Alone

Their story was just beginning when it came to an end.

Alone

It had been one of those stupid accidents which, after they had happened, everybody knows how they could have been avoided. The young woman should have asked somebody to catch the runaway animal—her mother was just around the corner, after all. She shouldn’t have climbed after it in her state.

But she did. It had been an easy pregnancy so far and she was feeling fine. And besides, there was no point in bothering others. She could do it just fine on her own. So she followed the adventurous creature up the narrow rocky path, made one unfortunate step and tripped. She had been a healthy woman, so it could have all ended with simple bruises, had she fallen a feet or two further up or down. As it were, she stumbled right where there was nothing to stop her fall—only a sheer drop. She hadn’t survived the fall. She had been just a normal woman with no special powers.

What was left of her, was now lying on a boulder in a pool of blood, staring dully into the blue sky—if you could call it staring. She was not a pretty sight anymore.

The person to find her was her husband. Quite predictably, he didn’t believe what he saw at first. It had to be somebody else, right? But it wasn’t. And it certainly couldn’t be a joke, because… well, jokes don’t usually involve cracked skulls.

He stood there watching the dead body for a while, before gently closing her eyes and picking her up. He could have been asking himself why her, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t that type of person—he knew that it was simple bad luck and divine plans didn’t exist. Instead, he was asking himself in how many similar situations like this he would find himself in.

There he was, probably the most powerful human to ever walk the Earth and he couldn’t save one woman from a stupid accident. And he was quite sure there would be others like this, because he couldn’t listen to their thoughts all the time or hide them somewhere safe. And even if he did hide them, death would come for everybody. He had known this before, of course, but it had been more of a second-hand knowledge. Now, he had found it out for himself.

They—the shamans— hadn’t thought of that. He supposed he couldn’t blame them; they had so many other things to worry about and people died all the time. They tended to get ill, get stabbed, eat poisonous things… Besides, he had their memories to rely on. He knew how they all dealt with things like that.

But… it was them. Not him. He was barely twenty now and he really shouldn’t be having to find his wife dead. Not yet. He wasn’t ready—he needed time to prepare for that. A lot of time really—when he could accept that people would just die and he would live long after their bodies turned to dust. And she was just twenty too. This wasn’t the right age to die. And it shouldn’t have been her. Who else it should have been he really wouldn’t be able to say, but it wasn’t the point.

The point was, he knew her since they were children. The played together: he’d push her into the nearby river or pull her hair from time to time, but they also sneaked away together to scare the frogs in a nearby stream or to toss snowballs at unsuspecting animals. She wasn’t the first girl he kissed or slept with, but she was the first one (and so far the only) to slap him for being an idiot. He wouldn’t be able to have the same relationship with anybody else. The shamans could reincarnate, but he was going to live on for ages without being able to relive his childhood ever again. His childhood friends would all die and he’d live on, and remember them long after the village he was born crumbled.

He needed time. He desperately needed more time to think about it, to figure out what to do next, how to deal with it all. And he needed help. He needed somebody older and wiser to give some advice, even if only so that he could rebel against it. But there was no one he could ask for it. Nobody could help him, because he was… alone?

Author's Note

If you can see, how I could improve this, please tell me.

Reviews

[Phoenix Alleena]

That was amazing. It was both deep,
and short but full of symbolism [to me].
Was he like time itself? Forever going on,
but never ending? Was he just a symbol
for the need of time that all beings face?
I loved it. Sad, enough So I could
feel that emotion, but deep enough
to sort of have a greater meaning.
Bring out those meanings more into
the open-- and you will have masterpieces.

Great Job!

[Gabriela]

This was really good, I'm obviously reading more of your work.
But i was left with some questions.
You should add more action the story, maybe make it more parts?
It happened too fast.
Anyways.
Amazing!

[Lyndie Bolt aka JustRac..]

My only suggestion is that you turn this either into a book or maybe a 3 part story! Very raw!

[269]

The question in my mind, is what kind of alien (is this an alien) wouldn't realize the lifespan of humans. A good begining, I'd say. The reader (me) is left another huge question- what is he going to do so he is not alone? Good lead in; as always, I like your style of writing. charly

[emmajoy]

Such a quick death.. we're left with a fear.. her husband finds the woman's body and suddenly we're into his thoughts, his bewilderment.

This is a good story, but maybe it needs a little more action. I'm going to message you.

Thank you very much for sharing