Status: School just started, and I intend to keep up my 4.2 GPA from last year, and I'm still playing field hockey, so I'm sorry to say that updates will be "far and in between". I do have at least 6 or so more chapters already written for this, though. Fear not readers, fear not.
Dark Side of a Full Moon
Prologue: Life Through Death
He holds her hand long into the night. Watching. Listening. Afraid to move. Afraid to feel if her heart is still beating; lungs still breathing.
She squeezes his hand. Not a proper squeeze, just a nearly undetectable pressure on his fingertips, but it is enough. He will understand. It’s a goodbye, an I love you, a we will see each other again someday. He will rely on the last promise for the next ten years, until it is fulfilled.
Footsteps crunch across the sea of dead leaves. Hands pick leaves out of his hair; feminine hands, but strong and quick to close around a throat if need be. “She’s gone,” she says. He shakes his head, left arm holding her limp frame, right hand still clutching hers.
“I don’t believe that,” he says, his voice hoarse from hours of silent lamentation. He feels hollow. The fire that used to burn in him is extinguished.
“Where do we go now?” she quietly asks her brother. A cold wind blows through the trees. She hunches her shoulders against the chill. He doesn’t move.
“Sanctuary,” he says. “I know the way. I was there once during my period of aimless wanderings.”
“But you were blind then. Won’t it be difficult finding the way now that you can see?”
“I saw without sight. I can figure it out. Or I can always close my eyes.” He gingerly cradles her body against his chest and walks slowly forward.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
“Sanctuary.”
“Why don’t you wait until the morning? It’s too dark to see anything now,” she says.
“I was in the dark for three years. I am immune to it now.” He doesn’t turn around or stop his slow procession beneath the stars. She used to tell him stories about her life. He vows to remember her stories, to not forget anything about her. He promises to give her spirit life, even in death.
She squeezes his hand. Not a proper squeeze, just a nearly undetectable pressure on his fingertips, but it is enough. He will understand. It’s a goodbye, an I love you, a we will see each other again someday. He will rely on the last promise for the next ten years, until it is fulfilled.
Footsteps crunch across the sea of dead leaves. Hands pick leaves out of his hair; feminine hands, but strong and quick to close around a throat if need be. “She’s gone,” she says. He shakes his head, left arm holding her limp frame, right hand still clutching hers.
“I don’t believe that,” he says, his voice hoarse from hours of silent lamentation. He feels hollow. The fire that used to burn in him is extinguished.
“Where do we go now?” she quietly asks her brother. A cold wind blows through the trees. She hunches her shoulders against the chill. He doesn’t move.
“Sanctuary,” he says. “I know the way. I was there once during my period of aimless wanderings.”
“But you were blind then. Won’t it be difficult finding the way now that you can see?”
“I saw without sight. I can figure it out. Or I can always close my eyes.” He gingerly cradles her body against his chest and walks slowly forward.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
“Sanctuary.”
“Why don’t you wait until the morning? It’s too dark to see anything now,” she says.
“I was in the dark for three years. I am immune to it now.” He doesn’t turn around or stop his slow procession beneath the stars. She used to tell him stories about her life. He vows to remember her stories, to not forget anything about her. He promises to give her spirit life, even in death.
♠ ♠ ♠
This chapter's song is Prodigal by OneRepublic.