In The Name Of Love

It's a metamorphosis story I created for my mythology class.

Loneliness, that word, the meaning behind it, has always eluded Akira. That is not surprising; for how would a girl who has never felt the joy of being with another, understand how it feels to not be with someone. Since she had not known human companionship, she never learned that loneliness usually accompanies having been with someone. She was the only one in her world. She was trapped inside a circle of sickness.

She could never become attached to someone if she did not want to cause heartbreak to herself or another. Being the only one was her only knowledge. Of course she knew exactly what the word loneliness meant from reading about it in books, but she could never truly understand the feeling. What she read about it is that it is one of the worst feelings to ever feel. That while it wasn't physically harmful, it was emotionally and mentally.

So most of the days Akira spent her times in her bubble of only her, mostly walking around outside. Stopping by one spot that looked… alone. Is that what loneliness looks like? Was always a question in her mind. Her world was colorless. Finally Akira got to experience joy on the day she decided was the day of her birth (a book she's read says something about how everyone has one"a birthday).

Once again she had stopped by the space that hadn't any trees or grass in it. Only this time, that space was not unoccupied; a boy stood there. He looked to be the same age as her, which she deemed was twelve. She had decided that this was her twelfth birthday. He was looking at the spot he stood on, a faraway look in his eyes.

At first she did not know what he was, but remembering that he looked like her, in some aspects--like having a nose, two feet, two arms--she believed him to be like her, a human. She did not approach him but that did not matter for when he spotted her, he ended up giving her what she had read to be a smile. It was blinding. It made her feel something she had never felt before, a warmness in her chest. Colors exploded in her vision. He talked to her and Akira knew she shouldn't have let him, that she should have just left, but she did not leave, she had wanted to feel that warmness again.

She had let what he had made her feel seduce her into staying. The more she got to know him, the more attached she became. Her world was not as colorless anymore. He had to leave soon, he explained to her. Akira had only nodded her head as an answer, unable to give him a verbal response.

He had not shown up again until a few years later. During those times Akira had finally understood what the feeling of loneliness felt like. It was heart wrenching, she yearned for Hiro--the boy she had met. She finally understood companionship, making her understand need and the feeling of being all alone. Once again the chain had trapped her inside the circle of her sickness.

She was alone and it was painful, she didn't know what to do anymore. What did she use to do before Hiro again? How did she last so long without having anyone? The clock on her wall ticked as the seasons began to change. She wanted to be free from her chains, to be able to exit the circle.

When did she give up on exiting it? When had she succumbed to her sickness? Was she really just going to accept that she is never breaking free from her chains and finally reaching beyond the circle?

When she had reunited with Hiro again, five years have passed. The clock still ticked and the season still changed. Once again she spent most of her time doing nothing but walking around, only this time her heart was heavy. Her world was once again colorless. She had walked to the spot where she had met the boy, and was surprised to see someone there.

Looking closely Akira realized it was the boy from before, only he was not a boy anymore. He had grown, she could see, just as she had. Seeing him again made something inside of her chest burst. Her world was filled with pinks, and blues and colors. When she had asked why he was always at that particular spot, he responded that he wanted that space to be filled with something, but he didn't know what that something was yet.

His reasoning was that: this spotted shouldn't be alone. As the days passed, Akira and Hiro became closer. Their hearts finally beating in sync. Their time together was not like anything either has felt before, it was… freeing. If only it could stay like that forever, unfortunately, Akira was still chained and stuck inside that circle.

She knew she hadn't much time left, she could feel her heartbeat beginning to fade away with each passing day. She had been too afraid before to tell Hiro about her circle, but because she had come to love him, she knew she had to tell him. When she finally told him the truth, in the spot where they alway meet--which was that barren spot--Hiro’s reaction was what she thought it would be: he smiled the best he could at her, no matter how unrealistic it was. It didn’t reach his eyes. He had come to love her as well.

Their love for each other wasn't the romantic one others would have expected, it was more of a emotional love than a physical one. It in itself wasn't really a romantic one either. Hiro promised to make her lasting days blissful ones. They were, Akira was having the time of her life. That was until one day Hiro believed her to have already left.

As she was heading back towards her home, Akira heard it, she had seen it; Hiro's tears, the sound of him weeping. Now that was heart wrenching. It was then that she got out of her blissful induced haze and realized that she allowed the one thing she never wanted to happen, happen. She had gotten attached to someone and made them become heartbroken. For there is another feeling besides loneliness that was horrific, and it was feeling useless.

Of not being able to do anything, no matter how much you wished. It was in that moment that Akira knew that even though Hiro tried, she would never become free of her chains and finally reach beyond the circle. The one thing she now wanted other than becoming free, was for Hiro to be happy. That he never cried because of her ever again, at least not heartbreaking tears. The following day, the last day, Akira pretended that she had never witness the moment that he would have never allowed her to see.

She spent it with him the best that she could, trying to make it his best day with her. As dawn began to fall, Akira thanked him for everything, for allowing her to experience something she never would have thought possible. Even as he left, Akira stayed right where she was, in the spot that was barren. Her heart began to fill with loneliness again, a feeling she never believed she would have ever come to experience. Tears flowed freely from her eyes and onto the barren floor.

All she wished now was for Hiro to find happiness without pain attached to it. That the next time he feels happiness or love, he doesn't also have to feel pain or alone. She wished that with all her heart, the heart whose beat was slowing. Her time was about to come, Akira knew this and still she accepted it. As she lay on the barren floor, the gods took pity on her.

They took pity on the girl who was willing to live in a life full of loneliness and sadness if only her loved one lived happily and carefree"the girl who had suffered enough. They could not keep her alive for it was already her time, but they decided that she should still watch over her special person as a reward for being selfless. So they turned her into a Japanese Cherry Blossom. They put the tree right in the spot that was barren. The next time Hiro arrived, Akira was nowhere to be seen, but there stood in that once barren spot a beautiful Cherry Blossom.

Just like what the Cherry Blossom symbolized, Akira’s life was short, but was once in time, filled with beauty and color. It could also symbolize that while her’s and Hiro’s time together was short, it was still a beautiful companionship.

The Cherry Blossom tree did just as the gods intended, it watched over Hiro, even as its leaves fell and grew anew. It watched as he fell in love. It watched as he proposed to the girl and got married right underneath it. It watched as the girl’s belly soon became round. It watched as he and his wife stood with a young child in their arms having a picnic underneath the tree.

It watched as Hiro grew older and older in a life filled with nothing but joy. Finally, the tree watched as an old aged Hiro leaned against its bark, talking about a girl he once knew whose name was Akira. About a girl he loved and always will love, the old aged Hiro explained that the girl had taught him so much and that his only two regrets were that he never said goodbye to her, and that he never got to make her final days with him joyous ones. The tree at long last, watched as Hiro took his last breath in that world.

Most would have thought that Akira would have been bittersweet in watching as her precious person moved on without her next to him, but she had never felt that way. They would have thought that she would have been lonely as a tree. She never felt any of that though, for she had never expected to have ever lived her last years as she did. She always believed that she would had died without ever feeling loneliness or joy, but thanks to Hiro, she got to experience both the good things and the bad ones. She was content with the way her life had ended.

It was thanks to Hiro that everything she now saw was in colors, oh so bright and vivid. It was because of him that she had finally broken out of her chains and reached outside of the circle.

The clock had finally stopped ticking.

Reviews

[Rafy T.Nym]

This story has a wonderful description which is filled with emotion,symbolism of eternal love and a true sense of loneliness.

I was overwhelmed while reading the last few parts,definitely like the last line.I wish to read more of your stories.

[Marie Moore]

I wish to thank you on your lovely review. You have my sincerest gratitude!