Tomorrow Will Be Kinder (Watty Awards 2012)

V: Lament

It’s a window. A large, gaping window, metres tall and wide. It nearly takes up the entire wall, save for the edges, where more fire torches are latched onto the dark surface. 

And through its closed glass panes, I can see outside. 

It’s the storm. Still raging, thrashing the branches of a nearby tree into the glass. The winds are strangling everything in sight, and rain is pouring down harder than ever. Lightning spears across the sky, dead trees of light against the backdrop of black. 

Sighing in relief, I lay back down, taking deep breaths. 

It’s the same storm. 

I’m not dead. 

I’m not dead. 

Suddenly, I freeze. 

There’s a noise, coming from behind me. I look back, at the final wall that has escaped my inspection. 

There’s a door on it, slightly to the right of the bedhead. I watch as the handle turns and it opens to reveal one person. 

Luke. 

Gasping, I sit up, pulling the blankets even closer to my body. Looking down, I make sure all my clothes are intact; or as intact as they could possibly be, considering I’d just spent hours walking around in the rain. 

“Hey, Maisie,” Luke smiles, walking in further with a tray of food in his hands. “You’re awake.”

His voice is low, calm and steady. He hasn’t done anything except help, I realise. He’s… amazing. 

“You found me,” I breathe, unable to look away from his kind eyes. “I… I fell – and then, I don’t remember, I –”

“Hush, now,” he murmurs, laying the tray of food down on the bedside table and coming to sit next to me. “You were climbing the ladder, remember?”

I shake my head. “I –”

And then I remember, I remember it all: from the running to the dance to the more running to the ladder, climbing it, then slipping off… 

Whimpering, I curl up into a ball, tucking my knees up to my chin. 

“How?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. 

“You really thought I was just going to let you go after that incredible dance?” Luke chuckles softly. “I was trying to find you. Luckily, I did.”

“So where am I?”

“My house,” he replies. “Safe.”

“You saved my life,” I realise, my eyes widening. “Th-thank you.”

Standing up, Luke grabs a mug off the table and hands it to me. 

“Hot chocolate,” he winks. “You must be starving.”

“What time is it?” I ask, unfolding my legs and taking the mug from him, sniffing it sceptically before taking a sip. 

“Six a.m.,” Luke smiles as I go to drink more of what could possibly be the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. “You’ve been asleep for over twelve hours.”

“You carried me back?” I ask incredulously. 

“You’re very light, you know. It was like carrying a feather.”

I bite my lip, not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not. Before I can decide, the unmistakeable sound of a stomach growling hit my ears. Blushing, I tuck a strand of soft, dry hair behind my ear.