Broken - Stories From Gaia

Broken

 Alex held Melina; Melina's head resting in her lap, a hand to her face. She closed her eyes and with all of her might, she tried to push extra life into her friend, knowing that the attempt would be futile. Though she could encourage many things within another, life simply wasn't one of them.

"It is ok, my friend," Melina said through a weak voice. "I am not afraid, not anymore. So you should not be either. This is, after all, a natural part of life."

"But you are all I have left... What am I supposed to do? How can I go on without you?"

"You will live... you will survive... That is what you do. That is what you have always done. There must be others out there somewhere... people who will not fear us, who will not hate us. Find them and then truly live; live, and find happiness. Do that for me. Do that for all of the fallen."

Tears began to flow down Alex's face through her closed eyes.

"Please," Melina pleaded, "look at me. Promise me that you will honor me with my one, last request."

Alex opened her watering eyes - black elongated oval pupils, with striking emerald green irises, on pale green sclera - and stared into her friend's. A smile stretched across Melina's face as she said, "It is extraordinary; you are so truly special, you know. It never ceases to amaze me how you never change; how you look just as you did when we met, all those years ago. I feel in my heart that you must have some greater and essential role in this world... for this world. You must find out what that is and fulfill your true purpose."

Her breathing became slower as she struggled to maintain consciousness, never taking her eyes off of her friend. "Perhaps this has all been but a dream, and it is simply time for me to wake up..."

Her smile then became rigid as her eyes began to change; what was once an equally striking green - and full of life - now began to gloss. Her oval pupils grew wider, until eventually all that was once green and bright became black and foggy.

Alex wailed out in agony, holding tight to the shell of her last friend in this world.

***

She was kneeling at the foot of a dirt mound far from the ruins of her home; the grave of her friend. It was surrounded by dozens - possibly hundreds - of other mounds in varying states of settlement. She was weak beyond all measure, after dragging the body and digging the grave by herself. She worked for most of the day without a single break, pushing through her thirst, hunger, and exhaustion. The truth was that she had hoped to work herself to death, as she could not handle the thought of going on alone.

"I am sorry, Melina, but I do not believe that I can honor your last request. And to be honest, I feel that it was most unfair of you to put that on me. We all tried - many times, over many years - to leave this place and find a new home. How am I supposed to succeed on my own where we all failed together so many times before?

"I am afraid that I have lost my faith, my hope."

Alex stood up and looked around at the sea of graves, looking from one to another, remembering each and every one of her friends and comrades. She thought at first to the early days of her adopted nation; the people who took her in and showed her such compassion. The memory of the years of friendship and happiness filled her heart with such warmth and love that it overwhelmed her. Then that warmth turned to sorrow and anger, as visions of the invasion flooded in.

That was almost fifty years ago; or had it been longer? Did it even matter? The memories were too painful for her to willingly re-live, so she struggled to pull herself together to the best of her abilities. With one final look around, she said, "I am sorry my friends, but I must disappoint you all. I am simply not strong enough on my own to do anything more." With tears falling she turned around and headed back towards her broken home.