ODE TO THE END: A BALLAD OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 33

ACHIM

"What am I doing here?" It was a question Achim could only wonder. He cradled Naomi as he hopped from rooftop and jumped from point to woodland point. She requested that they leave her home, and he obliged Naomi by speeding her along to a place only they knew. Achim did not move as fast as he would have liked. He simply couldn't. Not when his shins shattered each time his heels touched the ground. The boy pinched at the pain e, but he would not let himself be impeded. Achim carried on, but what would have been a moment's journey now took minutes due to yesterday's injury. When he came to the final line where pavement gave to the untamed bloom, Achim felt Naomi clench at his shirt.

"We can walk the rest of the way," said Naomi. He assumed that she sensed his weakness, but Achim refused the sun-kissed girl and approached the woods without falter.

Achim bit his tongue to replace one torture for another. His body may have been screaming but he spoke as if all was well. "Those gray guys are probably scrambling to find us. After all, they wanted to watch me, but now I've gone and taken you. I doubt your mom will just let that stand so"—

Naomi pulled on his shirt and spoke in a low tone. "I don't care what they do. Not right now. Just put me down, Okay."

"No," said Achim. "You're not in any condition to be walking around."

"Achim! Put me down," Naomi shouted.

The dark boy flinched. He never imagined that Naomi could shout like that. He did not think it possible for one as happy-hearted as her. It took him a moment to swallow his reluctance, as well as his shock, but Achim did as she demanded. Once he placed Naomi on the ground, Achim extended an arm to assist her but Naomi pushed him away. She then attempted to get up on her own, but her legs buckled as soon as she put weight on them. As he watched her wobble on her broken limbs, Naomi did not surprise him when she fell down. He knew it would happen, but all Achim could do was offer an arm to assist.

"No—Not yet," said Naomi. She was willing to bleed to pull herself up, but Achim had seen enough. He lifted Naomi off of the ground and attempted to carry her again, but the sun-kissed girl shoved him with notable force. She pushed two paces back and said, "I don't need you to carry me."

At her insistence, Achim nodded and offered a supporting hand instead. At his silent behest, Achim saw a flash of rejection in Naomi's brightless eyes. What she thinking, he wondered. And again Achim thought, what am I doing? Why was he so committed to accommodating her despite his better judgment? The boy did not tarry on the thought. Not when Naomi accepted his hand. He was only relieved.

The two then interlocked, and, when Naomi gave the go-ahead, they disappeared into the green. As they walked, the shared weight of their short journey was undoubtedly easier on him, but a gloom now tainted the thicket. Achim could not bring himself to look upon Naomi. Not when her voice had been so hostile. He still helped her though, through the dark wood, and she helped him too. There was comfort in the support, but the joy they once shared was gone. What remained was an unspoken commitment and an unrealized fear that it was never meant to last.

When Achim and Naomi walked through the floral veil, they had officially returned to their sanctuary. But it was not the same. The sky was muted by heavy clouds, and what little light broke from the grayish sky lit the city and the distant sea in a faded hue. Naomi pulled away from Achim the moment they were free from the thicket. Achim objected to her walking without aid, but Naomi, determined to separate herself, limped through the tall grass toward her lone oak. Even so, when he saw Naomi set herself down beneath her chosen tree, Achim was compelled to approach.

He posted himself next to Naomi and watched her as she peered into the colorless seas. He had never seen her like this before: Quiet and somber yet palpably angry. She seemed so pale that the familiar hue of her fiery hair seemed to dim. Achim eventually sat down near her, but he could not pull himself from her enigmatic visage. Naomi had become a mystery to him, but, in an odd twist, he felt a special kind of kinship to her gloomy new face. Achim could not remain aware of Warden or even his brother before such a specter. Only Naomi remained, and the layers holistically revealed.