The Tiger Lady

I am my own law. A creature unto myself. A rebel of all species. For I choose this half form. One that is…..not as pure as, say my human and tiger forms. I like this one better. People around here are used to me. They’ve seen lizard men, bird woman; they have befriended satyrs, and tolerated the horsemen. All of these people though, were born such a way. I chose this; I knew exactly what lied in wait. A horrific path I gladly take. My stay is long, so I hope you have awhile to wait.

 

Long ago, I lived in a day before time as you know it. A day when beasts ruled the countries. On a day I was born, born into the cruel world. A world of flashing stars and guttural sounds. My childhood was short-lived, for it never really existed in the first place. I was raised to learn that a man can take whatever suits him. He makes his own rules to live by, and demands all others below him, live with a much stricter conduct. The man I came to know as father was cruel, empty, and already dead. He took what belonged only to me; he took it each night for years. The dame that birthed me was far worse off then me. She had to live with a harsher man; she was forced to watch his cruel deeds. She was forced to help him kill many others. She wore his disappointments on her body. We often grew hungry, my mother and I, while he spent the money on booze and drugs. He was a monster. My mother a beauty, I could never see how their love began, nor would they ever tell me. Eventually I grew tired of the fights, the bruises, broken bones, booze, the rapes, and the death. I felt something inside me, growing restless, needing a way out. So I left.

I ran into druggie girls, grasping stoner hands, and forgetful nights. Looking back I don’t see how I saw it as a form of escape. It was just another trap. Just another small controlling little world.  Where this god was not my father, the b*****d man, but a wanting, a longing for something we couldn’t have, and instead accepting a cheap imitation of it. Looking forward I decided I would create someone new. Toss out the old. Get rid of the old clothes; the fishnets, the holy jeans, the shabby coats and that plain on name. Tally.

I left the world I knew completely. I left that place, that city, that no-nothing town. I left that washed out, cardboard, and metallic world. For something new, something fresh. With a new, different name. Kaye. Simple enough, short, pretty, nothing anyone would remember.

I decided to travel. I wanted to see the world. Asia was calling me insistently, so slowly but surely I made my way. Doing odd things, not quite leaving all my ill learned habits behind. I was beautiful, and with the right things, no one would expect one such as I to pick there pockets now would they. Not only were they unsuspecting but were eager to please, so the travel was long and without much bright conversation but wasn’t too…..difficult.

Eventually I made it to India; I fell in love with a little place out in the middle of no where. There was a busy little market place full of voices and laughter. People were haggling over hand-crafted jewelry, food, and small hand carved statues. Breathing in the sweet air I decided to get away from people for a time. I took a walk. Strolled right into the forest I did. I was what some call brave, others foolish. But that is neither here nor there. It was a beautiful day, birds were chirping, and I felt like I really belonged here. The sun warmed my skin, and chased away all the bad thoughts flitting around my head. I soon grew hot and tired but I had found a small creek and something, a tugging a pulling at my heart, told me to follow it. To see where it might lead, to perhaps discover something.

Discover something I did. Sweat was dripping into my eyes, and I longed to walk the river bed, but my logical bit told me to wait. We’ll find a nice shaded spot and rest. I began to hear the rushing sound that is always associated with huge and beautiful waterfalls, what I was not prepared for was the sight of it. It was absolutely beautiful, had to be at the least ten stories high, droplets casting a shimmering array of light, and on a giant perfect rock near the fall was a magnificent bangle tiger.

The sun gleamed off her wet fur, her eyes as green as the ferns surrounding us. Her giant paws could slice me clean in two. Never had I seen such a beast in all my time. Beauty, grace, and a lethal danger radiated from her. Insanity must have climbed into my mind that moment, for my feet began to move toward the regal creature. One step at a time brought me closer to those green eyes, one step at a time, drove me deeper into those dark waters. It began to stain my dress, and seep into my shoes. Deeper and deeper I walked, the water slowly rising, but I was oblivious.  I saw things in those green eyes; I saw the kills she had made, the power she had the respect of other of her kind. She was most feared, never was she underestimated.  She had a life unto her own. I could see all her pain, I was the pain. I was her. I lost myself in her mind, learning its ancient secrets, the magic that was all her own. She welcomed me to a world of energy, a magic of sorts. This life binding force was in all things, all around us, some was sporadic and unpredictable, other lie dormant, asleep. We humans are rarely ever aware of the power we have, and the ones that do, are usually outcast, or considered insane. Human. Humans, I was human once, but I never felt it. I felt power; I felt strength, not a vast hole, waiting to be filled with a pearly light. I had deadly claws, shining teeth, and huge in bulk, but beautiful. Still beautiful. Not blackened and bruised, wanting, addicting, I was simply me. I felt the loss of children, the aching battle wounds, and a deep unreachable sadness for the dwindling of my kind. We were intelligent, we belonged together, and we were one.

A bird sung nearby. I blinked for the first time in minutes. Realizing I was right up against the beast. She looked at me, tilted her head slightly to the left, and rose up on her haunches. Making room for tiny little me. She studied my face, looking over my pain, cataloging my sadness, calculating my desire. Somehow I knew. I simply knew. She took to me because of my perseverance, my endurance, that thing we call grit. We were kindred spirits, both searching for something more in our lives, relying on an ancient an unrecognizable strength.

I pulled myself up on the rock and asked her, “You come here often?”

She cocked her head as if to imply I was crazy. I felt a pushing in my mind, a whisper of something. A great rumbling came from her throat, which I would eventually learned was her laughter.

“I was just trying to make conversation; it’s not all that funny.” I pouted, brought my knees to my chest and placed my head between my knees. That afternoon, I slept out in the middle of the jungle with a tigress by my side. It was the safest sleep I’ve ever had all my life.

 

 

 

From the on I went into the jungle lands without fear. Brio as I came to know her slept in my rooms at night. People began talking of her. Saying there was a tiger on the prowl. They were strangely calm about it, as if they knew she meant no harm. Soon I began to be known as the Tiger Lady. She started walking the streets with me in daylight, and the people treated her with great respect. The children were wide eyed and gaping at the massive cat, but their curiosity betrayed their fear. Their hands reached out for her, and with a little encouragement Brio began to play with them. Romping around as if she were a simple house cat. As I had taught her she taught me. She showed me the ways of the jungle, mountains, and even sometimes the snowier terrain. We traveled often, but always came back to our little valley nestled in the mountains. We were secluded. I learned were the most secretive of creatures lived, once we even spotted another of her kind, far off in the distance. He was rather cold, knowing we were there but not acknowledging our presence. My sense sharpened, I could hear even the lightest footfalls, and my reflexes grew supernatural quick. And perhaps it was being with Brio but my hair grew darker in streaks. But most importantly she taught me to love life again. She showed me a simple loving life, where we needed no silly human things. We lived. I learned the art of cooking, tiring of raw meats and vegetables. I learned of other towns and different cultures in India. Some of them feared Brio more than death. Apparently other cats had terrorized their villages before. They were long gone but the fear remained solidly in place.

Years passed in this lovely place and happier I never was. Once Brio had disappeared in the night, something strong calling to her. She was gone for nearly a year, returning with two young cubs. In this span of time she taught me of independence, for she was busy teaching her young ones, as she had taught me. It pushed me to communicate with the villagers more. I met a young girl who taught me how to weave parts of beautiful scarves, and silks. I also met a boy who was apprenticed to a black smith, who loved to make pretty things. He told me the properties of stone and how to work different metals. He even made me a piece of his own design, a necklace made of leather, dangling from it was a tiger’s eye, shaped as Brio.

I fear she knew for some time that her time was coming to an end. As if some sixth sense alerted her that it was running out quicker than she originally thought. The signs were there, her disappearance to mother new cubs, pushing me to make human friends. But it never really helped; looking back I know she knew. There was nothing I could have done. I regret not forcing her to spend the last of her days with me, but alas, it was never meant to be, if I had not suffered so great of a loss, that final blow would have never driven me to become what I am.

People began looking for us. Thinking we were something incredible. One day before my dearest Brio left this world, a shaman of sorts came to us. He claimed that he could transform the human body to be that of what it willed. To alter the form entirely. At the time I wrote it off, thinking nothing that came from this crazy man’s lips could be true. But that was before. Before I met the others. Even though they were born that way, and could not alter their form if they chose to, they still existed. He thought our love should be united, alike in mind and spirit. But I sent him sprawling from our little hut in the hills. And we never heard from him again.

It was some time after this man’s sudden appearance that it happened. That my darling died. But before that she disappeared once more. I was not as fearful as I was the last time this had happened thinking time was simply repeating itself. It was a silent day. Not a bird singing its love of the sky, not the wind whispering in the high grasses. Clouds loomed large over the mountains. An unusual chill filled the air. It was as if nature itself knew what was coming. There was dread in my heart, and I began to search. For day I followed her trail, always a day behind. She knew me well, and was testing the skills I had learned from her. But I was her, I needed her. But with all that I tried I was too late. She ran into that hunter’s knife. Dove into that trap, so intent on escaping me she hadn’t even realized. My heart wrenched in two, my body sagged the ground. I was lost in my mind; a cloud of red followed me around. I screamed. Screamed until my lungs burned and the blood beat quickly in my heart. I felt the knife, the kick, and the beatings again. And I ran. Faster than light, quicker than sound. And what I found was so different from the way I had left it.

I walked into their camp without a care in the world for myself. I was silent, deadly silent. I was right upon the man with the knife when he turned. He jumped up, and I saw something flicker in his eyes. He reeked of fear. Funny how they fear not a tigress, but tiny little me.

“What have you done this night?” I asked, “Did you slay that beast their.”

“No milady, it was I.” An eager man piped from across the fire.

“You’ve no idea what you’ve just done. You’ve sealed your fate, my young one.” A cruel smile stretched across my lips. For the first time in my life I felt my father rise up in me.  Quicker than any beast on earth I snatched the knife, leaped across the fire and bashed the hilt of the blade into his thick skull. Scratched his skin, all over, took out an eye, peeled his flesh, no others could touch me. For as they did, they burned before they could fully grasp me. My clothes caught fire; I must have looked like a demon from the very depths of hell. I talked to him all the while, whispered soft words full of venom, and vengeance. The words really don’t matter, but the lesson did. I left him breathing that one. For he would suffer just as I would for year to come. He would be partially blind, and scarred, deformed for the rest of his old life. And one day, perhaps if I desired so, I would kill him just as slowly as I crippled him.

“You will suffer just as I. Tell them, tell them the tiger lady took they eye you so willingly stole.”

 

And I left him.

 

I carried her body back to our little village. Took her to the falls where I first met her. Her two sons joined me. Helped me dig the grave. They mourned as I but were quicker to move onto their lives. I cried for years. My life was bleak, I lost everyone. I hid out in the mountains for years upon years. People tried to comfort the Tiger Lady but I was her no more. I was a lost soul, drifting. I stopped trying, stopped breathing once. But the damned swallows wouldn’t let me be. The jungle took care of me. She soaked up my pain. But it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. My heart was stone for decades. Until I remembered. I remember the shaman man.

The pain inside my head made it difficult to move. Thus, it took quite some time. It took my brain a few seconds to make the connection. It seemed to be shocked, unable to react to the thoughts flitting through it.  I had to move. I had to pick myself up from the dirt and walk. I had something to do, something that I had to do, in order to survive, and in order to live again. That I think was the shocker that I believe is what broke the ice. The thought that I had to do something, instead of nothing. I had to take action. Not simply be a reaction to everything else. So for the first time in twenty some odd years, I walked into the village. I asked them of the shaman man. None had heard of him. The old were dead and gone, only their children were left. None of them traveled very far, and so none of them knew.

So I awakened the senses that lay long dormant in me. I said goodbye to those I knew and promised to return if ever I did find what I was looking for. They simply shook their heads and asked that I stay; my home was here with them. But no, this hadn’t been my home sense Brio died. They offered me a sense of family, and still I declined. I would never be whole again. I would never love so completely again. My loss was too great. As I left the villagers peeked through their doors and windows, nodding their silent goodbyes. At the end of the lane one approached me, it was my little apprentice boy. The one who had made my tiger pendent. He handed me a pack full of food, and a canteen for water. He kissed the top of my head gently and handed me one last thing. A beautiful hand crafted dagger.

“Go with Grace, My Tigress, and with great speed come home again.”

I only nodded my head, still numb to these human emotions. I suppose I had someone who was willing to look after me. If ever I returned.

It was a midsummer day when I left. The sun was high and sweat trickled down my spine. I remember wondering about my looks then. What a mess I must be. My hair knotted and sticking up in places, dirt embedded in my skin. I trudged on, not really caring, just thinking to myself. Another human aspect returning to haunt me. I walked on, memories emerging like brightly colored fish in a murky pound. Flashes of things that hurt the mind. My body ached with new movement, my joints popped and bones creaked under the motion of walking. My heart was heavy. This trek would be good for me. It would help me build my stamina. For in all honesty, I did not want to die. I did not know what came after this life, and as humans tend to be, I feared the unknown. So for now I reached toward the only hope I had. I reached for something more, a piece of the world that just might fill up the smallest bit of the whole left inside me. Perhaps insanity still clung to my mind, but I wanted to believe that crazy man. I didn’t need it then, for I had my love, but I desperately needed it now. I traveled to all the surrounding tribes asking person after person. After no hope was found there I decided it was time to steer toward the larger cities, no matter how much I dislike it.

I looked about. Listened to the silence. Not a bird chirped, the jungle steamed, and the leafy ferns sagged with the moisture heavy that hung heavy in the air. I saw animals laying in the shade. Attempting to escape such an intense heat.  It was a long journey that I took. From that day I believe I spent two years searching before I heard anything. She was a belly dancer from a tribe in the Deep South. She told me of place down there were hybrids of sorts. There was a doctor, who studied such beasts. For the first time in years I could see the magic again. It was in this young woman and absolute truth sparkled in her words. But she would speak no more of it. She bid me far well and faded into the crowd.

So south I traveled, it took a few months, and the father down I went, the more I heard of it. It was impossible to reach for many. Those who had tainted souls could not find the place. The damaged and broken were the only ones who returned from their place. An oasis of sorts, in a dry barren land. They say when the earth begins to crack, and the trees wither away to nothing but bunches of sticks, you are close. This confused me for an oasis has water does it not? Therefore when one is close it should be lush, cool, and beautiful.

But as you’ve already guessed I found that cracked ground. The trees I touched fell to dust. I was without water for days and still I kept walking, ever southward. Through the parched earth, until the earth swallowed me up.

My muscles protested loudly when I woke. They ached with exhaustion, screamed at me to lie down again. Glancing around I spotted a little man hunched over a pot. He seemed to be adding herbs of some sort to the stew.

“Who are you?” I asked cautiously. The little man turned and with a smirk stretched across his face he said, “I’m the one you’ve been looking for am I not? You should know me.”  As he spoke his lips cracked and his skin crackled like old parchment. His clothes were nothing more than tattered rags. For his bedraggled appearance he seemed to have stashed away some pride. Hidden it somewhere deep inside. He stood nosily, his bones snapping, and joints creaking.  He never broke our gaze as he said “You’ll probably be the last. I don’t have much in me any more. These bones are growing much too old.”

He shook his head and waved her to the door.

“Go look; go see if it’s what you really want. Go, go, and look with your soul, not your sights. You will see right, I refuse to waste my talent on the ungrateful.”

With a final shove, that defied the little man’s body she was outside, blinking in the sun. Alone her thoughts returned to her condition. How long had she been out, where had the clean clothes come from, and why was she not covered in grime, dirt, and who knows what else. Did it really matter? Suppose not, she seemed perfectly fine. No scratches or bruises that hadn’t already been there. She forced her eyes to push past the sunlight. They revealed to me flowers. Enormous flowers the size of my head, in every hue imaginable on this earth. They hung from thick vines, dropping under the weight of them. Bee’s drunk from their pollen flew about lazily. I walked around, hearing the rushing of a stream near by, searching for it. It hurt to walk but with each step I felt a determination, strength. And I was proud; I’d reached my destination, all by myself, alone. I had accomplished something.

Stuck in my mind not really seeing. I passed all sorts of marvels, not realizing until a few seconds later. I spun around on my heel and gawked. There stood a man, at least half of a man, the other half where his legs would be was a horse’s body. A curious smile played on his lips, and his russet hair drifted lazily about his face. A centaur. His green eyes sparkled and he said, “Wasn’t this what you wanted?” My jaw dropped, eyes widened. “What in the…… What….How….Your…………real.”

A true smile spread across his features. “Just as you're real. If you are real. Come to me. I’ll show you.”

“I’ll have your name sir, before I go any where with you.”

“Aiden. Now come there is not much time before the moon.” His hands, long fingered, strong, and calloused grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up behind him. Her shoulders tingled, what was going on? What is happening to me?

As if reading her mind Aiden spoke “If you are truly the creature the doctor man says you are, than you’ll feel it all coming back to you. It’s in him, the land, us. All of it.” His green eyes darkened, “I hope you have not lost yourself completely. Closing yourself off from it, kills pieces of you, and makes the transformation dark, ugly, and you can become something that is not natural to this earth.”

“Natural.” I tipped my head to the side, locks of long hair falling in my face. “You speak of natural, you are not natural, no offense.”

“You think that because you do not see.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he grabbed my hand saying, “Hush. They are unsure around your kind.” I finally looked up and around, seeing the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. Woman with tails of fish, every jeweled faucet of the sea. Green, aqua, deep blue blinding black. They sat on the shore brushing their thick hair; one caught sight of us, and gave us a wicked grin. My stomach dropped and I nudged him.

We continued on like this for some time. I saw the folk, tiny people with sparkling insect wings, dressed in leaves and flowers. The folk. I saw what some considered elves, and little men with goat feet. I saw a peacock with the head and chest of a woman. From a distance we saw a man with the head of a bull, a lion with a serpent’s tail. Creatures from myth. Creatures who weren’t believe to exist. All here, none were left out. Some variations of humans, others strictly animal.  Aiden brought me back to the hut a few hours later. My head was swimming with questions but I could not start at one place and pick one out. I saw smiles on their faces. Genuine happiness shone in their eyes. There were children too. All of them spread out for miles and miles. In a place in the middle of a desert. An oasis of magic. Fully awake I could now see it glittering in the trees, flowing in the river, glowing in the flowers. This place was sacred. I wish my beloved Brio were here. My eyes misted, and Aiden must have felt me tremble, for he turned his head slightly and reached for my hand.

“Do you belong in your soul? Can you live without this shell of body? Answer these questions tonight. Try and figure if you belong here. Do you want this?” With that he left me, and I lied awake all night. Thinking of times when Brio was alive. Running, tracking hunting, breathing. Living again. I need something. A new body, a new form. Something different all together. Being so different could I finally find my place in the world? Could I be happy? This life wasn’t one I chose, for the first part of it I was never happy. What could I change now, my life’s destiny?  I walked to the river, to think, to calm myself so that I might get some sleep. I saw lights flickering in the trees, glittering in the water, like jeweled stones. Curious, questioning. Do I belong here? Do I have this choice? Do I want this more than life?

I fear the place of death is not made for me. I am unable to convince myself that the anger held inside of me is too great. Too great for that dimension, to consuming for this time. Change. I can change. For the first time in a long time, I fell asleep with a smile dancing across my lips.

The next morning I ran to the little man, their Doctor. I didn’t have to speak. He saw everything through the windows of my soul. Saw the fire, the passion, the life in me again. The most precious thing he saw there, I believe was hope. He handed me a cup with tiny tigers etched around the rim. “Drink.”

 

 

I must have slept for days. I remember hatred, flashes of pain, needle like pricks. I dreamed memories, breathed the water. My body was turned inside out. Agonizing pain, blinding pain. Also determination. A fierce strength bucking up inside me. Demanding a hold over my mortal body. Threading itself throughout my nerves, muscles, and heart. Supporting the body that was breaking all around it. It demanded that my mind live. That I would survive. I would live. I remember blood dripping from the good Doctor’s hands, I saw myself split open, peaked at my bones, etched with amber swirls. I am different. A mere mortal could not survive such pain, such shock. May I remind you that I am not a mere mortal? Sometimes I wonder if I ever was. With these last thoughts, sights, images, sweet black oblivion finally claimed me.

 

 

When I attempt to open my eyes for the first time in three weeks, all I see is shadow. A grey blob here and there. I see movement, another blob leaning in closer.

 I hear.

The silence crashing around me is interrupted by humming. I see lights, glittering, flickering from blob to blob. I hear more, a deeper sound, a voice? I remember blood, pain, needles. I remember my skull being split open, my green eyes sitting across from me. Am I supposed to remember this? Am I meant to? It’s a difficult question. It makes one think they are stronger for surviving it, but are the nightmares that are sure to come really worth it.

I feel.

Cold, metal. Warm hands I think. Yes, I remember what those feel like. Hands. Do I have hands? Can I move?!?

I shift.

I hear clearly.

“The drugs are still in your system, you won’t be able to move for an hour or so yet. It’s a miracle you’ve gotten your eyes open.”

Doctor. This voice belongs to Doctor. Memories flood me. The journey here, Aiden, the mermaids, fairies, and peacock woman. I remember Brio. My beloved Brio.

I feel a twitch, lift my heavy head. I still cannot see clearly. I begin to say so but all I hear is a low growl.

“You’re going to be stuck in this form until the drugs wear off. Wait can you even see me. Here let me see you.” I feel my chin being cupped by strong hands. Cool relief flows into my eyes. Things get a little blurry but I can see colors, clear shapes.  I look around his little hut. Neat and tidy, no sign of blood or pain. I struggle to rise and feel so heavy. My hands twitch and I look down, not to see my long fingers and oval shaped nails but a huge tiger’s paw. Stripped, heavy, and deadly. What the hell is going on? It worked. Actually worked. I stood up, circled myself, attempting to look at myself.

The Doctor’s face turns white. “You shouldn’t be able to move. You cannot possible be strong enough to carry that much weight around. It takes time to adjust. There is no possible way. Your parents, who where they?”

I open my mouth but nothing comes out. My voice will not work here. I wonder what he is thinking. I look the Doctor dead in the eye, and hear a whisper of sound. I strain, listening harder.

……not possible. There is no way she should be able to do this. Unusual even for an immortal. How? This I must learn………requires further studies…..must contact the others………pump her ……. Focus……..can’t let her go, she is much too valuable, and I won’t be surprised if she has other abilities. Perhaps she can see magic. Could she change now? Could she hear thoughts of others? I wonder…….

I will myself to speak. I make myself believe it what I want most in the world, will my bones to stretch, my face to push out. As soon as the thought runs through my mind my entire body shudders. Pain pierces my bones, drums into my skull, and my fur shrinks away, back into my skin. My jaw pops out of place, teeth shrink. Everything feels like its being packed to tight, and I feel as if I will implode.

Then it all stops.

The pain is gone, and I see my hands again. My hair brushes across my cheeks. I feel strong. For the first time in months I feel strong. Alive, I have a new life to lead. And I will be damned if this Miracle Doctor will force me to stay.

“I will stay as long as I need to, but I will not live here as the others do. I will delve into the world. If they do not wish it, and if you fear it, it’s simply too bad for you. I will no longer be controlled by my grief, agony, humans, father, or you, ever again. If you have a problem with that, Doctor, I think you are s**t out of luck.” I feel my incisors lengthen and a thrill runs down my spine. Who would have ever thought tiny little me could hold so much power. I am thrumming with magic, its like electricity running through my veins.

“And don’t think you can fool me, for even when you don’t speak. I can hear you.” I then stepped out of the hut to find Aiden.

 

As I stepped outside, I wondered what life is. The real true life that exists all around us. The pain that brings us down, what is happiness? Does any of it really matter now? I think it should, but yet, I feel nothing. “No remorse, no longer swallowed by grief. If anything I finally feel…..at peace. I’m at peace with myself, finally. I look out into the world with new eyes. Literally. Life. I couldn’t wait to start living.

 

I stayed there for a week, perhaps two. I can’t really remember anymore. The details elude me. This thing I have become, like nothing else on this planet, it is intoxicating. I live for it; breathe it, and perhaps the only person on this earth who feel at home in her own skin. Before I left that oasis, that sacred place in the desert, I apologized to the poor doctor, and thanked him from the bottom of my heart. We talked for days and stayed up many long nights. Speaking of destiny, fate, gods. We spoke of many things. We became close, the Doctor and I. And would you guess that I never found his true name. I suppose one such as he, must be careful with the true names of things. No one wants to be controlled. No one wants their gift stolen, bound from them. So to me he is simply the Doctor. I thanked Aiden for his help as well. He asked me to stay. I had decided a long time ago that I would see the world. That I would live again, under my own terms. So politely I declined.

So traveled the world. I lived, I breathed, I became educated in London. Danced in the riots of California. I saw the world change. I met people, but never stayed to long. I was honest. I did thing I enjoyed.  And I visited the Doctor many times until his death. The creatures still live there, Aiden has traveled with me a few times. He never felt safe out there in the world. People never thought anything of him, I think its because they blind themselves to anything surreal. He did get a few looks out there in the supposed real world. Children mostly, a few young girls. He always blushed and rushed us onward, racing from the children’s squeals of delight. Saying “Momma, Momma you see horsey man. Mommaaaaa!” He always returned but I see him becoming more curious about the world, a desire to live. I feel that one day he will leave the oasis. He has nothing to hold him there anymore.

During my last visit to the Doctor he told me many things. Showed me how to do what he did. How to bring hope to people who have none. He showed me how to save people. The way he found it, it was such a fluke. You’d never believe. He also taught me how to heal. To center myself, concentrate all the power within me, and seal those broken people, their wounds, and make them whole again. I’m happy to say, I eased the Doctors’ death. I helped him pass on to his next adventure peacefully.

This is who I am now. A healer, a tigress. A worldly scholar, a dancer, and a bringer of hope. One day the world will see us all. The creatures once believed  long dead. We will show them a different world, without pain.
I will return to the place of my birth, put my father in his place, save my mother, and bring some long needed peace. I will save her. For this is my life, my story, and I live now, in me, but not for me, no I live for something bigger than me. I live for Brio, I live for love, and I live for hope.

One day I may return home, to see that boy that I could love. The one I just might love, I will return and see the place that haunts my dreams, when my work is done and all the broken people learn to see.