Piercing The Veil

Ajay suddenly felt like she was able to breathe again as the pounding in her head began to ease. Her gaze drifted from her hand to the grass and dirt beneath her for a moment. Her fingertips grazed the damp blades of grass before she lifted her head up and looked around. The pine trees were tall and arched to provide an unnatural patchy moonlit path leading further into the forest that was obviously no longer her childhood bedroom.

She stood up and stared down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes against the grass and earth. It felt good. She couldn't remember a time that she went anywhere without shoes, especially her favorite boots on except… She shook away the thought and moved her gaze up her legs. A long black dress flowed over her legs and clung delicately to the ground behind her, barely kissing the grass and dirt.

The dress was strapless and dipped downward in a v shape towards her backside waistline, exposing most of her upper body to the cool night air. She could feel her hair pulled up into some ridiculous bun and she could also feel jewelry hanging loosely around her wrists and neck. The weight of the jewelry made her feel constrained. She couldn't quite remember why she was dressed up but it really didn't matter at this point.

She began to walk forward, the dirt between her toes almost felt like it was pulling her further into ground with the jewelry growing heavier with each step. She looked at the palm of her hand again, trying to find a map but there was nothing there just her hand. Ajay dropped her hand to her side and moved through the arched pathway of trees. She took a second to look behind her and realized that there was no longer a pathway behind her, only a forest.

The pathway had been swallowed up by hundreds of pine trees shrubs, so she trudged forward and stopped when she came upon a familiar looking tree. She wasn't even sure how out of all of the trees that it was this particular tree that she needed to stop at but she stopped. Her body guided her towards the tree as if she had no control over movements.

Her lips managed a smile when she found her and Octavio's names carved into the bark of the tree; Silva & Che. Her fingertips traced their names agonizingly slow like she was forcing her body to do something that she didn't want to do. Her heart skipped a beat as memories flooded her brain and poured down her body, or being forced rather.

An Immense feeling of happiness overtook her but it was quickly follow by agony. She bent over and used the tree to brace herself as she clutched her chest with other hand. She let out a small whimper as a sharp painful jolt radiated from her chest cavity. It like her heart had thumped forcefully against her sternum; almost through it. She dug her nails into the bark of the tree until the pain subsided to a more tolerable level.

When she felt like she could finally move again, she released the tree and stood up, brushing tears from her cheeks in the process. The bittersweet agony still radiated from her heart but not as bad as it did when it first started. She swallowed the rest of her tears and tried to figure out what the fuck was going.

The entire place felt like a memory but how could it be a memory because she was here. Then again the tree already had her and Octavio's names carved into it. They did that together, but when? She couldn't remember when. She had been to this place as a child but never as an adult. Memories or reality were flashing through her brain but she couldn't figure out which was real and which was fake. Were her memories somehow mixed with her present, or maybe she was in some alternate universe, or maybe she was dead; finally.

Ajay began to walk towards clearing that was on the only pathway she could take. Their names were engulfed by the trees behind her, the pathway behind, disappearing into the woods as well. The forest kept taking more and more; growing darker as it did. With every step that she took towards the clearing it became more apparent to her where she was; she was becoming more lucid.

The pine trees opened into a small field, which didn't take her long to reach, although time really didn't make much sense to her right now. So, she could have been walking for hours, seconds, days, years, or minutes without having realized it.

In the field, just as promised, stood Octavio. He was older, no, he was just how he was supposed to be and she was how she was supposed to be. Older? At least that's what she thought through what lucid thoughts she had. As she moved closer to him she could feel his soul. His soul felt pure and striped down. He didn't feel like a memory. He felt real but he still felt kind of off. Something or someone was nagging at her thoughts, trying to pull her back into the forest behind her.

Maybe she really was dead because the more everything started to make sense the less it made sense at the same time. The familiar pounding in her head was faint but it was starting again. She hated whatever this was. She was so tired and she just wanted to go to sleep so that she did not have to think about any of this anymore.

When she made it to Octavio she stood face to face with him and took his hand into hers, turning it face up. She traced the lines on his palms, an oath that she need not swear; vast and deep. For as long as she could remember their lives had been intertwined. No matter which road they each took, they always ended up back together; always.

Since birth they were inseparable, so much so that they eventually started celebrating their birthday's on the same day together because it was just easier. They spent every waking minute together that they could. So it was no surprise to Ajay when she saw Octavio waiting for her beyond the pines; the one secret place that they shared. The only place that they could ever get away.

She stared into his haunting emerald eyes and held his hand in her own after tracing along his palm again. A small smile formed on his lips, "You didn't go to sleep this time." She shook her head and gently rubbed the rough exterior of his hand, "Yuh didn' leave meh much choice." Octavio placed his free hand on her right shoulder and traced his fingertips from her shoulder down along her collar bone.

Chills ran along her spine, "I don' rememba dis." She paused for a moment to try and think of a better way to say what she wanted to say to him, "I mean I rememba dis place but dis isn't a memory is it?" Octavio shrugged, "I don't know Che. This is your affliction." She gave him a confused look because that wasn't something that he would have normally said. "Che, you're at an impasse. This place is a veil. It's up to you if stay here or you leave."

She stood silently and tried to process what he was saying. Things had become clearer when she arrived here but she had a feeling, or rather a longing, in the pit of her stomach that urged her to turn back. "I don' know…" She was conflicted about what to do, maybe she really was at an impasse. "Is dis really yuh Silva?" She thought that maybe he was just some fucked up memory. Then she wondered why her memories were more fucked up than they usually were. "Wait, were yuh in ma memories?"

Octavio gave her a half shrug with a half-smile, "Sí." Many thoughts paraded through Ajay's head before she finally blurted out, "What did yuh see?" She was so worried that he saw everything from her past. He gently squeezed her shoulder as if he was trying to pull her back down to whatever screwed up reality they were in, "Only what you wanted me to see. Remember, this is your show not mine."

She didn't like when he talked in circles because it usually meant that he was hiding something but she couldn't be sure of what he did see or what he was hiding. Hell, she didn't even know what she showed him or what she even saw. She was still trying to piece together how she got here or what here even was. She vaguely remembered getting to the forest. Even though she didn't remember how she got to where she was she knew exactly where she was and it wasn't just as simple as just a forest.

"Silva?" Her voice was soft as she looked down at the rough exterior that made up his hand, "Are yuh dead?" Octavio shook his head, even though she couldn't see it, "No Che. You saved me. You always save me." She exhaled a breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding in. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought about her next response, "Then I am." She paused because it wasn't a question, "I'm dead."

She clutched his hand and felt a sharp pain in her chest again, though it wasn't as sharp as the one that had occurred just minutes or maybe hours ago? She wasn't quite sure of the time. "No Che." Octavio released her shoulder and ran his fingers along her cheek, "You're just lost." She waited for him to say more but he didn't. She knew there that here had to be more to this that he wasn't telling her.

Ajay leaned her cheek against his fingers trying to find that familiar feeling that he always left her with when he touched her, "Why are yuh here?" Octavio was silent, which caught her off guard because he was usually always the one talking a million miles a minute. Before he could speak she was asking more questions, "How did yuh even get here?" She tilted her head back to look up into his eyes again.

"Please Che. Don't give up on this life. I just want one more life with you." He stared into her eyes, "You promised me…" Before she realized it she was nodding against his hand. Octavio gave her a huge smile and pressed his forehead against hers. She leaned her forehead against his for a moment and then pulled back to look into his pleading emerald eyes.

She desperately wanted to be with him, to believe him but something was pulling at her, keeping her grounded. She felt a need to stay or maybe that she couldn't leave this place just yet. Hell, she didn't even know what this please was but she felt safe here; as fucked up as that sounded in her head. She struggled with the thoughts filling her brain and they were making her head pound even harder again. Every damn time she started to make sense of anything the pounding started; it couldn't be a coincidence.

Just for a moment she wanted to take him in; all of him and ignore her stupid fucking thoughts. She hugged him and nuzzled her face into the curved of his neck, taking in his intoxicating scent. He always felt like home. She brought her lips to his ear and whispered softly to him, "I can't leave. I have ta stay here. I'm sorry Silva" She fought tears back tears with a staggered voice and a quivering lip. She wasn't sure if she was making the right decision.

Octavio gently nodded in response and whispered into her ear, "Me too Che." Ajay took in a startled breath of shock as a sharp pain set into her back, "I'm sorry." Octavio held Ajay against him as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her eyes were filled with confusion and pain. There was something cold and sharp wedged in her spine.

She parted her lips to speak but the only whisper that she could out was, "Why?" Blood followed her words, trailing down her chin before she coughed more of it up, splattering it onto Octavio's backside. She could feel warm blood trailing down her backside in the cool night air, saturating the once light and airy dress, pulling in down and clinging it to her legs. The more blood that left her the more her body began to feel light and free, like she wasn't being held down anymore; at least not by this place that she was in.

Octavio said something to her she but she couldn't quite make out what he was telling her. He kept talking, or maybe she thought he was talking because he was always talking about the blah, blah, blah. She could feel his hand on the back of her head, stroking her hair but it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore, because everything faded into black and silence and peace.