filling and igniting every inch of my body. It replaced me, froze me.
And they approached.
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