The Discarded

Alone Chapter 14 - 1

He worked for an hour on the plans before sighing and setting them aside. "I'll have to come back to this later."

Taking her hand back, Elizabeth refocused him on the here and now. The campus still needed a thousand and one things that wouldn't get done if he didn't do them. It was a relief to turn his mind from carnage and slaughter to growing things and the woman with warm brown eyes.

The trees had suffered from last year's hot summer, pulling deeply from stores of water and nutrients to make it through. This year's heat was taxing the green brothers, pushing them close to sickness. Their weakness filled the air with chemicals, drawing insects like chum in the water.

Elizabeth wasn't about to let one of her children go down under burrowing beetles or net weavers. In her uncompromising war against sickness, Cesare was her first line of defense. Weighted down with yards of rubber, he strung them into a web work of sweating hoses, dribbling a steady stream of life giving water to her green friends.

That was the idea but as lunch came around, Cesare wasn't even half done. He'd long ago dropped his sweater off at the cottage. His hair was a wet tangle of darkness, hints of auburn burning under the suns glare, long strands dripping sweat down his back. Molded to his body, the white shirt hugged hard, uncompromising angles. Starved flesh wrapped whipcord muscle, draped over stark bone. With the amount of training he put himself through, it was impossible to keep any softness on his body.

The ravens told him all he needed to know; they littered the tree like deaths fruit, calling down insults. Some had taken a shine to him, but they still preferred Elizabeth. Who could blame them? He was right there with them.

The black knives clothed in feathers had announced her arrival. Eyes running over his body, something flared before she killed it at the root. Taking in the sweating hoses, she nodded happily. "We'll need to work on it after lunch, but this should do for a start."

He left her by the willow while he went for food. The regulars looked up from the cafeteria tables before ducking their heads. Most of them didn't have friends to take them to town, others were working on homework. Between them existed the lost, the ones ditched by lovers or friends.

As soon as the ravens saw him coming, they rushed him in a blur of black feathers and eager caws. Laughing, he pushed through them as they landed on his arms, grabbing wildly for the nuggets and fries. Cesare had fought this battle before and learned to keep the ravens tray on top, covering the other two.

Entering the safe space around Elizabeth, they burst from him in a cloud of playful malice. She tried without success to suppress her grin at their game. "You spoil them outrageously." It was meant as a complaint, but it came across far too warm.

Taking a seat, Cesare handed over her tray. Watching the squabbling ravens, his words were quiet. "They don't mean any harm. How many things can I say that about?"

No matter how aggressive the ravens seemed, they made sure everyone got fed. It was done with skillful drops that looked like clumsy fumbles, but food always seemed to land close a smaller raven. They were old friends, showing their love through fighting and name calling.

The two settled the comfortable silence that was the territory of good friends as they watched death's favored. Never having grown up with a friend, the art of small talk didn't come easy. Instead, they walked through the quiet together.

They'd learned the peace of the lonely. Listened to the whispers that spoke when the world was still. Touched the soft places of the heart when velvet blackness fell across the soul. You can't know yourself with others around, that journey can only be walked alone and in the silent stillness of the night.