He'd awoken the next day in the same spot he'd collapsed, tense and exhausted. Noah stayed in the spot for a moment, turning to look up into the trees at the too blue sky which seemed to mock him. Squinting, he recalled the nightmare he'd had in the dirt. A recurring one, it was, and one he tried to desperately to erase. His night terrors only made it that much worse, almost as bad as watching his beloved be ripped away from him time and time again. Almost.
It started as most of his dreams do, at night watching a celestial phenomena take place. This time it was the alliance of Jupiter and Saturn, known as the "Great Conjunction." He was watching them align in the same spot he had fallen asleep in. It was beautiful, until he saw a figure of black out of the corner of his eye swiftly make its way through the trees. He got up, scanning his surroundings for any sign of...anything. The conjunction looked as if it was growing, reaching out to him. The dark figures kept annoying his peripheral vision, causing him to twist around trying to figure out what was there. The sky grew brighter as the Conjunction grew closer, and the figures only multiplied. He spun around and around, walking slowly into the trees he was surrounded by. They only grew further away. The figures started to whisper, and he began to speed walk, as if to escape somehow. The Conjunction was bigger than the moon, and the whispers only grew. Louder and louder they grew. Noah could only make out one word.
"..ash...ly...n..n." The figures uttered.
Noah raised his pace from a speed walk to a run, a run to the trees which didn't come any closer. The figures only grew louder and more of them decided it was their sole duty to torture Noah until death do them part. He sprinted towards the trees which only moved further and further back. The voices didn't stop. The Conjunction kept growing.
"..ashlynn...ash..lynn...ashlynn, ashlynn, ASHLYNN ASHLYNN ASHLYNN ASHLYNN."
Noah had finally lost it, and screamed. He collapse where he started running, and allowed the figures to torture him with the only name which once brought a smile to his face. The Conjunction lit up the sky, as if it was calling the sun it's little brother. It lit up his surroundings, causing him to look up to be blinded by both the star and the figures. Those figures were...corpses. Demons. Spirits back from the dead to cause him misery. He'd lost his voice, and screamed silently as the world went white and the decaying hands reached towards him.
Shuttering, he could never seem to erase that one from his mind, no matter how many things he ingested. Or injected. Or inhaled. They all seemed to make his terrors mesh together rather than make them leave him. Shaking his head, he got up quickly, almost collapsing again, and stumbled back into his cabin where he accidently left the front door open. He remembered bits and pieces of last night's outburst. Walking into his bedroom, he saw all the papers on the ground, a messy bed, and a spilled silver flask at the base of his bed. He wryly laughed as he tidied up his room, and inspected the flask which stained his wooden floor with the liquid and memories. Setting it on his side table, he threw on a polo and blazer, along with some black pants, and caught himself in the mirror. No doubt, he looked like total dog feces. The bags under his eyes were more predominant and his face was on the brink of being purely skin and bone. He shrugged, muttering to himself.
"Well, you've seen better days." He cringed when memories of bright faced Ashlynn plagued his thoughts again.
Shoving them aside, he ruffled his hair and walked to his kitchen. All thoughts of hunger ceased when he saw the wide open window over his sink with the lock broken. Pieces of the window scattered the floor as Noah inspected every inch of the thefts tracks. His face contorted in anger as he saw the seat of his dining chair ripped up and every last vial of fairy bones gone. He threw the cushion into the table before inspecting the window lock again. It was broken with a tool instead of brute force, and the theft didn't steal anything of value. Well, Noah's beloved fairy bones were worth more than sapphire and gold. The thief made the mistake of stepping in the crushed glass, leaving a trail of ripped up dirt outside his window in the general direction of the village which took a quarter of a day to get to.
He swiftly grabbed his messenger bag, it already stocked for a few days' travel, and barged out the door. Noah was on the tracks of the thief before turning back for a moment. He sighed as he walked back to his house, closing the window and opening a small bottle containing his day-terror subduing pills. He swallowed it without much care, threw it into his side table drawer, and grabbed a polaroid picture of his dearly beloved. He tucked it safely into his pocket, and ventured out the world once more to apprehend the sorry person who dared take away his beauty and grace for a second time.
YOU ARE READING
All I Have Are the Stars
Fantasy"'I tell the stars about you' Ashlynn broke the silence after they had both been staring at the sky for an ungodly amount of time." Nothing has ever gone right for Noah, it never has. The only time he's had hope was when Ashlynn, his beloved, was st...
