A life of rules and constraints is tortuous. It kills us from inside. Yet rules are meant to be followed more so if you are the ruler. You are supposed to be an example and inspiration.
Syera Annabelle Florence the crowned princess of Silenus was t...
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"Boys are handsome and strong." "Boys don't cry." "Girls are beautiful and fragile." "Girls cry." . . . "Why were you defective?" "What did I do wrong?" "Why was I punished?" "I will make sure you will feel." . . . "Koa... My little boy. Lets see if you can feel fear."
Water. Pools.
They always reminded me of mom. They made me feel her. I may never feel any emotion. But I can always feel her. Especially inside the water. Her voice seemed to penetrate every wall and shield.
The water filled my nose and burned my nasal track. I could feel the air being sucked out of my lungs and water filling it slowly. I could feel the cold water. The winter breeze making the water chiller. Colder and more painful to be in. My mind kept telling me that someone was watching me. As I tried to swim up to the surface. It felt like I was being pulled back inside the pool.
A single familiar hand pulled me towards the bottom of the pool. I felt my mother. I felt her pull me towards her. She was the only one I could ever feel. Even after her death. She remained. She remained in the shower. She remained in the rain. She remained in the pools. She was there any where water was.
I don't fear water.
I didn't drown that day. I remember swimming up the surface and then out of the pool like just now.
But I also remember my mother's hysterical laughs. I remember her angry shrieks as she pulled me to the edge of the pool and pushed me inside again. How she held me head inside the water until I couldn't breathe.
And the words she kept repeating.
"Koa, my little boy... You will feel fear today."
She had kept me in there and had it not been for dad walking in on her. I would have been dead.
"Astarea?! What do you think you are doing?"
I heard mother gasp and leave me. I pushed myself up to the surface. Coughing, choking and spitting out the water that I had gulped.
"Enzo!! You are here?"
My mother ran up to my father and embraced him. But he stood there frozen. His eyes fixed on me. The he slowly removed mother's arms from around him and walked towards me.
He kneeled down in front of me. And lifted his hand to keep it on my wet hair.
"You have to live, Koa. You can't die. Do you know what your name means?"
I looked into his eyes. And shook my head in disapproval.
"Warrior. You are my little warrior. And you will fight through this life. Because that is what warriors do. The protect others and themselves."
