Epilogue
Jonas shook himself awake. What was he thinking, an echo? Of course there was music back in the community. After all, hadn't Gabe been humming for the last day or two? He shook his head again. He could't risk a look down at Gabe. He must climb up. Up, up, up, up.
The words burned into his mind. He felt a weight in his arms, and he did not know what it was. Soon he had forgotten his own name. Up, up, up. A year passed, or perhaps only a second. He didn't know. He had thought he was at the top of the...well, whatever he was climbing, he couldn't remember the word. He had long since forgotten his own name, and his entire past. He realized he was going crazy, and he started to wonder how to stop the madness. Then he wondered no longer, for he had forgotten both what he was wondering about and how to wonder.
His previous life had almost slipped away completely. Almost.
Still, he remembered one word, and one word alone. When he could no longer remeber how to speak, he still remembered the word. When he could no longer remember how to climb, and had fallen on his side, still the word burned in his mind. As death took him, he murmerred the word, all he could remember of anything. And as the flies began buzzing around his dead body, much as they buzzed around the young boy dead in his arms, as the humming noise was carried away on the wind, the word seemed to exist still in the air.
Up.
Jonas shook himself awake. What was he thinking, an echo? Of course there was music back in the community. After all, hadn't Gabe been humming for the last day or two? He shook his head again. He could't risk a look down at Gabe. He must climb up. Up, up, up, up.
The words burned into his mind. He felt a weight in his arms, and he did not know what it was. Soon he had forgotten his own name. Up, up, up. A year passed, or perhaps only a second. He didn't know. He had thought he was at the top of the...well, whatever he was climbing, he couldn't remember the word. He had long since forgotten his own name, and his entire past. He realized he was going crazy, and he started to wonder how to stop the madness. Then he wondered no longer, for he had forgotten both what he was wondering about and how to wonder.
His previous life had almost slipped away completely. Almost.
Still, he remembered one word, and one word alone. When he could no longer remeber how to speak, he still remembered the word. When he could no longer remember how to climb, and had fallen on his side, still the word burned in his mind. As death took him, he murmerred the word, all he could remember of anything. And as the flies began buzzing around his dead body, much as they buzzed around the young boy dead in his arms, as the humming noise was carried away on the wind, the word seemed to exist still in the air.
Up.