I was… awake.
It didn't dawn on that I was yet, until I felt the heat and light of dawn itself burning away at my retinas behind my closed eyelids.
My eyes felt like they'd been glazed over by wet cent that dried out overnight from how heavy and difficult it was prying them open to et the real world again with real eyes this ti.
The sun was angling weirdly in the sky for early morning which could only an one thing: it wasn't early morning, which, in turn, could only an one other more crucial fatal thing - I was late for work.
Shit.
It's funny, just what the hell? Why was I even thinking about work? Out of all things - work? Wake up in a soft bed of grass, get up, take a shower, and go apologize to the manager like I didn't just see what I saw, didn't just live through whatever the hell I just lived through - in there - in Ria's long, long life.
No, work was just a distraction for my mind, sothing to make not think 'cause a big part of didn't want to think about it, or even acknowledge it - it was just a bad dream, a long bizarre nightmare that existed only in my imagination.
Only it wasn't.
Now I knew who Silas really was. Then there's also the matter of Ria's children, those boys and girls in the field I saw way back when with started this whole trip down mory lane, I finally know what happened to them.
And perhaps most importantly, and perhaps a bit selfishly for even thinking it of any great importance… I finally understood what my mother really was like back in her pri.
Oh, how eye-opening of a trip it was. I shouldn't be too shocked, I shouldn't even be so hung up about it, but I was anyway. I already knew what she was like, she ca and told herself personally - but I guess this was just one of those things where you have to see it to even believe it.
And now I believed it. I didn't even wanna blink now, if I do I might see it again, relive it all over again - her gentle smile, her kind gaze - they'll be staring back at again.
With joint muscles weary and bones cracking in agony, I shifted myself upright. So many things to settle, with Sera, with Sammy, work especially, it was going to be a long, long day today.
Two things happened imdiately right after I pulled myself up, and I didn't know which ca first - whether it was one or the other - but either way, it didn't matter, they both still happened.
nearly plumting myself to a seemingly bottomless freefall off a cliff's edge, and a powerful gust of sweltering hot air from out of nowhere bent the branches and swayed the trees of a forest nearby. In shock, from both happenings, I gasped and nearly boiled my poor lungs in the process.
Tears and heat stung my vision, along with a cough I couldn't control, it was a miracle I even managed to drag myself away from the cliffside. My head was racing, and it was because of that - I imdiately understood things right away.
I knew that forest, I knew that cliff, hell I even know those tall mountainous peaks looming beyond that cliff, the winding valley below, the four-winged, double-headed birds soaring in a flock up high in the expansive sky, I knew it all.
And that heatwave surging and dispersing, I knew that too. This bad dream, this nightmare wasn't over just yet. On the bright side, at least I wasn't just a floating, talking nothing anymore… so that's nice.
Another sultry breeze billowed through the tall grass from the sa direction of the forest, hotter, stronger, then a bright orange glow began to filter out like rays of pure sunlight through the gaps in the forest.
Tree after tree, the many rays of light shifted and weaved. They reminded of searchlights in a way… like forest rangers out on rescue, flashlights in hand, scouring through trenches and fallen branches for that missing person.
Except here it was the exact opposite. Suddenly, a figure erged from one of the gaps - my missing person - taking with her all the lights and rays from the forest coalescing as one bright beacon of heavenly light radiating off in the distance that was gradually growing closer.
I'll just say this one thing before whatever else happen, happens… Ria does not look very happy to see .
I barely got up to my feet, only had a second to steel myself, before a harsh shout ca blowing my way along with the steady rise in temperature.
"Never co back, that's what I said! Never co back, didn't you hear?!" I watched her advance, stood by as she seized my shirt with both hands pulling within inches of her enraged expression, and kept silent as she continued to shout. "How many tis do you want to say it?!"
Through a parched throat and nearly dried and chapped lips my voice managed to seep out of , low and baritone. "As long as it takes to get you out of here, Ria."
Wrong words apparently.
She was strong… stronger than . I couldn't do anything when she pushed , and continued to push . I still couldn't do anything when the ground below disappeared. I could flail my legs in the air, cling tightly to her outstretched arms as she held my body over the edge of the cliff.
This was the first I've ever seen her ire faced against . The first ti she's raised her voice in anger to . The feel of flas against my skin, which before always felt so warm and comforting, now only seared at my palms without relent. This was all a first.
"You're leaving," She said in a nacing whisper, her once springy carefree expression now twisted and malford to a grotesque display of hate. "You're leaving now and you're never coming back. Who do you think you are ssing with my head, with my mories?! You think making relive everything is going to get to change my mind? Good plan, dastardly plan, my man… sucks for you that it ain't working!"
Briefly, I looked below at seemingly freefall at my feet and instantly swallowed a mouthful of nothing. "You saw that."
"It's my head, genius, of course, I saw it. Nothing, and I an NOTHING, happens in here without my knowing," Ria hissed at resentfully. "So did you enjoy the show? You had fun poking and probing at like I'm so sort of science experint?"
"Of course I didn't," I hissed, struggling hard to keep my hands latched onto her. "But you wouldn't let in… so I had to do what I could, didn't I?"
"Yes, of course you did!" She said sardonically. "That's what heroes do, don't they? Always have to be the one to save the day, always have to be the hero! You just can't help yourself! Well, alright then, Mr. Hero, do it! This is your one chance, right? Do what you ca here to do!"
Her grip on my shirt slightly loosened, and I held onto her even tighter, feeling fingernails burrowing deep into her skin. "You're making a mistake, Ria. Just put down on the ground, I want to talk, let's talk and we can - !"
"Yes! Yes! Keep going with that! Keep talking along those lines!" Her gaze was a mad one, her tone a derisive one. She wasn't even listening anymore. "Use that silver tongue of yours, show the error in my ways! Keep telling I'm making a mistake, tell I'm not thinking straight! I'm all ears, Hero! Keep going!"
Seriously, what was I supposed to say?! I don't even have to think or plan! Not when I was literally holding on to dear life here, not when the pain was so great, and she knows that too!
Ria just didn't care…
"My arms are getting very tired, you're wasting precious seconds here," was all she had to say to the agony showing on my face. "You saw my mories, tragic right? That's plenty of ammunition free for you to use, so use it. Go, appeal to my humanity, my emotions, my connections… bring out my soft side. What are you waiting for? This is your one chance, isn't it? Take your best shot!"
I watch as embers spark and fly from the locks of her hair. I notice that usually happens whenever she gets very emotional. In every mory I've watched, they always do that.
They were brighter but few when she's angry, many but dim when she's happy, and when she was sad… they were always bright, and they were always many.
And right then… so many drifted away from her so bright and dazzling.
"Co on, hero! Do it!" She continued to say, her small embers continuing to fly and wither. "Save , already!"
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