After everything he'd overcome, there he was, holding the razor blade to his neck. I knew I couldn't watch it. I'd been watching day after day as he suffered in that awful reformatory but I couldn't do it anymore. I wouldn't do it. I had to help him. I had to tell him I'd found him. I needed to, for the both of us.
"Those you've known and lost still walk behind you…"
I'm here Melchi, and I'll always be here, right beside you, holding your hand every step of the way.
"Moritz?"
I could tell he was frightened, I knew I had startled him, but continued.
"All alone, they linger till they find you…."
"I've been a fool"
"Without them, the world goes dark around you, and nothing is the same until you know that they have found you…"
You've just been lost, but it'll be okay now,
"Well, you had the right idea. They'll scatter a little earth and thank their God!"
No! Melchi! I couldn't watch this, he couldn't do this. I'd taken the wrong way out; I wouldn't let him do that too. I beckoned Wendla. He had been here for her so it only seemed right he knew she was safe too. That we'd both found him.
"Those you've pained may carry that still with them…"
I watched as Melchior began to lower the blade that had threatened his life seconds ago.
"Wendla?" he cried. I could tell he was in more shock then when he had seen me - maybe seeing her made him nervous. A sense of relief washed over me. Thankfully, the thought of joining me had passed.
"All the same they whisper all forgiven. Still, your heart says: the shadows bring the star light, and everything you've ever been is still there in the dark night…"
I could tell he was overwhelmed as Wendla and I continued our attempt to comfort him. Reassuring him we'd never leave, we'd never left.
"Though you know, you've left them far behind, you walk on by yourself but not with them. Still you know they fill your heart and mind when they say there's a way through this…"
He looked up, right into my eyes and I grabbed hold of his hand, causing the blade to stray from his grasp and fall.
"Those you've known, and lost still walk behind you. All alone, their song still seems to find you. They call you as if you knew their longing. They whistle through the lonely wind, the long blue shadows falling…"
For the first time the night, I think Melchior was able to fathom what was happening, and I just listened because that is what he did for me.
"All alone but still I hear their yearning; through the dark, the moon, alone there, burning. The stars too, they tell of spring returning and summer with another wind that no one yet has known…"
He understood! There's so much more to life, so much more then dancing in the snow and waking up in a trash heap. I wish I could find Ilse and tell her that but she's so lost I fear I'll never find her. She truly is a wild bohemian. Always on the move, everyday, every night going somewhere new with someone else. I wish that one night it would have been me. But I was stupid and I won't let Melchi be like me. No, I won't, I never will. I'll always be with him to help him, to guide him.
"Still you know there's so much more to find, another dream, another love you'll hold. Still you know to trust your own true mind. On your way you are not alone. There are those who still know…"
We may not be there in flesh, but we're here Melchi. We're here, our hearts, our souls. We're always with you, just remember, we know. We known the pains of the past and we'll learn those of the future with you. We'll be here for the new loves, the new friends, the new dreams. Hold on, and one day the world will know. Just trust yourself, they'll see, and we'll be with you. We're always with you.
I reached out to him. I told him I had found him and I held him and so did Wendla. He knows now, and he knows that we are with him. And we're back in peace now, Wendla and I. We live with him, in him, through him. It's like he said, he'll read all our dreams to the stars and walk now with us. We're not gone; we're alive in his heart and in his soul. We'll live on everyday, we'll live though him. Every fear that every flicked through my mind, every dream, every wish, every thought we tell them to him and he tells them to the world. We're heard, we're not gone. Not gone.
Thank you for reading! And thank you Demactica for this idea! I hope this story lives up to what you imagined!