Watching the Silence
Mireille's thoughts - enclosed in these
The gentle whir of the boat's engine broke into her reverie. It seemed like she awoke again, and found herself at the back of a boat, her arms crossed on the railing. She was leaning against it, feeling a familiar presence nearby. She felt comfortable, lost in her own thoughts…her eyes moved slowly to her left; in her peripheral vision she could see them.
Those eyes.
Those amber eyes glinted, betraying their gold flecks within. They stared out to the water, to the tiny dot of an island that became a speck, disappearing into a vivid memory.
The first woman looked forward again, focusing on the shimmering sea that seemed to reflect its color in her eyes.
The younger woman's chin was placed in her hands, the eyes never shifting…
Never blinking.
Mireille sighed inwardly, and thought back to what happened some days before.
Soldats' child…
She could see Kirika's face in her mind, looking up, pleading,
"Let go Mireille, please…"
She shook her head to clear the image, but even then, a single tear forced itself down her cheek.
She looked out to where the island had sunk beneath the horizon, her arms now at her sides. She breathed in the salty sea air deeply, feeling it cleanse her lungs and dry her tears. She closed her eyes and felt young again, recalling the feelings when her uncle had brought her out of Corsica, out of danger.
So many years ago.
She felt a warm hand enclose hers. The touch felt like cold fire.
She opened her eyes slowly, but did not turn; she already knew whose hand it was.
Kirika murmured something too softly to hear.
Mireille's eyes grew heavy for a moment as she thought:
I am leaving everything behind. My past, my family, my…life. How good it feels to finally let it all go…
They had reluctantly returned to the small island to bring back memories long buried. Yes, Mireille had returned briefly to her birthplace, but it felt like she had no place there, like she was a stranger, though many she had known had welcomed her.
Surely I have a place, somewhere…somewhere where I can rest, and find myself again…
Mireille's heart fluttered as she felt the heartbeat of another next to her own.
Again, she did not need to look to see who it was. She smiled softly to herself, allowing this one person…the only person, to touch her heart. She had once remembered warning herself not to let people come too close to her.
But she was ready.
She was finally ready to open her heart.
And there was only one whom she allowed.
So many others had betrayed her,
Hurt her.
But not this one.
Kirika's arms around her felt supportive, reassuring,
Something she hadn't felt in so long.
Her right hand opened, and she brought its contents into the little light the moon gave.
The pocket watch shone briefly, its light weight the same as before.
But tonight, it seemed as though it carried with it the weight of everything in Mireille's troubled life. Though it had stopped running, it still represented for Mireille a never-ending, never-changing nightmare.
Kirika had turned to look at it, and Mireille could feel her stiffen slightly, as if to some sort of response or instinct…
The need to protect.
Mireille clenched it as tightly in a fist as she could.
She looked out to the sea again, so peaceful, so tranquil, and so lazy…
The watch flashed as it flew through the air. As though in one last defiant move, it clicked open as it hit the water, mocking the tune it used to play.
Kirika quietly watched as the silver surface sunk below the water. She sighed, and let the tension roll away and slowly relaxed, smelling the slight perfume Mireille wore. She could the warmth and the emotion radiating from the body that now stood close before her, and realized that this was the first time she had ever really touched Mireille.
And for some reason, she no longer felt regret.
She no longer felt regret for all those that died in her hands. She would never go back to that, if only she could stay here, and drown in the comfortable silence between herself and the woman she had learned to love.
Mireille listened as Kirika murmured,
"Free…
To let it all go,
What a
Beautiful
Feeling."
-5.30.02
~*SoLaRbEaR*~