chapter fifteen
earlier in the evening Neteyam had forgotten everything past leaving the forest. Again for the second time this week I had to remind him gently that his family and him had come to our clan seeking Uturu. It took him a long while to get his memory back but as always it returned to him within a few hours or so.
now though it always comes back it is just another way for mother to try to I keep me here, home. I will of course miss the sea and my people. Fishing with my friends, morning duties, falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the crashing waves. Swimming for hours on end. I'll miss it all but I won't choose it over the person I'll never get a chance to be with again.
"Your choosing a cursed life here, Ao'nung!" She yelled, hissing towards me.
"I'm choosing the person I love, Mother." She wasn't gonna convince me otherwise so I don't understand why she will not leave it be.
"He forgets you nearly everyday, he gets two hours of sleep, wakes up thinking he's still dying and he's seeing things he shouldn't be able to see. You'll never be happy like that!"
"But don't you see, mother? I'm already happy like that!" Her face scrunched up, silence filling the air between us for a small second. "Seeing him open his eyes fills my heart that hasn't been full since the day his eyes didn't open. Even when he forgets me i remember him and that's enough for me! Being in his presence is enough for me. So if I have to take care of him like this for the rest of my life I will, 'cause now is the happiest I've ever been since his death and you not seeing that shows me that you only pay attention when it is for your need, for you."
My chest pumped up and down, the sounds of crashing waves and my uneven breathing. I could see the hurt and realization on mothers face. I know she meant well but she must understand that I'll choose him over anything. She needs to understand that, or we might be leaving on bad terms, no one wants that. I don't want that. She needs to come to her senses soon.
"I—I know it seems like I'm doing for this for me but—-you have to understand that I'm scared you'll be choosing a life that isn't good for you." Mother grabbed both my hands and tried her best to keep tears from trickling down her face. "I just wanna make sure you are choosing the best path for yourself. That is all." I smiled back to her, relief washing over me. "If you are truly certain than I will leave it be and support you from here on out?" We both took a deep breathe before I spoke.
"I choose him."
"Than congratulations my son. You are truly grown up." She cupped my face before kissing me on the cheek and leaving me alone to finish packing for when I leave the island. Leaving home.
•••
"Hello?" Neteyam's voice echoed through the tree. His face scrunched up in confusion, he doesn't remember a place like this. His eyes trailed the long trunk of the tree, it looked familiar to hundreds of trees in the forest.
"What are you saying, Jake?" Neteyam's ears perked up, it sounded like mom. "Mother?!" He ran farther into the tree, hundreds of his people watching something further into the tree. "You knew this would happen?" Neteyam pushed his way through everyone and his eyes widened when he saw his mother and father in the middle of spiraled tree.
Neteyam looked around frantically. He didn't understand why his parents looked different and why his grandmother looked far younger than she was? "I trusted you...I trusted you!" Neteyam didn't understand, what was happening?
