Wounds of the Past

She was close to death. It was clear in the lines of her face and her gasping withering breath.

She did not want to die and part with her family. The signs of dead had begun to touch her five years ago and yet she clung to life a fruit to a tree.

Her charisma enabled her to stay alive and she lived not enjoying life. She wept for she suffered from the cruel fates of time. The ones above and below refused to let her slip into the void.

Although it pained her she yearned for the kiss of death that had eluded her for so many years. She yearned for rest for she had fallen into unrest.

One day she spoke to her only daughter, the fruit of her womb, with great concern.
"Life has not been unkind to me." she recounted to her child.

" I have two children, male and female, which were all i asked for. I have clung to life for the past five years, and i am ready to intertwine my fate with death." pausing to take a shallow breath, the old woman once again spoke,

" I cherished life in all of its glory, and all of its woe. In the more unfruitful times i prayed that our family could endure. I will pass into the void today i am certain. but not before adventuring into the life i am going to leave behind." The shrunken, decrepit maiden once again took a rasping breath before continuing on in a most downcast tone.

" Do not follow me my child, for only I may withstand what will happen to me alone. And if you were to interfere, my life and yours as well could be changed for the better or worse. But little one i say do not grieve me because i will always be here in all that is good and all that is pure. My memory shall remain untainted as long as you remain a virgin until you are wed. Do not sneak around with boys and stay with my customs for they may help you in life. Your time is yet to come little bit, and whilst i am in the vast gates of heaven, i shall watch over your soul and hope that you will not wander from the path of good."

After this the wizened old woman extended her hand and place her hand upon her daughter's forehead. In doing so she sealed her fate and became younger by 10 years. The only thing that told you she was dying was her warbled cough like the crow of a dying moose. She ventured out walking in the street while her daughter gazed upon her with curiosity.

As the small girl followed her mother, she saw that her mother was being whispered to by a mysteriously handsome youth. Th older woman nodded aand after turning to her daughter and cursing. She fell upon the stone sidewalk. the wind steadily carrying her voice said
" You have doomed yourself in following me for the man-boy you saw was death himself. You did yourself foolish in hoping to undo my death."

The voice faded as quick as it came but the thought was not lost in her head. The young seeming mother of two vanished into the form she was from, dust, leaving a thin rib, almost like a ghostly sneer, in the wake of her disappearance.

The old widowed woman was dead, and the girl was left alone to care for her younger brother, and her broken heart.