Yesterday,
If only the sentiment were as pristine as the forgotten rain.
Washed up,
With no trace,
Evaporated by the graciousness of the sun,
If only.
The occurrences running around could be as disparaging to me as death.
Barring all my troubles so far away
Like shadows hanging over me,
Where you can only hear them in silence.
And completely understand
There's hardship in beauty, like 'there's beauty in hardship.'
Soon all those convictions will lie by a ruin of roses
Because I am half alive, any sense of existing had entirely gone with her.
♟️ *•* <~> *•* ♟️
It should have been fine, Amelia thought over, cursing her reflection under a breath before throwing off her wet shirt from yet another nightmare. She tried to compose herself, even if ignoring the dread in her eyes didn't fade away the problem.
'She was young;' Amelia understood the disadvantage even when that little girl didn't realize she would face the world alone from then on. Even now, a reminder of what occurred years ago tormented her, consuming a piece of her each time. And no matter how much she strained to accept, she wasn't responsible for destroying a part of her origin. Her mother's screams overwhelmed the actions or the lack of fairness; when she defied her mother's wishes to stay hidden.
"But if it weren't for her sacrifice, I wouldn't have survived that night." Amelia sighed. As she proceeded to ponder how ineffective it was to simulate, she'd be anything but ordinary when being too invested in the past to redeem the dole of her life or the end of it.
Knowing she wasn't going to rest in terms of harmony, she washed away the specks of suffering from her complexion and got ready for the day.
The uneasiness of the room is lost as soon as the gemstone of the record touches the vinyl, creating a safe ground for her to navigate. The richness of the treetop matched the ambient temperature from outside. Where a clear, spring-fed swimming void sits, floating in the calm and quiet waters of the Bone River. Its water attracts all types of wildlife, and those who roam freely spend days identifying prey and salvation.
The place came into a creation at the outset of a removal. Maybe it was to remind the tribe never to forget that horrible day, as if anyone needed a reminder, especially Amelia. The outcome changed her life forever, detached her from humanity, building a wall between them.
Amelia didn't blame them.
The community could barely stand the sight of her knowing she had upset the balance of their society. Conversations became forced with meaningless words. She knew why they sent her away. Eighteen years later and nothing had changed. That is how her sense of belonging sits at the heart of the forest, built of redwood. Living amid nature is a different experience and can't be described in words.
"Well, I'm off. I'll be back before breakfast." Amelia bid her farewell to the silence before exiting her premises for the rush of Ember. The adrenaline of swinging too high or taking leaps that weren't well coordinated to land filled Amelia to the brim.
That feeling of needing to breathe didn't matter to her as the sight of deadfalls took it from her. The wind whistled it around trunks, disturbing the leaves and kissing the skin with its falling leaves. With great adoration, Amelia lifted her face, letting the light and shadow of dawn dance across her skin with sacred sight.
Upon reaching the end of her excursion, she welcomes her fellow companion, a sunburst fox already awaiting her arrival.
"Good morning, Scarlett. I see you've been looking out for 'The Garden.' Any of them ready?" The fox deliberates her response coming towards her with light soles upon the earthen track, her eyes aflame and tail flowing, ever at home in the starlit embers.
Throughout, berries grew their charm in variations of sweetnesses and sourness. At the same time, the wild plum was the gift that sprouted along.
"Well, would you look at all this? I suppose it was a great idea to harvest it all here. Don't you think?" Amelia grins at the bird-like wow-wow-wow of Scarlett before picking a few berries and feeding her.
"The garden sure is brighter after the rain." She stores a variety of berries in her pouch. "They'll be the perfect source for a spread this morning."
The rustle of animals rooting in the underbrush and the rustling of leaves above spoke of non-verbal permission. A signal act of kindness Amelia was sure to give them. However, the blood-curdling scream of Scarlett from others encroaching on the territory keeps them away.
"Scarlett, it would help if you remembered that this lodging is a guarded den of nature, for here, we bare our souls. Don't be so territorial, and be nice. You, of all, know what's it like to be starved."
Amelia left berries for the birds over the canopy and glided her hands through the harvest, which fell to the floor for creatures of fur and paw. There were the wild parts, the tame parts, chaos, and order in one beautiful system.
"See you soon, girl. Take care of them for me, ok." At the edge of the garden, Amelia kneeled before Scarlett embracing her stature before leaving the way she arrived.
Her heart tightened, leaving Scarlett out there, but she knew she was better off unburdened in the wilderness than with her; she wouldn't take that freedom from anyone. Even if the walk back was self-reflecting, she dived into the world with an open heart.
♟️ *•* <~> *•* ♟️
The first thing Amelia realized when she got home was that her door was left ajar. She clearly remembered going out the back 'so why was the front door open.' Quickly her mind went into a frenzy of what-ifs.
'What do I do? Did someone manage to find it and get inside? It can't be.'
No one knew about this place other than herself and her keeper. Amelia swallows and steps back to see if she notices anything out of place. She thinks about calling out, "Hello?" for a second but hesitates since she can give out her involvement. The air was so brittle, it could snap, and if it didn't, she might.
As she swung back toward a run, there was a noticeable "thump" inside. If someone is there, who are they, and what do they want? With curiosity driving her forward more than a sense of survival, Amelia went inside. There she found Finn scavenging through her things. Many questions ran through, but the one that stood out the most was...
"What are you doing here?"
"How is it that I've known you for so long, and it's the first time I'm seeing all this?" Finn glances at her for a second before continuing his way around her enclosure. His fingers were like magnets enticed to every object around.
"That's none of your concern. And could you please stop touching my things!" Amelia snatches a book from Finn's hands and reorganizes the pile he dismembered.
Finn put up his hands. "Sorry, I just never pictured you as the book type."
Amelia clenches her jaw. "My interest doesn't concern you."
"Forgive me if I offend you in any way; I find this all breathtaking. How did you manage to do all this or even gather it?" His hands pointed out everything from the nature-inspired textures within the space of the bookshelves structural on the walls to the pillows, rugs, and blankets. Even the view of endless foliage was stunning.
"I just did. The structure was easy to maculate from the already existing post." Amelia feels highly uncomfortable with the glances thrown in her direction now and again.
Finn notices her discomfort when he gently touches her shoulder and tugs at them, encouraging her.
"It's beautiful. You did a fantastic job."
"I didn't have anything to do with it. It's the things in it that bring the charm." Amelia mumbles, the tint of redness appearing on her cheeks. Amelia doesn't pull away; she only stares at the back of Finn's head and wonders, in the most inoffensive way possible, what exactly goes on in that mind of his.
Finn blinks, lifting his gaze, and sees Amelia frowning slightly. "It's the people that bring houses to life, not the houses themselves."
"I thought they were the apex of solidarity."
"They are, but the occupants are the ones that ignite the fire within and take care of it. Without one another, the layout is nothing but a void."
Amelia glares at his predicament. "Cut the chase and get to the point. What are you insinuating?"
"That may be, 'possibly' it wouldn't be so terrible if you had some company."
"Who? You?" She questions in disbelief.
"Well yeah, I... Who else?"
"I don't need to be taken care of; I am more than capable of taking care of myself. I always had, and I will continue to do so."
"There is a big difference between taking care of yourself and 'taking care of yourself."
"Excuse me, but you are the one with the nerve of coming here, invading my space, and deliberating your views when I didn't ask for them."
"No, that's... That's not why," Finn quickly reassures, shaking his head. "It's just... Why would you want to hide?" he asks, genuinely confused.
"Why else?"
Finn's response died in the first seconds, knowing the answer.
"What are you going to do? Now that I know your secret."
"Nothing."
"That's new," Finn said.
Amelia glanced at the ground for a moment, studying nature's bed. When her gaze returned to Finn's, she asked, "Is there anything you want to do in life?"
"You're talking to me again?" Finn teased.
"Something like that."
Finn pursed his lips, thinking. "I'll get back to you tomorrow."
Amelia laughed, mostly out of surprise. "It's not that serious of a question."
"Well," Finn said, "I'm a bit distracted, knowing I have a new place to stay."
"Shut up," Amelia muttered, though she was grinning.
"How was your walk?" Finn asked. They hadn't moved very far from where they had met.
"Loop around the forest?"
Amelia quirks a brow. "And how would you know that?" she repeats, a teasing lilt, and it completely flusters Finn.
"W-Well, because I— because—"
"So that's why the forest tells me there's always someone staring at me from afar," she muses. "It was you. Have you been following me?
"I wasn't— I never," Finn stutters out a lie, cheeks turning a crimson red under the other lingering, curious gaze. "I just happened to notice how you always come from or out of the forest and decided to see the charm, is all. It doesn't mean I was following you."
"Oh, well then, how astute of you," Amelia quips. She reaches out and smacks Finn upside the head.
"Let's go. We haven't got all day," Amelia says, and without giving him time to protest, she drags him out of the door and onto the footpath.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Don't you want a detour?"
"What about breakfast? I notice the berries in your bag." He points back, along with the grumbling in his stomach.
"So much for being unobservant." Amelia rolled her eyes.
♟️ *•* <~> *•* ♟️
Later on, after Finn had finally left to fulfill his duties. Amelia stuck around and tidied her place. She couldn't understand Finn's fascination with the nook. To her, it fulfilled a necessity and provided warmth, nothing beyond luxury.
Maybe that's why he enjoyed the ambiance since his quarters weren't that to his enjoyment.
When the sun touches the frame of the sky where the lines of life and wonder meet, a pair of footsteps approach Amelia as she tends to her diary near the enchantress blur of the river.
"You know the drill." The voices that decree law abides there, as usual, not a minute late.
"You don't have to remind me." She exhales a sigh of helplessness. Nothing will ever monitor her fantasies of running away and disappearing entirely from the face of the earth.
"No need to worry. I'll go willingly. No need to restrain me." Amelia turns around, ready as she could ever be when she faces the two men, ready to escort her.
"Sure, say whatever you want, but we are not taking any chances of you running away."
'I'd be foolish to think I could get away with both of you hot on my trail,' Amelia considered the idea. Both men were tall and muscular, holding an extremely bored demeanor, casually looking her up and down. One more than the other seemed to be almost begging me to do something to rid himself of his intense boredom.
'But I'm not going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me at my lowest. Not now, not ever.' Amelia thought through as she took the lead in the direction she knew too well.
"Come in." It is the first thing Dean lets out at the first knock.
"You two stay here and be on the lookout." And with that, he closes the door behind him.
"Amelia, this is Nora. She'll be joining us today." Dean points out to the woman standing in the corner.
The woman was stocky, middle-aged, and stood at less than five feet. She had rimless glasses and an all-too-calm expression as though she could witness a massacre and not be fazed in the slightest.
"Good evening," the woman said calmly, her voice having the fakest sincerity that Amelia knew too well.
"I hope you are well," Amelia grunted an almost amused snort at her comment.
"I am until now," she taunted sarcastically.
"Ah, yes, I didn't mean to interrupt your night," Dean said, though he had no genuine remorse.
"Let's just get this over with it." Amelia rolled her eyes and went straight to the testing site and sat on the table, her hands holding tightly to her shirt, feeling the pounding of her heart through the fabric.
She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't notice the woman approach her and gently grab her chin. Amelia flinched back harshly.
"Don't move, or this will be painful."
She felt a tingle before the intensified pain of needles puncturing her skin elevated the tension. In and out of consciousness, Amelia tried to grab hold of the situation, even if everything around was a blur of color.
"A-Amelia," she at least hears Dean whisper, getting a bit closer, "I'll try and make this as painless as possible, I promise." From this close, Amelia caught a glimpse of the blue markings picking out his clothing, and it looked like the night glimmer of the moon. "Please, just drink this." He uncorked the bottle and tipped it toward her mouth.
Abruptly, she pulled back, her eyebrows knitting together. She didn't like the look of any of this, and while she wasn't sure what defiance was going to do, something told her not to drink it.
"P-please, Amelia," The woman said quickly, voice rising with fear. "Please, if you don't take this, we can't help you, and you'll die-"
With no clear explanation or understanding, Amelia swallowed.
With every intake of breath, she found her mind growing foggier and foggier from the discomfort.
She screamed a lot, but her voice made no sound to them.
The pain in her chest quickly dissipated while the pain in her skull intensified even more. She discovered the more she tried to keep her eyes open, the more her sight seemed to shatter, again and again, splitting under the skin. Amelia's breathing ragged as a ringing sound filled her hearing before her consciousness waned and fell altogether.
Amelia!!!