Scales and Swords ✓

13: The Girl With Snakes For Hair

The world seemed to slow. Every second was an eternity. That split second of a moment reminded me of another, the moment I let my family go. When life seemed to slip through my fingers. When nothing I did, when nothing I said, thought and hoped for came true. When I felt despair course through my veins like poison. When I was paralyzed, stationed in place to only wish and never do.

The further the rickshaw went, the harder it was for me to breathe. And it was not due to the fact that every inch of my body ached. I let go, and as easy as it was that simple reflex weighed on me worse than pulling a giant baby in a rickshaw.

My feet were racing towards the rickshaw before I knew it. Once I began descent, there was no going back. I could feel the rock through my worn and torn shoes, they poked and punched the sole of my feet every time my feet smacked the earth. My knees were weak and wobbly. If I were standing, I wouldn't have stood for long before I crashed to the ground. My arms flailed about like loose strings, barely hanging onto my shoulders. I wouldn't have been surprised if they had fallen off. The pain was so suffocating that I was convinced that if my brain wasn't bleeding by then, then I was already dead.

I reached out to the rickshaw, screaming in pain, regret and determination. At least a meter separated it and me. No matter how much I pushed forward, the distance was barely closing. I knew that if I couldn't, no if I didn't stop the rickshaw, I couldn't go on living with myself knowing what I had done.

Heart banging against my ribcage like it was trying to fight its way out of my chest. Every breath took as much effort as every step and my head screaming at me in pain. I never wanted something so bad till that moment.

The rickshaw stopped mid descent. And so did I.

"Are you alright Mo?"

I felt air plunge into my lungs, like I had just broken through the surface of water, coming up for air after holding my breath for so long.

Esmeralda hovered over the rickshaw on her broom. "Can you go on?"

I couldn't move my arms. I couldn't move at all. It wasn't me. Esmerelda waited for my reply. The words spilled out before I could think it through. At that moment I didn't want to think. I was exhausted as it was, having to mull over anything at all would knock me out.

"I can," I said.

"Are you sure?" she asked. When I looked back at her again, her eyes widened slightly.

"I'm sure." I promised myself something then, if I didn't get this big little baby to his home, I wouldn't go home until I did.

My hands regained feeling. I grabbed hold of the rickshaw and again it began descent. This time I could control it. It moved at my pace. I didn't count the steps; I didn't think at all. The only thing running through my mind was, I needed to get him home.

~~~

Sometimes I wish pain could last longer. Not because I liked it, or because I wanted it, but because it was normal. Cuts and bruises disappear within minutes even seconds. Strains and aches don't last long enough for me to remember. But migraines were migraines and that I appreciated. Well maybe not always.

Rolling over in my makeshift plank bed, I couldn't sleep a wink with my head feeling like it was on the brink of destruction. Whatever the nurse mage gave me eased the little aches left, I just wished it worked on my head as well. In the midst of my mind's turmoil, I heard a voice, well two voices.

"How's your friend doing?" Came a familiar voice from beyond the thin curtain that separated me and the other knights: Lance.

"She's holding up. She's strong," Philip replied.