Separated

     I woke as night was falling.  I shivered from the cold.  I was soaking wet from the waterfall and from tears and I was terrified.  Even though Ren was silent and sometimes seemed hostile, he was still strong and sure, someone I could depend on.  A black mood took hold of me and I sat there on the path in an agony of decision, wanting to go back down the mountain to Ren, but fearing he could already be dead and knowing any delay could prove fatal for my brother.  But without Ren, I had no hope to reach the Khresh’ stronghold, much less to enter and rescue my brother.  Ren had fallen and with him went my hope.  I huddled there, shaking, unable to make a move forward or back.  Ren was as good as dead and without him, so was my brother.  I could just stay there on the path and let death take me.  I couldn’t go home without my brother anyway.  My parent’s disappointment would kill me as easily as despair.
     I stood, “Come and get me,” I screamed at the darkening sky.  “I am sick of fighting you, sick of pain and fear and uncertainty.  You stole my life, my love, my brother and my parents love.  What more can you take from me?  My life?  There is nothing left but an empty hole.  So just take me, kill me!”  I screamed for hours, until my throat was raw and there wasn’t a single coherent word coming out of my mouth.  I curled into the fetal position on the ground and sobbed, grief ‘s sharp claws tearing my insides apart  and her voice speaking seductively of  the oblivion of death.  Finally my harsh cries subsided into exhaustion and I lay there, my mind blank and my sorrow spent.
     It was in the silence that I felt it;  one choking breath, then two;  A harsh racking cough and spewing muddy water.  I held my breath, trying to strengthen the connection, hoping it wasn’t a hallucination supplied by my exhausted mind, but it grew surer and I could sense him once again.  Ren was alive and I could feel him.
I squeezed myself into a small cave behind a boulder at the side of the path, barely large enough for me to cover my entire body, but I had shelter and reasonable protection from wild animals.  Slowly, my body heat began to rise and I stopped shivering.  At last, with no distraction from the wind and cold, I could devote myself to Ren.  I closed my eyes and the images came flooding in.
     Ren lay still on the rocky shelf by the river, exhausted.  Slowly he stretched, groaning as he discovered aches and pains in places he hadn’t even known existed.  He looked up at the night sky to get his bearings, but the night was overcast.  He had managed to pull his upper body onto the ground but now he made the effort to pull himself farther away from the water and to sit up.
     “Elyssa!’ he called.  His voice was weak and scratchy.  “Can you hear me?  I felt you with me before, when I fell.  If it wasn’t for your strength. . .Please, let me know that you are listening.”
     I did not know how to speak to him.  I filled myself with calmness and reassurance and the small strength I had gained from my rest and I pushed them to him as hard as I could, hoping it was enough.
     A look of relief filled Ren’s eyes.  “Thank God!   I couldn’t bear it if. . .thank God you are safe.”
     I concentrated as hard as I could, trying to send him a message that said wait, I would come for him.
     “Elyssa, don’t worry about me.  Find Ezra.  I will try to catch up to you, but you don’t need me.  You are so strong and I am not worth it.”
     I wanted to send back my denial, but I knew he was right, not about his unworthiness, but that I should go and find my brother.  Ren was as safe as he could possibly be.  Ezra was the one who needed me, yet I could not make myself stand to begin the climb again.
     Ren grew strong enough to stand.  He walked into the trees, picking up dry branches for a fire.  The night was only half over and he could not travel the treacherous river path in the darkness.  He settled himself by the fire, his wet clothes steaming, and fell asleep almost immediately.
     I watched him sleep for a long while.  The darkness kept me in my place, but my thoughts kept me from sleeping.  I continued to watch his chest rise and fall with every breath.  My heart rejoiced with every one.  I had thought him gone forever and now I saw his life for the miracle it was.  I had never felt so close to him, not even when I was in his arms.
     Ren shot upright.  He sat alertly by the dying fire, head cocked to hear the sounds from the trees.  He was about to lay down and close his eyes once more when he heard it again, the tiny snap of a twig underfoot.  He stared into the shadows, seeing movement there.  The gloom grew more oppressive and the sound of breathing crescendoed, almost like laughter.  Ren’s eyes widened in horror.  “Elyssa, stay where you are. don’t come for me.”  He shouted as he stepped toward the shape that materialized out of the darkness,
     I was shoved out of his mind with a wave of fear, pain and a feeling of resignation.  I tried to pull him back, to step into his thoughts again, but I was blocked by those feelings, and binding the barrier together was the sickly sweet smell of freshly shed blood.
     I shot out of my little cave and, heedless of the gorge beside me and the steep path, I ran down the mountain.
 

Reviews

[Katherine Hall]

Interesting. Poor Elyssa isn't very good at heeding directions, is she?
The descriptions here continue to be strong, but I had a hard time believing Elyssa's diatribe at the beginning of the chapter. Screaming at the sky, yes that is believable. "sick of pain and fear and uncertainty. You stole my life, my love, my brother and my parents love. What more can you take from me? My life? There is nothing left but an empty hole. So just take me, kill me!"

[Sean M. Addams]

i like everything you have put into this chapters ... character developmand storyline are done well ... overall nice job on this!!!

[Ruby Moon]

=.=;
why do the lead characters never listen?

[Martina]

*GASPS* Was it the Kresh? Did they find the truth? OMG you have to get the next one up like ASAP!!!! I really loved it, you got it up fast!