"Your
father is.. He has gone to the Ebon Gates little one.
tears streaming down her face now as a sob wracked her body and she struggled
to continue.
Although my heart was being torn from my
body at that instant and my stomach was filled with nausea, I remained quiet,
thinking that this must be a nightmare, a manifestation of Sheru
into my dreams to taunt me in some way. My mother, once so proud and joyous,
covered her face with her hands for a moment, her shoulders shaking with
feeling as the pain wracked her body from this loss to our lives. I knew then
that my life would never be the same; everything had changed in one single
night, one moment.
Standing back up, she reached into her
pocket and pulled out a simple band, turning it over in her hands as she gazed
down at it. Exhaling slowly, she extended her hand to me. "This..was your daddy's baby.. Hed
want you to have it. It..It
was the only thing that they found... she managed to sob out before pushing
the band into my cold fingers, closing my hand around it before bending down to
kiss the top of my head once more. As I opened my hand to look at the band, I
realized it was his wedding band. A simple silver band etched with stars and
moons, with an inscription along the inside that read "Our love will last
as long as the stars in the sky". Tears streaked down my face as I looked
at the ring, my body wracked with emotion now as I placed it in my ruby heart
locket and closed it quietly. Taking a deep breath, I fastened the backpack
securely on my shoulders and placed my hand in my mothers, knowing that she
needed me to be strong for her right now. Glancing back over my shoulder, I
took a last look at the house and then set off into the night with the only
family I had left, not knowing where we would go but knowing we would be
together was enough for now.
.
Quickly we fled out of the Empire, past the houses and shops of those that we had known and lived among, past the meager schoolyard that I played in with the local children from time to time. Past the shrine where my parents were joined together in marital bond and past the creek that I had gone fishing in with my father just two weeks prior. By this time the rain was pouring down upon our shoulders, lightening brightening the skies as thunderous booms were heard while the storm raged on. Odd how things seem to happen in your life that seem so appropriate, when in all reality they are just simple forces of nature. I thought to myself as we raced along the dusty road, our feet covered in mud as the rain soaked the ground. The night seemed to close in around us as my mother glanced and jumped frequently, seeming to be looking for something to come after us. Shadows leapt out at us, causing shivers to rush down our spines that I wondered as to the cause. Was it a shadow? Or something..else? I thought, clinging to my mothers soaked frame while she pushed me onward.