This is one of my first attempts at a fantasy short story.
Child’s Fantasy
The silver-haired man walked down the wooded path. It was a familiar route for him. Each day he walked into the first bend of the path and stood watching the trees. To the common observer, he may have appeared to be strange. But this place made Jerome feel that the years hadn’t passed. He felt young and alive each time he stood in this place. He was a kind gentleman. He was an entertainer of sorts for the people of the community. His stories were painted with images that didn’t leave your mind for many days after. Everyone has noticed his daily journey into the woods. So the community decided to put a bench at that turn, so he could sit. I wasn’t surprised to see him turn the corner that day. Many years had passed since the first fateful day that brought him here.
I had been watching him since he was a young boy. He was visiting his grandfather in this very home. His grandfather was a good man but never saw me watching him. However, Jerome saw me that day. He entered my world for a brief moment on that day so long ago. Jerome was playing in the wooded area of the nursing home where his grandfather was living. His parents had sent him out to play while they discussed medical matters. Jerome was more then happy to comply.
I watched as he ran around the outside of the trees. When he saw the path that led through the woods, curiosity took over and he walked into the woods. I laughed as he played hide-and-seek with invisible friends. Life was easy and time didn’t matter to that young boy. My heart ached to hold him in my arms and show him my world. His lively spirit lightened my somber mood. This engaging little boy lifted a hurt that had so recently darkened my heart.
Seeing his joy made me see the way forward. A smile lingered on my lips for hours after he returned to his parents. But as despair does, the sadness crept back into my eyes. And my world, which was once gay and lively, returned to a darkened state. So it stayed for several days until Jerome returned to the woods. Again he played in the trees, as if there were an army of children with him. Ignorant of the dark storm clouds that rolled above him, he continued his childish games until his mother called out for him. As he turned to leave, the content that I had felt in his presence began to fade. I never expected him to hear me as my heart called out.
“Please, don’t leave.”
But his head turned back towards the woods. For a moment my heart stopped. Had he really heard me? I listened closely to his thoughts. Jerome was confused but interested. He had thought himself to be alone. His eyes looked through the trees for any sign of someone else. His childish treble answered my call.
“Is someone there?”
I remained quiet. He called out again.
“I have to go, now but I’ll be back on the weekend.”
His mother called out to him again and he was gone. My mind was working quickly. It wasn’t possible for him to hear me through the worlds. How could this mortal boy have heard me? I had to think on the matter. Leaving my place of mourning, I went to the holy mountain that lies beyond the Mist of Amethyst Gazes. Meditating to the holy ones, I prayed for an answer that didn’t come. Suns past and I realized that I wasn’t going to get an answer. Wondering how long the “weekend” was away, I returned to my mourning window and waited. I counted as the suns of his world as time passed. As I watched, only three suns passed in his world while ten had passed in mine. I was beginning to wonder if I had missed his “weekend,” and turned to my thoughts. I heard his call before I saw him on his next sun.
“Are you here?” His voice called out.
I didn’t speak. I just watched as he shrugged his shoulders and began to play in the largest tree. He played for an hour on that tree, laughing and smiling. The snake on the ground was well hidden as he climbed that tree. His first step missed the snake but upset it. I heard the hiss of the snake and saw it coil to attack.
“Watch out!” I called and he looked down.
Before the snake could bite him, he ran away to his parents. The scene surprised and disturbed me. I was supposed to watch with no contact with them. More then that they weren’t supposed to be able to understand me, let alone hear me. I watched as the man of the building came out and found the snake. He captured it and brought it away. That surprised me, too. The holy ones had told me that those I watched were savage people. That they killed at any prompting. The man had captured the snake, even though it could have killed the boy! I had to think about this situation in depth.
Many of my suns passed before the boy came back to my view. I watched as he moved cautiously into the woods. He stopped at the place where the snake had been and laid something down that he had been carrying in his arms. I recognized the shapes as flowers from my own world. But they were so different. The colors that petals had were still and slowly fading. My eyes began to tear as I realized that the flowers were dying. Then he spoke.
“My momma said that you should give flowers to someone who helps you. She doesn’t believe me that you’re out here but I wanted to say, ‘thank you.’”
The sorrow that I felt turned to something else. He was trying to be gracious and I didn’t understand. I took a chance on this young boy.
“It’s nothing, but perhaps next time you wish to ‘thank’ me, you can plant a flower in that place. That way I can see it grow year after year.”
“Okay. Where are you?” His voice called to me.
“In the trees.”
“But why can’t I see you?”
“Maybe someday you will.”
We talked for a while until his mother called for him. And that’s how we continued for countless suns. We learned about each other’s words and worlds. Jerome did come and plant a flower for me at the same time every year. As time passed my mourning period was over, but I choose to remain where I was. No one came looking for me and I went looking for no one. It was three years later, when I saw the darkness in his eyes. That was a feeling that I was familiar with. He told me that his grandfather had died. I comforted him through the void of time and space, but it’s never enough.
Jerome didn’t return to me after that day. After a year, I returned to my world. But the elegance and beauty that once filled every turn was gone. The floating clouds of amber gave me no satisfaction. The blue fields of light and grain provided no comfort. I realized that I missed my friend from the other world. So it was that I requested from the holy ones, the privilege of staying at the mourning window. For it was that window that lightened my heart in my tragedy and took my happiness away with it’s absence. The request was granted, and I returned to my position.
It was several of Jerome’s years before he returned to me. I didn’t recognize him at first. He was a grown man. Once again, he carried something in his arms. It was a rose bush. I watched as he planted the bush. When he was done, he sat in the ground with his back against a tree and closed his eyes. He seemed to be sleeping as I reached my hand towards him. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to feel him but I had to try. I jumped when he spoke.
“I don’t know if you exist or if you were apart of my imagination, but I had to come back to you once more. The last of my hope is gone. My grandfather died so many years ago and now my parents as well. You were a good friend to me in those young years and I’ve often regretted not having you to talk to. So if you are out there, I want to say that I’ve never forgotten you.”
He opened his eyes and I saw that the years had left a permanent sadness in their color. Praying for a moment of peace to enter his heart and relieve that pain, I spoke.
“I’m here as always before. I am a part of the earth, the air, and water. Your world plagues you with darkness that I too have seen in my own world. I had a loss as great when you were a young boy. You lifted that sorrow by being happy, perhaps I can do the same for you.”
His eyes widened as I spoke. His mouth moved but didn’t otter a word. I reached for him to feel his ghostly presence. But I was as shocked as he when my skin met his skin. A flash of light and he could see beyond into my world and I could see into his. I had only ever seen a small portion of his world. Only that patch of trees existed for me in his world. Now I could see the smog that hung in the air, I could hear the rumble of large beings near-by. His voice shook me from my trance.
“You’re real! And so beautiful!”
And as each time before, I heard his thoughts and I saw myself through his eyes. My hair was glistening in white locks that cascaded down my back. There was no wind that day but the length of my light blue dress swirled beneath my knees. His eyes focused on mine and I saw the purple color of the misty gazes. I stood a foot shorter then him, but he was in awe of me. I didn’t know how long the moment would last but I spoke briefly.
“Come with me and see my world. Yours has given you nothing but hurt. We are both alone and need the comfort. Please come with me.”
He looked back for a moment and then followed willingly into my world. The sadness in his eyes lifted as he saw my world. The sky was dusking in from yellow to dark blue as we walked by the first tree of green light. Rivers of red water flowed through ground. Flowers were vibrant and moving as we walked by them. He stared in awe at the world he had entered. Jerome held my hand as we walked to the edge of the Mist of Amethyst Gazes. When I turned to look at him, I noticed that his eyes reflected the color of the mist. His silence was broken when I pointed to the Holy Mountain.
“Wow! What’s that?”
“That is the Holy Mountain. It is the place that I go for answers and solace. I have come here often since the first time I saw you. My world is so different than yours. I just wanted to understand you. I begged my holy ones for answers. I never received them.”
He turned his eyes to me and a strange thing happened. I could no longer hear his thoughts. I couldn’t see through his eyes. The only thing I saw was him. He was a tall man with shocking red hair. His eyes reflected the color of the amber clouds that rolled in my world. The mist began to swirl around us as he put his arms around my waist. I looked into his amber eyes and saw something that I had lost so many years ago. My love had gone away so long ago; that I had thought my passion was dead. A memory long-since forgotten rose to the surface with his touch.
I remembered the passion that once filled my life. It was a passion that I couldn’t control. The passion of life and love had once encompassed my days. The thing that had taken it all away was only a thought away. Jerome’s eyes burned into mine and perhaps he saw the pain that never really left my soul. Images of the memory that had haunted me for so many years came forward and took shape in the swirling mist that paved the path to the Holy Mountain. That sunny day that had turned my world to a dark night began to replay itself before our eyes.
A bright sun took form in the mist and I watched myself walk from my plain home into the small garden that I had begun in the front of my home. A baby rose colored unicorn walked into the picture. I bent gently to pat the unicorn’s head and slowly stood to my full height in a stretch. Turning from the blinding light of the morning sun, I returned to my home. When I returned to sight, I was carrying a small basket under my right arm and cloth draped my left side. The image followed me down to the bathing lake and Jerome turned a funny shade while we watched me bathe.
I knew this ritual too well. The image before us stood from the water and began the cleansing process. Emerging to the bank, she dresses in the cloth that had been wrapped on her left side. From the small basket she took a circular wreath and began picking specks of light from the shade of the nearby tree. When she had filled the circle with light, she placed it around her wrist and walked back towards the settlement. The sun was already setting as she made her way to this very spot and stood waiting for something. Jerome spoke.
“What are…I mean what were you waiting for?”
“My husband.”
We watched as the sky turned dark in the image and around us. The image was darkening before us and then suddenly it was as bright as the morning sun. There I stood watching the image of a younger self about to throw her life away. Tears streamed down her face as she stood to face the morning sun. Removing the bracelet from her arm, she threw it into the mist. I watched as each light went out on that bracelet before it hit the thickest part of the mist. The image faded as she walked away.
“What was that?” He asked quietly.
“That was the day, I gave up hope. Those lights that I threw were my hopes and dreams. Everything that I would have given to my husband.”
“Why did you… I mean where is he…. Uh?” Jerome stumbled to make a sentence.
“He never came. I don’t know what happened to him. But in this world, are emotions are as alive as those plants in yours. I gave up on my dreams after that day.” I turned to look at him. “That is until I saw you. You inspired me to care again, perhaps even to live again. I owe you a great deal of thanks for that.”
He took me in his arms and held my head to his chest. I hadn’t realized that the tears were streaming down my face until he lifted my head and gently wiped my eye. His face came near to mine. Uncertain of what would happen next, I felt his lips on mine. Grateful that there were some similarities between our worlds, I kissed him back. His strong arms were wrapped around me and we feel to our knees. The passion that my soul had burned for was roaring. His frustration and depression at his life was slowly melting away into the actions our bodies were taking. I don’t know what lead to what but before I knew I, he was inside me. Our hearts beat as one in that moment in time and only separated when we fell from exhaustion and relief.
I awoke before him and saw it. A purple haze had surrounded us. The mist had taken us into its heart. There were tiny specks of light floating in the mist around us. I didn’t realize at first that they were what I had thrown away so carelessly until I heard the voice from the mountain.
“Are you as one?” A soothing voice rumbled from the air.
I whispered, “As much as I wish it, I know it can never be. He must return to his world by the next of our suns.”
A gentle hand was placed upon my shoulder and I turned to see an older man with a gentile smile upon his face.
“So you have learned the error of your youth. I grant you these dreams and hopes of your youth. You may do with them what you please. This match is well suited for you. Some advice child, time is different for you then he. Perhaps some day you meet again.”
The mist swirled and I found myself holding the bracelet that I had cast away so many years ago. Gently I placed the bracelet in Jerome’s hand and watched as he slept. The lights of the bracelet coursed through him and his mind and soul lifted once more. In he pale morning sun, I said goodbye to him and sent him back to his world.
Jerome woke beside the tree in that familiar wooded area. He wondered if it had all been a dream. I heard him call for me, but I didn’t answer. After several moments, he walked away with several backwards glances. He didn’t return to this spot for many years of his life. I felt his happiness in his life from that moment on. Whenever something special happened to him, he would think of me. He convinced himself for a very long time that it was just a dream. I held on to the hope that someday he would return to me.
And now he sits before me, an old man who has lived a happy life. He stares into the trees looking for me. I can feel his body still touching mine. This day we will reunite. His time is near over in his world and he is welcome to join mine. I long for his company. The time is right for us to be together.
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