"Do you dance?"

The journey continues.

 

 

 

 

“Do you dance?” she asked simply, suddenly, somewhat
breathless from her swift journey, a rosy flush in her
pale cheeks.  The light rested in a swirling mist
about her like colorful fireflies caught in a spider’s
web, like the stars in the milky way.
“I don’t know,” I said glumly.  “ I don’t know
anything anymore.”
“You have forgotten?” she sympathized, tilting her
head and stirring the lights round it.
“Many things," I replied.

Tears rushed to my eyes but I blinked them back
immediately, already ashamed that I was being pitied.
I wanted none.  Not from this fragile-looking
girl-child as well.  Oh, it was relief to be far away
from the world, at least almost far away.  I could
feel escape so near and it comforted me.
“Shall I help you remember?” she asked.
“  Please," I replied.
She smiled and it made her colorless skin glow.  I
felt the warmth and something stirred in my heart like
the shawl of tiny lights around her face had done.
Hope?  It was such an unfamiliar feeling that I grew
cold all over again.
“You will dance like you have never danced before,
for we shall dance the Death Of Sorrows,” she told me,
her eyes shinning.
I said nothing.  She watched me intently for hope,
dismayed that I had banished it so swiftly.  I was
ashamed again, ashamed of my cynical heart, as I
looked into those earnest blue eyes that were trying
to reach me in that dark terrible place that I dwelt
within myself.  Once again she was beckoning me.  But
it was so long… so very long ago that I had ventured
outside of it and returned burnt and scalded from pain
with an oath never to leave again. 

I could no longer
understand the substance of hope.  Could not feel or
comprehend it.
“You shall dance.  And you shall remember,” she
said firmly, and the solemn look on such a young face
made me smile to myself.  She took my hand; her grip
wrapped round my four fingers, and went forward,
drawing back the curtain.

 

 

*                *                *                *                * 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Ah, this was where the music had come from as we walked
through the spinney.  Now it filled me completely.
 

The strings were like winds through the earth’s
heights and depths, gushing over hills and through
creatures’ hollows, the yawns of open deserts and
thunders of waterfalls, rising and falling like the
moon and the tides, the ecstatic symphony of nature.
 

The beat was the rhythm of the living heart of mankind,

and the echo of time,

resurrecting ages past, wedding
eternity, instruments combining like the play of the earthly
elements; of water, wind, fire and earth, brilliant
like the configuration of stars in the universe, the
law of life.
The music seeped into you till your very veins
throbbed with it’s pulsating song.  It set my feet
dancing the moment I heard it.  The moment we heard it
we were already lost in it.

And so I began to dance, long before my eyes could take in
my surroundings or realize that the comforting hand
that had grasped my fingers was gone. 

I was caught up in the music. 

 

 

Reviews

[Ice QueenJen]

I like the way you highlighted and lightened some words, depicting the meaning behind it.

[Lauren Xena Campbell]

Your description are so truly beautiful, they bring light into dark places. I was so captivated in this chapter and so sad when it ended. I cannot wait to read more of this magical work. And as for suspense you have built it masterfully, I can't help but wonder what dark past and shadows lie in the heart of your main character, nor what depth to which this realm will go. Who is this young girl? Where did she come from? Why does she dance? It is also puzzling and somewhat vexing not to have the answers, but I hope to find them in the next passage. Going to read more.

Another wonderful chapter!

[Lia]

Nice piece, well penned. Thank you xx