two days before :: taika
When the water became still like this, she began to worry.
The ocean was the color of fireworks as the sun began to set across the horizon with a soft breeze rustling the nearby palm trees. She felt guilty as she sat there and dipped her feet in the golden liquid below the wooden walkways, wondering why she had even asked to come here. It wasn’t time for it yet but somehow the need to come home had been too urgent to ignore. She felt scared.
‘I know, you’d probably think I’m just being a big baby.’ A light laugh escaped her lips as brown eyes looked down into the salty water below. It was startling to see how much she had changed since she was a little girl. Her hair was longer now and her lips fuller. Her eyes, however, had stayed the same. Curious and eager to see the world yet cautious. She wondered how much she would change in the next ten years to come.
A strange feeling brushed against her foot as she let her mind drift over the past few months of her life. All of the explosions and blood had been things the researcher had not expected when she had left Kilika three years ago. The mess that she was currently entangled with worried her and she knew that her parents felt very uncomfortable with what she was planning to do next. She honestly shouldn’t have told them but Taika had found the idea of not saying goodbye too heartbreaking. It was hard enough to lose one child without a farewell so she was determined to not have her parents undergo the same thing again. That was why she had returned here to this village on stilts.
Pushing up off of the wooden walkway she was currently seated on, the gun mage dusted her dress off and glanced around her at all the houses she had known growing up. Smiling at the memories of playing with other children and pushing each other into the warm tropical water, the woman began to wander down the paths aimlessly. Over here she and one of the boys had tried trick each other into eating a green banana and over there she and a childhood friend had exchanged whispers about who they were going to kiss first.
It was hard to think that all of these things could be gone in two days. But it was also hard to think that she could die in two days.
‘Am I strong enough for this? What if I end up in the way?’ Purple strands fell into her eyes as the woman paused and felt her chest constrict. The fear of death was not something she could claim to be immune to. What human is completely free from it? It was embarrassing to think about but Taika felt comforted to know that she was not alone in battling this problem. Everyone else was undergoing the same thing and it was helpful to know that this did not make her a coward. It made her human.
‘Should I back out? Eric said we could quit if we couldn’t handle this.’
Brown eyes winced at the thought as soon as the words registered in her mind. It would certainly make her mother happy if she told the group to go on without her. Her father would probably hold her and reassure her gently that she was doing the right thing and that they needed her at home. It would let her continue living and carry on her family line. Plus she would also be able to continue her research and learn all the answers she had so desperately been searching for before she had joined this expedition. This was the safer and saner of the two options. But when she tried to do it, her bones froze up and she felt herself have trouble breathing.
If she stayed behind she knew she would forever see pyreflies when she closed her eyes at night.
‘You’re right, I know. It’s just hard to be as brave as you.’ Pink lips pursed in a small smile as the image of stern haughty eyes reprimanded her. She had also been given a second chance at life through someone else’s sacrifice. It was time for her to go do the same. Her sister would be disappointed in her if she chickened out now. Remembering the look of fear on the older girl’s face as she fled, Taika took a deep breath and pulled out her phone. The woman had originally planned to stay the night here in order to make up her mind about the final battle but found she had already made her decision. Closing her eyes to inhale the salty wind of her hometown and tears, Taika was surprised at how stable her voice was as she held the machine to her mouth.
“It’s me. Come pick me up, I’m ready to go.”
If she died two days from now she knew her soul would fly over the rippling waves and return here where it belonged but for now she belonged on that ship in the clouds.
View User's Journal
Limited
Doutei's experiences on being stuck in limited mode...
 |
Rest in peace, cherished Sesame
Fall 2001 - April 10, 2017