The Darkness Unveiled [DGM Wattyaward 2015 Winner]

The Tale of Maria Part 3

Summer turned to fall. The leaves of the forest turned orange and yellow, creating a natural fire around me.

Fall turned to winter. The leaves fell and became brown, soon drying on the dead grass.

Winter to spring. Buds began to peak and grow into the green life that once again caressed my island.

My love had not yet returned.

***

The days were spent by the window, watching the shore through the ever-changing trees. High tide. Low tide. High tide. Low tide.

I thought of all the things I would say to him. I would tell him of the sorrow I had faced and of the pain from constantly fighting away the Earl from my mind. I would tell him how much I had missed and longed for his company. Tears would fall from my face. The joy I would have would not be able to be contained.

I would wrap my arms tight around him and kiss him senseless. I would beg of him to tell me all he had done, and he would. Together, we would talk for hours. Life would seem almost normal. I hoped deeply for this to happen.

High tide. Low tide. High tide. Low tide.

***

On a warm, spring day, I had decided to leave the confines of my home and walk the shore, hoping desperately inside to see a boat sailing my way. My dream would not be realized.

The white sand hid my feet as I looked out to the horizon. Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

A flash of gold.

Excitement rose up in me and faded just as quickly as it had started. The bit of gold landed on my outstretched hand. Timcampy.

"Hello, my little friend." Grief could not describe the river of sorrow I felt. "You are the bearer of bad news I had hoped to never see."

With the golem riding in my shoulder, I ventured back to the cabin. It flew to the table and spat out an envelope in its mouth. My name was sprawled across the front of it and it was hastily sealed by the look. Taking the parchment in my hand, I carefully tore it open, giving way to the letter inside. Timcampy sat on my head as if he were eager to see my reaction. Unfolding it, I read aloud the neat text.

"My beloved,

"I never wished to write this, but I cannot return to you.

"There is a longing inside me that wishes to set your tortured soul free. To kill you. If I were ever to act upon that longing, I would surely be dead after taking your life.

"Stay where you are. There you shall be safe and there the Black Order will never find you. As long as I know you walk, I can continue living.

"You must not come looking for me. You must not write to me anything. No one is to know you exist. It pains me to think of you there alone, spending all your time lost in your own waiting.

"Please know it is not my choice. It is my nature that wishes to show you the mercy I should have shown you that fateful day. Deep inside, I wish I had destroyed you, but that wish would have come with the greatest consequence of them all.

"I would not have learned to trust, I would not have learned the good of an akuma, and I would not have learned to love you.