Sometimes Our Minds Work Against Us...
Frank Zhang; Moonshadow
Inspired by: Cat Stevens' Moonshadow
Walking into the night it didn't like anything much; dark sky, lit by small pinpricks of light thousands of years old, the ground cold and damp from the storm that would consume the day that would never come.
The path that pulled him was over white covered leaves becoming one with the ground again, branches reaching down to tap his shoulder and tell him the secrets they had seen, it was on this path that he came to a small pond, the trees part to show a small secluded area, a sweet place for two.
Caramel curls stood up above an old still log, long since tipped to the side, along with the feet of another sticking out at the end, two worn out converse covered with mud and soles worn almost all the way through.
Standing still and letting the warm wet air fill his lungs he sat and listened, soft words carrying across the pond and echoing slightly off the woods.
"Oh, I'm being followed by a Moonshadow, moooonshadow, moonshadow." Her whispered words are filled with love and affection towards the converse wearer.
"Leepin' and hoppin' on a moonshadow, moooonshadow, moonshadow." She adjusts slightly and the shoes follow suit, and the converse softly start the next verse.
"Oh if I ever lose my hands, lose my plough, lose my land," Taking a deep breathe he continues, obviously with great difficulty, "Oh, if I ever lose my hands, oh if.... I won't have to work no more." Hazel's hands quickly wipe away tears before beginning the next verse.
"And if I ever lose my eyes, if my colors all run dry, yes if I ever lose my eyes, I won't have to cry no more.
"Oh I'm beginning followed by a moonshadow, a mooonshadow, moonshadow."
The lines go on, trading verses as both begin to loose strength to continue, Hazel repeatedly having to wipe tears, each time getting less quick, and slowly the second voice begins to fade.
And the tune abruptly stops.
The night wind has become cold and heavy, and a cold breathy cough came from one of the two, and an inaudible mumbled whisper made Hazel nod, her voice cracking and splitting,
"Y--You are my sunshine, my only sunshine....Y--You make me happy when skies gray, you'll never know dear how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away."
Taking a deep shaky breath she continues, with the light movement from converse, "The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held in my arms, when I awoke dear I was mistaken, so I hung my head and I... I....I cried..." The last word hangs off her tongue the way a bolder would a cliff. Once let go it let the tears leap with it.
Her chest collapsed and the caramel curls shook violently as her sobs echoed loudly everywhere they would reach. Racing towards her you see the cold limp body, the pale skin, that had just begun to become normal, and the thick hair, just neatly cut now laid in crimson bath of Hazel's lap.
He begun to speak, Frank did, but screamed for him to leave, to leave her and her brother be. To leave them alone; as she rocked back in forth holding the red and white head to her, as if this would bring him back, as if this would make him wake up from a forever slubber.
She hugged him tight to her and he called for the help that had already been running towards them. New Rome's soldiers, with armor and swords, all unneeded for the battle that was to begin, because it wasn't their fight.
She sat and she rocked and she cried and when the medics took him away they saw the gash, and the knife, but they didn't question, they quickly swiped up the body of a hero and hurried back to camp. Hazel was taken screaming and crying in Frank's arms.
When the morning came and Hazel lay in the white room on a clean bed with clean cloths she didn't speak, but neither did he. When he saw those eyes open and clench shut with despair a moment later he merely pulled her close, and tried, tried so hard to console, because he knew how empty the words 'sorry for your loss' were, and he knew there was nothing he could say.
So he held her as a rainy day set in.