Chapter 10 – Between the light and shallow waves
The bright lights, highlighting, showcasing his life.
The spotlight, beaming into his star stuck eyes, disorientating the depths of his mind.
For he was not ready, but willing, to take himself back, between the light and shallow waves, upon where he once died.
For Jackson.
They settled themselves comfortably onto the sofa, Aaron, prolonging the confession, about his time, on the darker side of heaven.
Taking a deep breath, before diving into familiar territory, the deep dark water, the ocean spirits, dragging him under, feeling no light, hearing no sound, now entering...the bottomless ground.
...
...
"AARON, AARON", Jackson shouted desperately.
He could hear him.
He tried to reply to him, but he was pushed, forced, to fall inside the black, there was no going back.
His body, disappearing away from the forest...
Immerging from his collided sleep, the night controlling his vision, no light, no sun, where was everyone?
Was he in space where he belongs? Someplace where no one can call him wrong.
The darkness, enveloping his heart, internally lasting for a million miles.
Suddenly, from the depths of the dark, a spark, even brighter than the moon, shone like a star.
Igniting the light once again.
A flare, allowing his eyes to adjust, to focus on the presence, he never knew was near him.
The four men.
"Imagine if we could live, under the weather, we would never be found, never discovered, if everything goes wrong, in just one night, can you imagine what withholds in tomorrow?" One of the men said, much to the amusement of the other three.
"Well, I guess you will find out". The four men, now hunting to surround him...
His heart, opening wide, bursting with the colours, blue and black.
Enduring the forces of his nearby nature, he struggled to keep his eyes open, but the words that were whispered, left him on the brink, of a heart attack.
"By the way, don't bother escaping, because you have nothing to live for anymore, your accomplice, your right hand man...is dead".
Those words, those dirty words, interfering with the beating of his heart, soaring through gravity, colliding into his once lively spirit, demolishing his now lifeless soul.
The light from the flare, turning his time, to stone.
They left him in the dark.
...
The weeks came and past, his mind, a stark contrast from the heat of the sun, as he is now, a lonely one...until.
The corner of his confinement, began to unearth life.
The sound of murmurs, continual communication heightening his trepidation.
For there were no stars, for light to lead the way, the midnight sun eclipsed.
The whispers in the dark, haunting his broken spirit, the distorted, incoherent noise, louder, louder.
"Who's there?" Aaron spoke, his voice laced with unfounded confidence.
"Please, please don't hurt me", the voice shrieked, hesitation, fear immersing itself in their destroyed tone.
"What? Who's there? I'm not going to hurt you, how long have you been there?" Aaron asked, a million miles of confusion clouding his head.
"...A few weeks more than you, I'm not exactly sure how long", the voice spoke, tears evident in their defeated answer.
They both sat, unconsciously searching between the blackness, taking comfort in discovering they were not alone.
But they did not feel like stars...and they cannot regenerate their energy to shine.
"What's your name?" Aaron asked, breaking the prolonged silence.
"Casey", the boy answered softly "Casey James".
"How old are you?" Aaron asked him anxiously, upon hearing the youthful chimes within his American twang.
"I'm...16".
"Oh my god...what happened, how did you get here?" He asked, shock possessing his tone.
"I...I was with my friends, they decided to play a little trick on me, I turned my back for a few seconds, then I turned around, and they had gone, I was all alone, in the forest. I panicked, and my lapse of concentration resulted in me going the wrong way, then before I knew it, these 4 guys were chasing after me. I remember everything went dark, then I was here".
Silence of the sound, grasping to follow.
Aaron had to get him out of here, he just had to.
"Why, for so long, did you not say anything, you stayed quiet...all this time", Aaron asked him, bemusement, pushing his senses wild.
"Well I, erm...I was scared". The boy answered honestly, his words, overpowering Aaron's barriers, floating away what little defences his has left, more pain, wearing his diminishing heart further to the bottomless soil underground.
He was just a child.
"Well, you don't have to be scared anymore", Aaron stated, but he knew, a vow of protection will not save the lost boy.
For the 4 men, without even trying, can drag his weathered skin and bones...to hell.
"You're not from here are you? You're accent is not American", Casey asked curiously.
"No, I'm not, I'm from England, a small village called Emmerdale, in Yorkshire".
"Was Jackson from there too?"
"WHAT, HOW DO KNOW HIS NAME, HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM?" Aaron shouted furiously
How did the boy know of him?
Aaron searched through the dark, the emotion of agony, fury, heightening his senses, desperate to drown out his name, the man, his husband, amongst the aliens, immersing in the shooting stars, locked away, in another dimension.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I heard what the men said to you, and I, I heard you, you've been calling out his name...I'm really sorry", Casey pleaded, fear of the man in the black, driving him blind.
Aaron stopped pacing, his heart mindlessly racing, chasing Jackson's memory through light years away.
Calming the aura around him.
"I just want to go home", Casey sobbed uncontrollably "Its Christmas soon, I've lost sense of time, but I know it's coming, a week or so, maybe a little more".
"I'll get you home Casey, I promise I will get you out of here", he pledged, regretting his erratic eruption of sheer hysteria.
"I'm sorry for what I said, I never meant to upset you...was he your best friend?"
"No" Aaron laughed hollowly, smiling at picturing the face of perfection, his Jay, gone, but never forgotten.
"No, he is...was my husband".
"Oh god, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I had..."
"It's ok" Aaron interrupted "You weren't to know, can we just...no talk about it?" he pleaded softly.
"Of course".
They instead, focused on their plan of action. Their escape, fleeting within gravity, for they will fly, defying their impending irrational sanity, for Casey James, has been dying inside, little by little, nowhere to go, going out of his mind.
In contrast to Aaron, who was already too far gone, his mind, abducted into lonely darkness, but he will be set free, when his times comes, to hang like a star in the sky, because...that's where Jackson is.
...
The days passed, Aaron and Casey's interaction becoming more comfortable, discovering everything there was to know about the other.
The four men still to make an appearance...until.
The light from the outside, blinding, but the energy from the sun, not enough, to explore the sight of Aaron and Casey.
Charging like asteroids, falling through the ever changing wind, their spirits, crashing through the open air.
For they were hurricanes, destroying the signs of life who were caught within the crossfire.
Aaron and Casey, splitting their essences in two, no longer brothers in arms, no longer in unity, spreading themselves away from the other, in opposite directions, to allow a greater chance of at least one of them, surviving their weakest hours.
The four men reacted quickly, striving to remain unbeaten by the world, gaining momentum, seizing to attack...the unsuspecting life.
Aaron could feel it coming, could hear that sound, the bitter shade, no longer evident around his whole body, the light now shinning him, all alone.
Calling, calling his name...calling him home.
Aaron did not stop running, interfering with the speed of sound. Never looking back.
Hours had past, the miles uncountable, he was now, in familiar territory, running through the trees, the black green, blurring to surround him.
But, there is something, he can see, It's boiling in his blood, he thinks he knows, he so desperately wants it to be true.
The moon, taken away from him, for such a long time.
Stargazing into the silver luminosity, illuminating his soul, radiating him, with its glory.
Captivating his senses. Before his body collapsed, falling upon the dust on the ground...waiting to be found.
...
...
"I don't even know what he looks like, I didn't get to see his face", Aaron sobbed, tears fuelling the guilt that consumed him.
Jackson held him, his arms, Aaron's armour, his heart, Aaron's sky.
"I honestly don't know if they came after me, I just ran, I never looked back...Casey could be dead".
"You don't know that", Jackson interjected gently.
"Or worse...held captive again, all alone, in the dark".
They stayed, locked in an unbreakable embrace, surrounded in love, an unexplainable grace.
Aaron shifted in Jackson's arms, his head, buried into his shoulder.
"I thought you were gone, I thought I'd never see you again", Aaron whispered tearfully, his words, left to hang in the air, gently floating with the elements in the atmosphere.
"I'm here, I'm right here, and I am not going anywhere ok? I will never leave you. I can't believe what you went through, I'm so sorry I wasn't there", Jackson said, diamonds, releasing down his face,
"I told the police everything I knew, But I guess, they would have contacted me if they had found him, wouldn't they?"
Jackson could not respond to him, for they both knew the answer.
Jackson held him, until sleep abducted him into dreams, beyond the open water.
Jackson will do everything in his power to heal him, to make him whole once again.
For Aaron has only lost his fight...he hasn't lost his life.
For he will never enjoy his existence...living inside the past.
So what will he say, to capturing chances?
TBC