The bleeding of the sunrise awoke her the next day, or rather, it merely roused her. She had kept a silent vigil outside the gate of her former home the previous night, not yet ready to face the pain of entering, but unwilling to leave the girl alone.
It had dawned on her, in a moment of horror as she listened to the wind, that she could no longer feel.
The expected chill was gone.
She had long since realized that her new body seemed to flow around physical objects, but to think that the very sense of touch itself had been robbed from her was crushing.
The cold, hard (or so she assumed) earth was to be her bed that night. Soothing firelight came from the lodge, and she tried to relive the warmth and comfort it had once given her.
Hours had passed outside closed eyelids without even the least tiredness descending upon her. Sleep refused to take hold even when her mind went utterly numb.
And then she realized that she couldn't. She had no body which warranted rest any longer.
Another brittle ache to carry in her bosom, she supposed.
Instead she had entered a sort of trance, staring at the glow until dawn. It was with languid pace that her partner emerged to the morning's petrichor, blinking in the light. Before, she had been one to revel in the beauty of nature and embrace each day; now she left home with hollow indifference. Her eyes were dull, and she wandered without thought for purpose, much to the concern of the trailing spirit.
She followed close behind as the girl drifted back into the forest without even raising her head.
Above, the dense canopy scattered the remnants of the night's downpour, each glittering as they fell through shafts of penetrating sunlight. Ever somber, the forest had been a quiet one from the day they had started living within it, but now not even distant snippets of birdsong interrupted the mutual brooding of the separated pair.
The path brought them back to the mausoleum.
It was almost as if the forest sought to provide a measure of privacy, the way it wrapped around the small field. Above, the first congregating clouds threatened another day of rain to come. The girl preceded them once again, a quiet sob racking her as she leaned against the stone doors.
"Our home is too cold for one," she murmured, partially to herself, and partially to the doors between labored breaths.
For the first time since she found herself outside her body, the amethyst-eyed girl felt something nearing warmth. She approached the mourner and approximated an embrace as best she could, whispering the familiar words into the girl's ear once again, "By your side, I'll remain forevermore."
They remained in that position for a time, and gradually the girl's tears dried once more. It wounded the spirit to see her beloved in such a state, yet she couldn't help but be touched by the sorrow. Moreover, deep down, she felt a most minute part of herself become sated knowing that she was being mourned.
They returned to the lodge. The spirit kept watch once more, and the girl did not leave again until the next day.
Days passed without a lapse in this pattern. It seemed she wanted to remain away from home, where the painful memories resided, as much as possible. Each day would take her out for long hours, doing anything at all. The village's crops needed continuous tending, though the men often turned her away. She had long since begun to feel estranged from the women and their idle chatter.
In the end, she found more comfort on her own.
Another day spent in the forest.
The violet eyed girl followed closely as they traced familiar paths and old memories. A ghost of a smile graced her lips to relive those scenes. Once upon a time, there, off the path, the spritely girl had been teaching her which of the local flora were edible.
"...Not those berries, however," she stated matter-of-fairly "try to consumer them, and you will be left as blue as the juices contained therein."
Then her serious expression melted away as she poked the tip of the the taller girl's nose.
"And that wouldn't do at all, now would it?"
To the other side was the old maple the two of them had climbed together in an attempt to conquer their mutual fear of heights.
And over here stood an oak that another fond memory was buried beside. The path split around it, and she could still remember the warmth from the rose eyed girl when they had sat together, trying to remain still enough to feed the squirrels and chipmunks.
Eventually, the two of them retired for the night.
Another day spent by the lake followed.
A semicircular clearing pressing against the body of water was a short walk from their home, and from it, one could look across the curve of the shore and see the mausoleum in its own clearing.
The girl was sitting on the narrow strip of coarse sand which bound up the water, letting it lap at her feet.
She fell back, arms spread wide and let the sun kiss her. The inclement weather had finally relented; strangely enough, however, the mist refused to be dispelled and still clung faintly to the area.
But that was of no concern to her as she lay there. Indeed, between the warmth of the sun, the sounds of wind and water, and the feeling of grains running through her fingers, she felt something approaching peace. The light frolicked and bounded about the glistening waves while the trees, given voice by the wind, sang to her with their leaves.
She nearly succumbed to their lullaby as she stared at the water through half-lidded eyes.
This place, too, held fond memories she had forged with her dearly departed.
Ordinarily, the raven haired girl was quite reserved, even standoffish, but that night she had spoken animatedly from her knowledge of myth and folklore.
The pair had sat on the shore, enraptured by the night and silent water. It was at times like these that the rose eyed girl would ask to hear a story, which her companion would deliver with the practiced ease of someone old far beyond her years.
"It has been said that the veil between the worlds of spirit and of men grows thin when the moon hangs high," she had explained in a voice like velvet. "And therefore, a spirit may, if provoked into extreme effort, pierce this veil and render itself unto our world. Though few are by nature malicious, they generally covet to once more feel earthly comforts, and may resort to such practices as possession to feel them."
Fearing that she may have unsettled the other girl, she quickly amended, "Of course most lack to strength to accomplish such a feat without using trickery."
As she spoke, she had quietly begun sifting through the sand and collecting the largest pebbles in her hands.
"Such weakness leads the spirit to pursue a bevy of ways of communicating. One desirous of contact may commit an act complex as meeting a mortal in dream, or," she cast her handful of stones into the lake, "simple as greeting them with ripples on otherwise tranquil waters."
A few moments had passed in silence while the pink haired girl reveled in the information revealed to her, and her companion fretted that she may have seemed rather too earnest and made a fool of herself.
"S-should you believe in such things, of course," she muttered, masking her embarrassment over the course of the sentence.
But the smaller girl had just laughed, and before long, they were trading stories once again. The sun that day had risen to find them asleep in the sand, one with her warm grin, and the other with her small, but potently satisfied smile.
The spirit looked down on her beloved, who lay in the same place as she had been on that night, but now alone.
It was a strange sensation, to see her almost happy. Of course the violet eyed girl was gladdened, yet at the same time, she couldn't manage to evade the feeling of-
Jealousy?
The other girl wasn't trapped in this numb purgatory like she was. She had closure, bitter as it was.
Oh, what the violet eyed girl wouldn't have given to once more lay down in the sand, to feel its warmth and the waves lapping at her feet.
But so long as she had her beloved, she told herself, she would be able to endure.
A/N: I remember that it was around the writing of this chapter that the process seriously began to slow, since I also started a short horror story which took my attention away. Anyway, even writing about the happy backstory was a little depressing here in light of the characters' present situation.
I think I'll be updating a little faster from here on out. Thanks for reading, I hope you continue to enjoy it!