"To be strong, Kluke, a woman must be able to look at her past and gather courage from what she sees. In doing so, it may be difficult but… it is something she must do to better herself for her future ahead."
I sit up, cold sweat running down my face as my mother's voice continues to weave in and out of my mind and ears. There was no escaping the maddening sound of the tone she carried; a tone of depression and harsh disbelief that I had still not accepted her advice of so long ago. With fists clenched at my side, I stand carefully, my knees threatening to collapse beneath me as I slowly totter outside of my room.
"To be strong, Kluke, a woman must be able to face her fears and stand above them. They may be tall, and hinder her path, but she must force herself to stare them in the eyes alone and laugh louder than the rest."
The cold sand bites into my flesh as the wood of my porch and steps disappear behind me. Already, my hair began to whistle around my face, slashing at my eyes and ears with no particular care for the disdain I hold for such things. The air itself carries my mother's voice, the pitch getting louder now and… it was almost as if it carried her scent just to tease my nose with memories of days past.
"To be strong, Kluke, a woman must be able to finally rise above and beyond her inner and outer limitations. She must be able to turn circles around her problems and still have the stamina to continue to fight on."
It was almost as if she was screaming at me now, urging my tired body forward to the place I had seen them get…. Tears threaten to spade through their protective coverings as the site gets closer… closer… too quickly for me to comprehend the feelings that were now stampeding through my body. I finally arrive and fall to my knees, my still fisted hands shaking as I bite my lip to hold everything back.
"To be strong, Kluke, a woman must be able to stare those inner demons in the face and laugh at their miserable fates that force them to stalk her endlessly."
I can see them now, the demons of my past, swirling rapidly around me. The Land-Shark is blazing through the Talta sands with nary a thought to do otherwise. Rocks smashed uselessly against its metal hull and… there I am…. I was… so small back then, wasn't I? I run forward, having dropped the doll my mother had painstakingly made for me with bloody hands from countless mistakes and… everything pauses. Off in the very near distance I can see the silhouettes of my parents – my father… so tall, so proud…. And my mother…. Yes, my mother was the one person I truly looked up to because, even though her figure was so small and lithe, she did all that she could to take care of our house and family.
The scene began to continue once more, except slowly. I can now fully appreciate what had happened those four years ago as they played for me play by play. The shark notices my tiny self and with an inhuman hunger, it charges at me with jaws creaking and clanging with the challenge of time its only hindrance. I scream… and it sounds so… slow, strained… and my parents continue their syrupy rush towards their daughter… and when they finally reach her my mother picks up my body and throws me into the bushes… and in that instance the large jaws opened as wide as possible and begin the slow descent down – the bite that rendered my parents into thick, meaty chunks.
The scene freezes again and I feel the wind push me towards it. Quickened, if only by my growing courage to bite back against this beast and finally end everything, I reach the three locked in their stance. My mother holding onto my father, glancing back at my direction and my father trying to block my mother as best as he could as the tips of the fangs were already beginning to pierce into the back of his neck, a small drop of blood halted in mid-drip. I place a hand on my mother's shoulder as I look into her strangely calm face – a face that had already accepted her death. My other hand, I placed upon the cold metal of the Land-Shark and I stare into the dark maw my parents had to witness as well. I step inside with them, now, and gaze down into the deep that was the cold interior of the beast… and I smile.
"And my dearest Kluke… do not forget one important thing. To become strong, a woman must know that it is always alright to cry when it is most needed."
The jaws roar into action, and it quickly tears through the frigid nighttime air and rends through my parents behind me…. I, of course, feel nothing and as the two hunks of sharp metal clank together… it all disappears. I fall once more to my knees… and allow myself to sob as the both memories wash over me one last time. The memory of my mother's talk of strength… and finally her and my father's death.
"It was my dream to watch you grow… and become that strong woman Kluke.
and I am so glad I was able to have that chance… even in death."