ODE TO THE END: A BALLAD OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 4

NAOMI

When she finally arrived at her stop, Naomi exited the train and saw the  gray attire of the Warden Agents stationed at the transit. She could not resist the urge to scrutinize their uniforms, judging them based on the exactness of their emblem and epitaph measurements. Of course she rarely found the neatly trimmed guards lacking. In fact, the agent's acknowledgment of her arrival were the most pleasant parts of her day.

After she descended the stairs from the transit, Naomi simply boarded the bus, dozed through the long ride, and hopped off near the main road that led to her neighborhood. What awaited was a path that wound through the landscape until, upon entering a well-gardened stretch of road, Naomi saw the  entrance to her community.

When Naomi passed the gold colored signage and entered a large gate, she stepped into what most might have considered a paradise. The sidewalk she walked upon were wide, and they gave way to small, cozy manors that could be seen along roads of cobble. Each home was preceded by an acre of land, and every inch was tended by laborers paid in the prestige alone. Thanks to their tireless efforts, no plant remained unpruned for too long, but the same could not be said for the greenery outside the property line. 

Fertilizer was often applied to keep the lawns lush all year round. This meant that seeds seem to  burst like nature bombs. The plants that bloomed were then shaped by daily trim, but not every seed took root on claimed land. Unkempt growth filled the space between homes and the green had become so thick that shadows loomed beneath the neighborhood forest.  These shadows were so imposing that stories would crawl from the darkness. The Dark Wood was an easy name to remember and, if parents were to be believed, phantoms from far beyond their borders dwelled beneath those branches, ready to gobble up disobedient children.

Naomi heard these stories for years and heeded the warnings inherent to their narrative, at least for a time. That was long ago though, before the day she dove into the fabled darkness hoping that the phantoms would take her too. It was a desperate time, and her reasons may not have been entirely sound, but what she discovered behind the veil was not some magical demise, but a place of peace. This was years ago now, and, since then, Naomi had gained a familiarity with the thicket. Even as twilight took the sky, her vision obscured, Naomi stepped off the paved path and into the dark woods.

Indeed. Naomi did not go home upon entering her prestigious neighborhood. First, she would pay a visit to her secret space hidden beyond the forest.

Naomi walked her usual path until she reached a light at the end. From the darkness cast by the standing trees, the girl would enter a scene atop of a verdant hill. The grass along its slopes was tall and it danced to the songs of the breeze. Among those green straws stood a lone oak that grew atop three cresting hill. It too was an outcast, but such conditions gave the solitary tree the room to grow without restraint. The girl smiled a small smile at the sight, and she pressed her forehead against the old oak with an unspoken hope to follow its example. Alas, a wanting sigh spoke more to Naomi's faith than any amount of words.

Miles away, into the distance,  Naomi saw York's Divide, the gargantuan wall that spanned land and sea. It was within those walls that this city existed, the Shining City of York. Both were colored a slight hue of purple by the twilight, but the metropolitan glow made the scene a symbol of its namesake. Even now though, as the value of her homeland was laid bare, Naomi continued to peer into the encroaching night that crawled from a world beyond the ocean. Again, she wondered, but the grass soon made a disturbing noise.

What was that? An animal? Naomi fearfully thought.

The snapping of twigs and falling branches were familiar to her. The strange noise that stole her soul now was different. Rustling was the word, but this kind of rustling was not leaves rattling in the wind. Something was here.