Charmed

The wind was blowing violently. She could hear the soft sniffles coming from Nye, who was huddled beside her. Her own cheeks were lined with frozen tears. As she held tightly onto her twin sister, her big eyes gazed at the quietly fading figure of her father. Mother sat beside them. She wasn’t crying. Instead, she had no more tears left to shed. Oka reached out her hand to touch and to comfort her fragile heart. She felt that if she wasn’t careful, the woman in front of her would shatter into pieces the moment she made contact.
Narissa stood up. Then she bent down to kiss Oka one last time. Her warm lips instantly melted the ice on her cheeks. As Narissa walked off into the snow, Oka shed one last tear, and held onto Nye as the snow blew around viciously and darkness swallowed them.
*********
Oka woke with a start.
She blinked and looked around her. The sun was already shining brightly beyond the opening of the cave.
It must be past noon, she thought. The sound of birds was heard in the forest beyond the entrance of the cave. She sat up, and realized that Eryke’s bed was empty.
As she walked out, she realized that he had probably went for a walk so she started her search for food again. Most of the snow had gone and the earth was now visible. It’s much easier to find food that way.
When Oka reached the river, she was surprised to see Eryke there. The salmon had clearly started their journey upstream because in his hands were two plump red salmon. The boy stood there grinning, looking quite proud.
Oka was surprised to see him so happy. This was the first time he had smiled in her presence. She saw that he had brilliantly white teeth. His dimples made him look younger, more energetic. That smile of his out shone the deep emotional scars in his heart. Seeing his smile made Oka forget about all of her troubles.
“I thought I’d make dinner,” said Eryke and looked at her, clearly anxious for her reaction.
“Are you, okay?” Oka was surprised.
“Uh, yeah,” he mumbled. He lowered his head and his cheeks flooded with color. “I’m sorry if I was a bit, uh, rude earlier. I really appreciate what you’re doing for me and it doesn’t matter to me if you’re not... human.”
Oka was could help but smile. She walked up to him and touched his cheek.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
*********
The evening came and the two of them made a fire beside the river. The glow from the fire lit the clearing and reflected off the smooth surface of the water. Eryke taught Oka how to make delicious smoked salmon.
“You know,” said Oka, chewing on her fish, “Wylli eats things raw, and we almost never eat meat because it tastes terrible, raw, I mean.”
Eryke laughed.
“Then I guess you learned something today.” He took a chunk out of his salmon.
“You know, father used to cook smoked fish for us all the time,” he told her. “We used to it by the fire, father, Jay, Ronald, and me. But that was a long time ago.”
His face fell, and a shadow of the old, sad Eryke flickered across his face. Oka put her hand on his arm.
“Do you miss your family?” she asked anxiously.
Eryke sighed.
“Sort of,” he answered. “What’s left of it anyways. My mother died giving birth to me, I don’t even know who my real father is. The father that raised me was actually a hunter that saved me from a tiger when I was about 3 months old.”
Oka bowed her head.
“My father and mother abandoned me too,” she whispered. “And I hadn’t seen my sister ever since that night you…fell.”
“Your parents?” Eryke looked up at her. “They’re Wylli, right?”
“Not necessarily,” replied Oka. “He was a hunter as well and didn’t realize my mother was a wylla until 3 years after she gave birth to me and my sister. When he did, he, well, left us. My mother was emotionally damaged after that, and left shortly after my father did. Nye and I were very young then, and we had to depend on each other to survive since then. You see, you can’t tell the difference between a wylla and a human when they are babies. You hair starts turning silver on your third birthday and you skin starts to pale eventually.”
Eryke reached out with one arm and held Oka close to him.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “If there was something I could do…”
Oka rested her head on his shoulders and closed her eyes, leaving Eryke to think in peace.
*********
“Wake up!” said a voice, shook Oka lightly.
She opened her eyes to see Eryke all packed and ready looking.
“Wait, what’s going on?”she asked sleepily. “What are you doing?”
“Get up,” said Eryke. “I’ve already made up my mind. Let’s go.”
“Where exactly are we going?” Oka was still confused.
“To find your parents.” Was the answer.