I don't own anything but Aisling.
Chapter 8: May It Be
I run, I hear heavy footfalls behind me, but I don't stop. The forest pulls at my hair, but I don't mind it, it's a distraction. I'm unable to describe this feeling, this tightness in my chest as tears flow from my eyes. My vision blurs and I'm forced to slow down when I'm unable to breathe. I look up through tears and pain to see it was Felson who followed me.
"Why did you follow me?" I choke out the words and it's his look, that pained look that breaks me. I collapse to the ground with tears falling, sobs wracking my whole body. I feel his arms around me and I smell him, that heavy smell, with a tinge of sweat. I cry into his shoulder, as he tries to explain.
"I, I saw what I was doing, but I couldn't stop. Aisling, please you have to believe me" he's begging me and I had never thought I'd see the day. In the forest wolves howl, but I'm unable to care. I pull back and glare at him through tears, and his big calloused hand comes up to wipe them away.
"How could that be? You're lying!" I push him away but he only pulls me back.
"If I'm lying then let God kill me here and now." He challenged, and it went unanswered. I look up at him, and he gives me a half smile and in his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes I see him. They aren't dull anymore, they're full of sadness, pain, and something else. Something I haven't seen before.
"Felson….I….I have to leave…" I'm not sure where the notion came from but I found it was true after I said it. His chest stops moving, as if he was holding his breath, and he shakes his head, closing those eyes.
"Why? Why don't you stay?" he asks, almost begging again. I shake my head, moving my hair out of my eyes. My tears have stopped, but the tightness is still heavy in my chest. I want to believe him, I do, but after beating the living daylights out of my own flesh and blood I'm a little shaky.
"I can't, not after this." I stand and look into the woods. "I'm going to go home, to Ireland. I have little doubt that Anna is a witch." I turn as he stands and I smile softly. "Please be careful Felson" I tell him and he just nods. His eyes are shining, as if he were about to cry, but men don't cry.
"Where will you go?" his voice cracks slightly. I shrug my shoulders and I feel my heart lighten with my next sentence.
"Home, to Ireland." His expression is sad and I find myself wanting to remember him with that addicting smile on his lips. "When you've delivered my sister, you can bring Powder to me. I live in a little down in the eastern shore, it's said it's the only place where the fae play their music all night long. You'll hear it." I see his mind at work, and this does make him smile.
"What was your favorite thing to do, before you came here?" he asks and I smile softly. "I used to sing." Before he even asks I decide to hug him, immediately his arms circle me. "May it be an evening star shines down upon you. May it be when darkness falls your heart will be true. You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home" I sing softly and he kisses my head.
"I'll have to find you, and you'll sing for me" I nod into his chest and before anymore can be said, I turn and I run from him. My chest is tight again and I can barely breathe. He doesn't follow this time. By the time the sun has risen I've run through the dark forest and have made it to a field. This is where I sit and sob as I think about all I had just left behind.
Sorry this took so long, and sorry it's so short. I was fighting with where I wanted this to go and I finally decided. Next chapter will be the last one, and you'll get to see who lives and who dies.