Primal

Chapter Twenty

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Chapter Twenty

 

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. ~Barack Obama

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The birds were still circling above them, waiting for their tired bodies to fall and die so they could consume them as prey. The poor animals didn’t realize that they had no intention of dying anytime soon, their bodies may be weak but their minds were still strong. In fact, they were probably stronger than ever. They were on the final stretch of the mountain path, and he could see the ledge that the house would be on just before them. The roof came into view first, its pointed frame reaching up towards the sky as a beacon of hope to the two weary travelers. When they finally stepped foot on the lawn, her hand immediately grasped onto his. It was a small house, the wood worn from old age. There was probably only a single room inside, the small frame taller than it was wide. There was a pile of logs placed against the side, most likely the material that would feed the fireplace that the chimney stretching up belonged to. Smoke stretched up towards the sky now, a signal of warmth against the cold.

Aeron nudged her, forcing her to slowly walk up to the old door. He couldn’t help but urge Noor to reach forward and knock on the worn wood. He couldn’t think about how scared she most likely was or how meaningful this all was supposed to be, he just wanted to finish their ultimate goal. After the night before, he knew that there was no way he could stay with her. He had grown too attached, and she had become too important to him. One of them would get hurt, and he had no intention of the one aching being her. “Go on, do it.” He whispered, smiling at her encouragingly. “We traveled all this way, and we’re finally here. We can save you.” At his words she knocked, her thin knuckles rapping against the door. “Zander would be so proud of you. Yuna would be—“

With a sudden whoosh of air the door opened, and the light from outside shown into the frame to illuminate the dark shadows inside of the house.  Beady eyes gazed upon their tired forms, and a wrinkled face revealed itself from the darkness. The woman was small, her body wrapped in a thick blanket to try to block out some of the icy air. The silence fell upon them like a heavy sheet of ice, the tension only growing as she looked at them. “It isn’t a curse.” She said simply, swinging the door shut before it had even opened the entire span of its swing. Both of them stood there for a while, frozen in place as they stared at the wooden block ahead. Their plan had all failed, and the old woman had quite literally shut the door in their face to end their missions. They had left both Tilly and Zander behind for this, completely abandoning them in an unfamiliar town, and for what? Had all of their sacrifices only led to everything falling apart in four single words and the slam of a door? He wouldn’t accept it, but then Noor was staring at Aeron, large tears streaming down her already wet face. It was only the second time that she had looked at him with such a broken face, and this time he couldn’t just turn and crawl into a bed to avoid it. She expected something from him. She expected him to save the day like he always had up until that point.

“All I want is my freedom back, Aeron!” Noor sobbed, her eyes now bloodshot red. “Why can’t you let me give this up and go home? I miss my house, and my little candle on my desk that always blows out. I miss Zander, and even more I miss Yuna. I miss Yuna more than anything.” She turned away from him to walk away, but he forcefully stopped her from leaving the grassy plot. His fingers were digging into her arm, leaving bright red indents where they were pressing. “Let me go, Aeron. It’s over.” She pleaded, her voice full of regret. How could she be the one to leave him? He wouldn’t allow her to be the one in pain. He wouldn’t let her wander away off of the mountain alone, most likely to be torn apart by something unknown.

"I am giving you complete freedom to do exactly what I want." Aeron said, pointing at the house over her shoulder with his free hand. “Now, we traveled for what has felt like months, and you’re trying to turn around and go home? No, Noor. You’re going to storm back into that house and get what we came here for.” She stood there, watching him as if she didn’t understand the words pouring out of his mouth. He sighed, pushing past her and charging ahead. Aeron would have to save her; he would have to fix everything if she wouldn’t. He tried turning the door handle, but the old lady had it locked this time. Without a second thought, his shoulder hit the weak wood with all of the strength he could muster. It collapsed in, and soon he was in the same living room that he was in the middle of just minutes before. The woman had not moved from her chair, her wrinkled skin looking forward at him.

“Boy, I am the last of my kind, the last of the humans. And you dare break my door down?” She shakily said, her wavering finger pointing up at his face. All of her anger melted away a second later though, a jocular smile crossing her face. “Of course I knew you were going to do that.” She patted a chair that was next to her, gesturing him to sit down. “Your Noor will come inside in a few minutes. Don’t worry about it.”

“She isn’t my Noor.” He whispered, causing a chuckle to escape the laugh of the old woman. Just as she said, Noor walked through the door with a cautious demeanor. “It’s okay. She’s fine for now.” He said to her, waving her through the frame. She walked through hesitantly, joining them at their table.

“Now, listen to me children.” She said shakily. “I know now I don’t have much longer.” Her words should have been heavy, but her voice was light with her smile leaking through. “But what I said earlier was true. These dreams don’t show you a curse.” Aeron felt his heart drop, his eyes broadening. All they had been working for had been a lie.

“But, I don’t understand…” He started, but then her finger lifted to tell him to stop talking. How could she tell him to stop? She was avoiding the point, avoiding helping Noor. She was probably the one to curse her in the first place! She wasn’t an Original; she was a terrible witch, set out to destroy all things beautiful in the world. His fists balled up under the table, his nails digging into the palms of his hand in halfhearted efforts to distract his furious energy into something else.

“Let me finish. These aren’t visions of a curse. They’re visions of the future.” She explained, but it still made no sense to either of them.  All Aeron could comprehend was that their whole journey had been a lie. He got up while she was mid explanation, rushing out of the door and into the open sun.

Noor called after him, but he just kept moving. It was all a waste; everything they had done had been a waste. There was no way to reverse anything. She was going to die, and he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t save her. There were footsteps running after him, but he’d be able to outrun them. He started to sprint, his body beginning to blur as he moved down the mountain trail.

He couldn’t go back, but where else could he go? He could return to Tilly, but she would never let him live it down. If he returned to Noor he would only cause her more pain and suffering. He had dragged her along on this long quest for survival, all for nothing. The footsteps crunching on the rocky slope slowed down behind him, a single yell echoing through the air towards him. If he could cry, he would be crying then. If he could show any true emotion, then was the time to let everything out. Why couldn’t he let anything out?

His body kept moving automatically, his limbs acting on their own. Aeron’s feet carried him around the edge of the mountain, his body sprinting across the rolling hills until he was eventually back inside of the forest where he belonged. He never should have left the concealment of the trees; he never should have tried to save someone and be a good person. He wasn’t a good person; a helpful and beneficial nature wasn’t in his blood. He eventually came to a stop, his body collapsing onto the dirt. He was useless, stupid even. Nothing else could describe him. His fists pounded against the dirt repeatedly, the sounds of his angry screams going directly into the ground below him. He hit the ground until the skin on his fists broke open against the rocky soil, his red blood mixing in with the brown particles. His motions continued until his arms grew limp and his body fell down. All of his energy was gone, and now he was truly nothing.