Eli Wakes

She became aware of the sound, the first she had heard for a long time. How long, she did not know. What kind of sound it was, she did not know. But she knew it was a sound.

Tired...

Sleep...

Again, that sound. It wasn't just another thought, another half memory come to tease, and punish her. She had definitely heard it, but ... what was it? Was it a good sound, or...?

She waited for it, waited to hear it again. If she could hear, then she was alive. If she could hear a sound, then she wasn't the only thing alive. All was quiet.

Sleep...

The Sun, playing with friends ... with family. But ..."Is this a dream? It is so real, it can't be a dream". She sees her mother picking fruit from bushes, red stains on her hands, a gentle breeze in her hair. She turns and looks over to Eli, checking, protecting, a slight smile on her mouth, and love in her eyes. A sound ... the sound ... like someone tapping on an empty box, rhythmically, but with more energy than that. "How do I know that?" All is dark, there is only the sound, and the dark. "It was just a dream. A dream sent to torture me". Eli remembers that her mother is ... that she will never see her mother again.

Crying...

Sleep...

The sound is moving. Every time she hears it, the sound is moving. When it's above her, she can feel it. The sound hits her skin, travels through her body, exits. It has a pattern to it. It repeats. "Ba-da-dum. Ba-da-dum. Ba-da-dum".

Ancient joints protest and resist the movement. Sinews threaten to snap, but hold. Muscles tense, and relax. Progress is slow, but steady. Upward, towards the point where the sound will pass. Upward in the dark.

The sound. It's here. The sound is back and it is a beautiful sound, the sound of a life. Eli waits, still concealed in the dark that has been her home for so long. Waiting for the sound to bring itself to her. Waiting.

A sudden pressure on her back as a hoof descends through the loosened soil. Spine and ribs bend under the immense force. Pain so intense, so brutal. Screams from above as the horse hits the ground and slides to a halt at the base of a tree. Then ... quiet.

Eli lies still. Thinking. Healing.

The Sun's rays cast long shadows, they colour the trees a fiery red. She stays in the hole. She is safe in the hole, the Sun is low. She sniffs the air, it is moist and warm. She waits.

Cold. Snow. Hungry.

'What's that?'

'This?'

Yes.'

'You don't know?'

'No.'

...

Cold. Him. Contented.

'Don't you eat sweets?'

'I can't.'

'None?'

'Nope.'

Eli wakes with a start. A sound of heavy breathing is punctuated only by a faint whimpering. The moon is out, its cold light fills her hiding place, it is high and bright. Shakily she half stands, only to fall back into a crouch. She is weak, and hungry.

Following the sound of another living creature, she rounds the carcass of the horse. A voice. A woman's voice. "Help, who's there? Can you help me? Please ... ple...". The voice stops, the words stop. Replaced by a mixture of half words and pleas to a God that won't answer. Can't answer, he has no jurisdiction over the being that faces her. Eli is beyond his reach.

Eli watches the woman's progress as she crawls backwards, away from her. Dragging her damaged leg as if it is merely attached to her, wishing that it was no longer part of her, for it will slow her down. Furtively she looks behind, looks for a clear route, tries not to lose sight of the creature…

"I'm sorry"

The woman stops, mid-manoeuvre, faces the form that waits, motionless. "Oh, thank god. I thought you were some kind of wild animal", a nervous laugh escapes her throat. "Please, you must help me, I...".

A clear, hollow rattle fills the space between them. Eli curls up in pain. "Are you hurt? Did my horse hurt you?"

"Yes. A horse. That's what it's called. I remember now"

A ragged exhalation. "Your horse did not hurt me", she lied.

"But you're in pain?"

"No, it's okay", another lie.

"You're so small. Come closer so that I can see you better".

Looking around, and sniffing the air, she lingers. Once she is satisfied that they are alone, Eli approaches the woman on all fours, worried that her legs wouldn't be able to support her. She doesn't know why it is important that they are alone, just that it is. The thought disturbs her. She stops when she is just out of reach of the woman.

Bathed in the blue/white light her haggard and dried up skin is exposed in stark reality. The moon is harsh and doesn't flatter.

Trying not to show the disgust she feels, the woman asks "Do you live near here?". Grimacing as she turns to regard her now dead horse.

"No, I don't ... You're hurt" More of a statement than a question.

"Yes ... Could you get my mobile from the holder on the saddle? It's just there. I can see it".

"Mobile?"

"Yes, my phone"

Eli looks around, searching for something familiar, something she can use to make sense of what the woman is saying.

"Look. Look where I'm pointing".

Eli sees a dead horse, she has no idea what else the woman could be pointing at. "Where are you hurt?"

"What? ... oh, my leg. I don't think it's broken but I can't put any weight on it. My phone, it's just..."

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Yes. Yes it does. There's a huge gash on the outside of my thigh, luckily it had stopped bleeding before I came to, but it still hurts like crazy". The woman wondered whether she should mention her phone again, it didn't seem like this ... person ... intended to get it for her. Would she have to crawl over there herself and get it? She could probably make it, but it wouldn't be easy.

"Blood, yes. That's what that smell is. I thought I recognised it ... but why would I know what blood smells like, and be able to recognise it?"

A stifled cry attracts her attention, the woman is trying to get to the horse. She has managed to drag herself a few meters away from her resting place while Eli was deep in thought. "I can help you with the pain", she offers.

"Really?"

Eli nods.

"Well why didn't you say so earlier?" said the woman with a slightly raised voice. "I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I could have done with 'not being in pain' for a while now".

Eli regards the woman calmly, unaffected by her slight outburst.

"I'm sorry", offers the woman. "It's just that I want the pain to stop, I want to get up and go home. I just want this to ... stop" the final word dissolves into a blubbing, elongated vowel.

Eli watches, unmoved, unmoving.

The woman's sobs subside into a quiet keening that serves to give herself some measure of comfort. Eli approaches her slowly, unsighted by the woman. She places her hand on the woman's shoulder. Startled, the woman jumps slightly and then relaxes. "Lie on your back", Eli whispers. The woman complies. She strokes the woman's hair, while gently holding onto her arm. "Shhh". She lies with her head on the woman's chest as it rises and falls with successive breaths. Taking comfort, for herself, from the rhythm.

A feeling of peace comes over the woman as she listens to the song, quietly emanating from the tiny form lying across her. The size of a child, and yet, clearly not a child.

Eli listens to the air as it enters and leaves the woman's lungs, listens as the air comes in longer breaths, slower breaths. She listens to the sticky squirt of the blood as it passes through the woman's arteries, centimetres below her ear. The softened thud of the heart as it pushes the elixir of life out into the woman's body, to spread its lifeforce.

The woman lies on the ground. She feels no more pain.

Eli lies above her, stroking her hair, mouth at her throat, stealing her life, hating herself, crying. She cries for the loss of life, she cries at the realisation of what she is, and for ... the person that no longer awaits her return. She cries at having to face the truth, alone ... again.

'Would you want to … become like me?'

'No. I would like to be with you, but …'

'No, of course you don't. I understand.'

End