For Musings of Alissa Leonard: Finish That Thought #45
Prompt: You should've stayed on the path.
Special Challenge: Haunted/enchanted forest
Words: 500
Notes: This got me the Grand Champion badge :D So I will be next week's judge. Go and write for me!
You should've stayed on the path. Maybe then you'd be here now with your wide-blues and yellow curls, seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. How did you survive this long anyhow? He could've only done so much when all you were capable of contributing was uselessness.
He pauses, one hand against a tree, leaning his weight forward as if the universe sits on his shoulders. When he cups his forehead, hiding his eyes, I know he's grieving...again. I stifle that sigh that wants to bubble up, laying a hand against his back.
"There wasn't anything you could've done," I say. Can he hear the contempt in my voice? I need him and his crossbow, and that's the only reason I haven't left him behind just yet.
His words come out between choked sobs. "I'm sorry. I miss her so much. I should've tried harder, been stricter."
"She was always off doing what she wanted. She never took any of this seriously." The trees trembles with imperceptible peril, and I hate how he can't see it. Why do I have this feeling we haven't seen the last of you?
"I don't even know what happened. One minutes she's fine. The next she's being eaten alive and I've shot an arrow through her head."
He doesn't need to know the liability you were to us. How you were the weak link in our group. How we are better off without you. "You did what you had to do, but we can't dwell on her too much. You know what will happen if we do." The end of the world? The dead rising? That was only the beginning.
He cries, his head bowed over hunched shoulders. Pathetic. What does the universe have against me? "I know, but I can't help it. She was the love of my life."
Love. That was his first mistake, and one you took advantage of so often. Healing his heart? Saving his soul? Making sure his ghost will cross when he finally does fall prey? Bull crap. You used him just as much as I'm using him now. Because there's no denying that this man and his trigger-happy finger are great when things get a little bit too sticky.
The wind picks up, leaves falling from their precarious perch, dancing in circles on the edges of the darkness. "We need to get back on the path." He doesn't move when I tug on his arm. This time I do let the sigh out.
"I should've stayed with her. I shouldn't have let her out of my sight." You're ruining my life even in death. What do I have to do to survive? What do I have to sacrifice in order to see another day?
"Death would be better than this pain."
I act without thinking, without feeling, with only my own selfishness carrying me on because his lips don't feel like rose petals as you've described. That's when your storm begins. I should've known better. Calm yourself.