Where The Earth Meets The Sky

Chapter 12- Calix's POV

  I slip away from mama, heading to my room. It’s a place where it’s quiet and I can think without having to deal with anyone but myself. It’s so very hard to be optimistic in my family. We have practiced being pessimistic for so long, that we can’t even hope for any good to come to us. The thought shakes me to the core, and my skin crawls. We are made of so much more, and I know there is hope in each of us, I just have to find a way to kindle the hope and make it burn.

  There is a soft knock on my door, and Bruin walks in. I stare at his gaunt face, cringing at the dissatisfied look that is plastered over his features.

  “I’m so tired,” He whines, coming to sit next to me.

  I wrap my arm around him, rubbing his arm with my hand.

  “You can lay down,” I whisper against his hair.

  “Will you sing to me?” He asks, his eyes wide with anticipation. The truth is I haven’t sang in years, and his request strikes me as odd.

  “I can try,” I say, helping him slip under the covers.

  I clear my throat, feeling my heartbeat pick up its pace in my chest.

  I begin to sing, my voice hoarse at first, but gradually it begins to soften and warm, filling the small room with a new sound.

  The words of the lullaby I have chosen feel like honey on my tongue, as the sweet words leave my mouth.

  In the morning sun you wait

  Sitting there with your unchanging fate

  You whisper words of a sweet little child.

  You make everyone else seem wild

  And maybe they are

  Both here and far

  Stay sweet my child

  Stay here with me

  Warm and sweet

   It’s a wondrous feat.

  Bruin’s eyes had drifted closed a quarter of the way through the lullaby and I smiled. I used to sing the lullaby to him every night to ease the aching tension that rested on all of our shoulders. And now, seeing his peaceful face, I wonder why I ever stopped.

  

  I must have drifted off as well, because the next thing I knew I was being jostled awake by Bruin. His eyes are spilling over with tears, his nose red like a cherry.

  “Wake up Calix,” He insisted, giving my shoulder another firm shake.

  “What?” I mumbled, shoving his hands away.

  “Mama and papa are arguing. They weren’t supposed to do that anymore,” Bruin whimpers.

  I look at him again, seeing the pained expression that dances across his face.

  “Bruin, nobody said they wouldn’t fight anymore,” I say, slightly irritated.

  “But-” Bruin begins, but I hold up my hand.

  “Go back to bed Bruin,” And with that Bruin walks to his side of the bed, and lays down, turning his back to me.

  I woke again, though this time the hands shaking me belong to papa. I am worried for an instant that I have overslept and that papa is here to reprimand me. But as I look around my room, I see that no light filters in through the thin shades covering our grimy windows. It couldn’t be more than three in the morning

  “Come on boy,” Papa says, motioning for me to follow him. I get up, my head throbbing from lack of sleep.

  “What?” I ask, stretching my arms behind me.

  “We need to head to town,” Papa answers, though it is an answer that only spurs more questions in my weary brain.

  “But papa it’s only three in the morning. What could we possibly need to do in town?”

  “Join the search party,” Papa says, searching for his worn leather boots in the dimly lit kitchen. I try to turn on another light, but the bulb is burnt out.

  “For who?” I ask.

  “Liana’s father has asked that all men help in the search for,” Papa stops, reaching for his boots. For an instant I worry it is Liana that has gone missing… but maybe after her reaction in the woods, she might have run away.

  “Who papa?” I ask, rubbing my hands together. I’m almost scared to hear his answer, and my ears perk up, waiting anxiously for it.

  “Blaze.”