Chapter 8: and the Heart Thief (Part II)

Your hurt locker, my escape

     “Thief?”
     “Thief!” Rafe yelled. I hadn’t heard him the first time or had and hadn’t been phased. I looked at him.
     “You seem very unmoved by all of this, what are your thoughts?”
     “Nothing cousin; just thinking, that you should probably kept you’re w***e on a leash next time” I said and left the tent. I walked out to where soil met stone and began the journey back. I should have just stayed in Switzerland, and then headed north to Alaska. But I needed time to think or rather not think about my actions and my responsibility now as some sort of guardian. I hadn’t seen her since that night. She probably doesn’t remember me and most likely doesn’t want to see anyone right now. I dreamed about her all the time what she may look like, the feelings that came with that; but she was still just a little girl in my mind -well outside my fantasies. The last time I’d seen her she’d been so scared, so innocent and naive; her brown curls crusted with dry blood and tears as I left her defenceless in the emergency room, but I couldn’t stay "I was a coward back then. I found myself running, wanting to see her and after all these years of yearning I can actually touch her now, hold her in my arms; comfort her, sooth her suffering and fill it with laughter and adventure. She may not remember me at first, but she will. Her grandmother was always quite the storyteller. She will remember me, embrace me, and love me "eventually. She simply won’t be able to resist.
     The sun was at its peak and I had enough of running, sick of these human constraints. I looked out upon the ocean, to the deep horizon; the water so clear after a storm, so innocent and meek. It was known for its rough ways and the unsightly dangers that lurked beneath these waters. I was upon the walls barrier now; bare foot gripped to the side, my hair clawing my eyes out. The waves slithered up the sides of the wall, breaking as softly as they could in an effort to tempt the undecided and sway him into the deep. It was quite pathetic how mere humans were so susceptible to Mother Nature and her tricks. I looked from my feet and followed the horizon, it was quite a swim but I’ll manage -if not Satan will surely laugh at my effort of immortality. Like the Gods; Hades was never one to mess in the affairs of humans, but I guess I should be proud -that I’d earn his attention and torment for as long as he shall have me live. I raised my arms at my sides and plunged into the calling abyss. Poseidon’s creation engulfed my whole being, completely consuming me. The ocean rocked me back and forth as I sank deep down to the bottom. I looked up above me when my feet hit rock bottom, and sprung up like a devil in a box -the French translation of ‘diable en boîte’, the name given by the French for the English toy, Jack-in-the-box. I gulfed up a tonne of raw air as I broke the surface, my lungs grateful that I gave them thought. I could see land on my West, an unbroken line that reminded me of the great wall, like a serpent it snaked to the edge of the world. I swam ‘parall"lus’ "Latin for parallel- to the great line of mountains, forest and desert plains that reached up to the dawn of time, high to the heavens it seemed. As I swam further away a shadow was beginning to cast itself unto the water as the sun passed its peak.