This work is copyrighted to Yuki Fanel

 

COME AND PLAY WITH ME

by Aeon, Guardian of the Dungeons

 

        I watched her silently in her sleep. I followed the slow rise and fall of her chest as I hummed a soft lullaby to myself. It was the lullaby she used to sing to me when she wanted to make me rest. She would whisper to me soothing words while rocking me gently in her arms. Then she would start singing to me.

 

Sleep...

And fly to your dreams...

And when you wake...

You will find me here...

 

        I looked at the hands that took me into those gentle arms. I reached out and took them in mine. They felt soft and gentle, so much like a baby's. I always felt envious whenever she touched me. I could never find the true reason as to why these palms were always open to my calloused ones. And for these past few days, they were always holding me tight, as if she feared that I would leave. I caressed her hand gently, running a finger gently across every line there was on her palm. I didn't realize the tear that rolled down my cheek and onto her palm. The small bead of sorrow gleamed menacingly at me. She never liked it when I cry. I wiped it away with my sleeve and squeezed her hand gently.

 

        I let go of her hand and set it down on her stomach gently. I pushed myself from the floor and walked silently to the door to the porch. I pushed it wide open, revealing a vast scenery of rolling plains and flowers. She loved this land. The moment she saw it, she brought me here with the title in her hands. We used to play among the fields of flowers. We'd play hide and seek. Whenever she hid, I'd always find her lying in the fields, barely seen through the high grass. And when I hid, I'd always be right behind her.

 

        There was a time when she didn't find me there. She called me by my name but I didn't respond. I watched her wander and left after a while. She found me later in a grove of trees, lying in a pool of my blood. She was crying as she took me in her arms, whispering my name repeatedly. After I recovered then, she got mad at me because I climbed to the top of a tree. I felt the branch break by my feet and I fell.

 

        When the rain comes, I'd watch the raindrops fall on the ground. I'd inhale its scent deeply and realize that I was already bathing in the rain. She'd laugh at me and pull me back in the house, drying my hair with a towel. Then she'd kiss my forehead gently, telling me not to get myself sick.

 

        But now, my sanity is fading. I really didn't know what caused it. Perhaps it was anger that I felt. Or maybe just plain sorrow. I couldn't place it. For days, she would weave the thin silk threads of sanity she found in me. I would just watch her then find myself wandering through the woods. She'd find me and take me back home. But there were times, she'd find me sleeping in the grove of trees she once found me in.

 

        She was really tired after that. We didn't play outside anymore. She just stared at the weaving she started. When she falls asleep, I'd watch her silently, touching her at times. But now is different. She didn't seem quite responsive to my touch, as if she didn't feel me anymore.

 

        I saw the weaving she had started and took it into my own hands. The gold threads were entwined with the silver so intricately, it seemed to be almost impossible to be crafted by a human. I marveled at the silkiness of its texture, realizing that it seemed so much like a goddess' braid.

       

        I followed the small ceremony she would perform before she starts. I knew it by heart after all the times that I watched her. But the weaving was something I was unfamiliar with. My fingers started working though with no direction.

 

        "What are you doing?" her voice drew me away from my reverie.

 

        I looked at her. She seemed disappointed at me. Her gaze shifted from my frightened eyes to the weaving in my hands. She placed a hand over my closed one and opened it gently. The weaving was destroyed.

 

        "Why?"

 

        "I thought.... I could..."

 

        She stood up and began to leave. Her eyes were filled with pain. A pain that was lost in me a long time before. As if she thought that I wasn't happy with what she's doing. She's wrong. I was really happy with her. She helped me through a lot. No matter how hard she tried to make me smile, I wouldn't. Smiling isn't just me. As long as I'm happy in my heart, I suppose that matters.

 

        Thoughts came into my mind but my mouth was too dry to let them out. Either that or my head was too tangled with them to be comprehensible enough.

 

        "I'll be waiting..." I spoke, the three words striking a chord in my head.

 

        I wish she comes while spring is still at hand. She must see the flowers. She must come and play...