Perfection

Tama couldn't believe the ruse her eyes had played in front of her. How could this be? She thought with a sense of despair. I thought things were different-

"Mr. Doro." Linda said, swooping in to safeguard her daughter against one of the most powerful people in all of Tay. "Hello."

"Hello, Linda." He said, nodding to her. "May I have a word?" The woman nodded her consent. "Oh, you can wait outside. It's just between the two of us." Doro said to Tama.

"But-"

The two adults' glare made Tama suddenly stop. The one from Doro snarled You dare oppose me? Linda's whispered fiercely, What are you thinking?!

"Tama. Outside. Now." Linda said. She didn't want to leave her mother with an untrustworthy snake like Doro, but she had no choice in the matter. If she stayed, she would make her and her mother look all the more suspicious. With a final wave to her mother, wondering if it would be the last, she looked at her quickly and then left the house, watching the door close in front of her, keeping her away. Never had she felt so distant from her mother. She felt like a lost child. With heavy feet, she slowly but surely moved away from the door, checking every now and then to see if anything happened.

A sudden crash and a yell sent Tama into a frenzy, swinging open the door and finding her mother on the floor, holding herself together.

"Mom!" Tama yelled.

"Get out!" both Doro and Linda shouted at the same time.

"Tama, go! Just go!" Linda cried out. The sound of a group of footsteps treading heavily faded in.

Doro ran to the open door and shouted out, "Seize her!" and pointed inside the house to Linda who Tama had realized was starting to bleed. Before she could make a move, Doro grabbed her arm with a grip that was stronger than Tama had expected because of his age. "Did you actually think" he said with venom in his voice, "that you and your whore of a mother would leave?" He spoke in a louder voice as Guards piled into the house. "Please, child! There is no such thing as The Beyond."

Tama struggled to get out of his grip.

"You're just like your father." he hissed.

She stared up into his soulless eyes.

"Stupid." he spat. "And useless."

At that, Tama cried out and kicked him in an unkind place and pushed him over as she ran out of the house. The Guards around her tried to snatch her up as Doro, writhing in pain, called out for every Guard to bring Tama into Custody where a fierce punishment awaited her.

*~*~*~*

Tama ran. She ran, and she ran, and she ran until her heart seemed to burst. She stopped for a while, only to see a familiar sign. It read,

The Field is Forbidden. Turn back or be subject to punishment.

Knowing that her favorite place in the world was only yards away, she took deep breaths and walked all the way up the hill. And there it was. The Field. Her Field. All of her pretty white tulips were opened to greet her; to smile at her. She fell, with some kind of peace, into the bed of flowers beneath her. She felt the soft petals curved by her ears, creating a sensation she had wished that could have gone on forever.

Something broke the silence. It was a shoe, stepping on a loose stone.

Immediately, Tama sat up, only to see Aria.

"You." Tama said in disgust. She tried to get up but Aria beat her to it, pushed her back down, and stood above her body. Tama tried to twist out of the position, but the girl above her knelt down and spoke very quietly.

"Tama. Why all the fuss?"

"You lied to me. You betrayed me and my mother. You used me for whatever purpose you had-"

"I am not the one who has used anybody, Tama! You have!" Aria's eyes started to tear. Tama managed to get into a sitting position before Aria grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently. "I loved you since the day I met you and you couldn't even look at me!" Aria took short, quick breaths and Tama was honestly frightened. "You only befriended me because no one else wanted you, Tama. You were such a spoiled little brat! The only reason you gained a soul was because of your Dad dying-"

Tama shouted at her, pushing against her grip. "How dare you talk about him. He's never done anything to hurt you-"

"Not true." Aria said, sniffing back another tear. She started to calm down, though she still had Tama's shoulders in her iron grip. "Not true." she repeated. "He created the only thing that had ever made me happy and at the same time take my only happiness away. He made you, Tama. That is how he hurt me. You were too busy loving him and your mother to pay any attention to me."

The realization dawned onto Tama.

"Aria."

For the first time in that cacophony of shouting and yelling, Aria looked into Tama's eyes. All of the girlish beauty Tama had fleetingly seen once had been erased completely now.

"Did you kill my father?"