“So, what do we need to do?” Bronia asks.
“I don’t think this is something you can help me with.” Aloisa remarks softly, looking out into the deep forest. The bond began to pull tighter and tighter on her chest, the call pounding in her ears so hard she could barely hear Bronia.
“What do you mean?” they asked, breath hitching, half-frightened.
“It’s… it’s like… it’s like the Ark. I need to feed it.”
“You’ll die?” For a moment the words hung in the air. Then, they spoke again, hoping their assumption would not turn to fact, “Aloisa… you’ll die?” They couldn’t bring themselves to phrase it as more than a question.
“I know” The truth shattered their heart. It was almost funny. Two simple soft spoken words were enough to bring tears to their eyes, as they watched her remain resolute. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t meet their eye.
“Don’t- Don’t apologize- just… think about this. Please, love, just, just think-”
“I have.”
“You haven’t-”
“I have to do this.”
“You don’t! You don’t- please, Aloisa… think, think about, about your job-”
“The world has other artists.”
“What about your family-”
“They have each other.”
“What about me? Who will I have? I don’t have anyone else, I won’t- I can’t find anyone else! Aloisa, you- you’re everything… you’re all I have…”
“You have my heart. You always will.”
“What good is your heart without you?”
“You have-”
“Nothing! I have nothing, I- I don’t have a single thing in this world that matters more than you so please, please-”
“Bronia.” Aloisa said firmly, and still no tears dropped as she gazed upon the person she claimed to love. Watching them fall to weep at her feet, watching them plead with her, knowing she will leave them and die. “You are stronger than you know. You’ll be fine.”
“But I won’t be happy, how- how can I be happy without you?” “So, what do we need to do?” Bronia asks.
“I don’t think this is something you can help me with.” Aloisa remarks softly, looking out into the deep forest. The bond began to pull tighter and tighter on her chest, the call pounding in her ears so hard she could barely hear Bronia.
“What do you mean?” they asked, breath hitching, half-frightened.
“It’s… it’s like… it’s like the Ark. I need to feed it.”
“You’ll die?” For a moment the words hung in the air. Then, they spoke again, hoping their assumption would not turn to fact, “Aloisa… you’ll die?” They couldn’t bring themselves to phrase it as more than a question.
“I know” The truth shattered their heart. It was almost funny. Two simple soft spoken words were enough to bring tears to their eyes, as they watched her remain resolute. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t meet their eye.
“Don’t- Don’t apologize- just… think about this. Please, love, just, just think-”
“I have.”
“You haven’t-”
“I have to do this.”
“You don’t! You don’t- please, Aloisa… think, think about, about your job-”
“The world has other artists.”
“What about your family-”
“They have each other.”
“What about me? Who will I have? I don’t have anyone else, I won’t- I can’t find anyone else! Aloisa, you- you’re everything… you’re all I have…”
“You have my heart. You always will.”
“What good is your heart without you?”
“You have-”
“Nothing! I have nothing, I- I don’t have a single thing in this world that matters more than you so please, please-”
“Bronia.” Aloisa said firmly, and still no tears dropped as she gazed upon the person she claimed to love. Watching them fall to weep at her feet, watching them plead with her, knowing she will leave them and die. “You are stronger than you know. You’ll be fine.”
“You’ll learn. I’ll be in your heart.”
“You’ll die with my heart.” Bronia wailed, “How- how could you? How could you do this?”
Aloisa grew frustrated, “I thought you’d support me til death did us part.”
“That doesn’t apply when you choose death!” They scream. A silence fell over them and not even the wind could move in the dark and heavy stillness of the pair.
“I have to.” Aloisa repeated. “I told you, I have to.”
“Why does it have to be you?”
“I-”
“It doesn’t have to be you! You don’t need to die, you are choosing to die, you’re choosing to leave me! There has to be some other way that-”
“There isn’t.”
“There has to be! There… there has to…”
“Not this time, love.” Bronia had stopped crying and now sat on the floor of the forest, silently watching the now free wind as it blew through the leaves and sent them scattered. “I love you” Aloisa dared to say, her voice faint in their ears.
For a long time, Bronia didn’t respond, until finally she whispered, “I love you too.”
...
Bronia watched her escape into the bramble and brush. With a renewed sense of mourning, she wept and sobbed and screamed until she could not produce a sound, only trembling in her place. For a long time, she sat to regain what vitality was left, with her heart ripped from her chest. When she stood, she followed Aloisa’s path into the woods.
There was no trace of their love. No glimpses of golden hair, or a sparkle of her bejeweled fingers. Gone was the soft curve of her face, and the shine of her teeth as she spoke with a passion that could light the darkest rooms. There was no hint of her hands that were calloused from days spent toiling with her craft. No sound of her voice among the chirping birds, or the rustling leaves that would crunch under her foot.
No trace of her, and yet they couldn’t leave. They scoured every inch of the forest, but only could find nestled beside the creek, between water and fallen branches, her necklace. They wailed again, for all that they had lost and for what little they had found. Still, knowing they’d never find more, they couldn’t leave.
They clutched the necklace for 3 days, and didn’t dare to leave their spot beside the creek, lest something flow past with the pull of the weak current. They rested between nightmares and reality until their eyes met another’s.
Those eyes once familiar, now eternally strange. The gray blue that had shone like fresh water, now was metallic and murky. They held no recognition of Bronia, or of who she was. Gone was their lover, gone was their everything. All the battles, all the journeys, the soft moments spent between them in the deepest hours of day. The times when they sat close as the sun burned from gold to bronze, then from embers to darkness. Yet still in the growing chill, they’d had warmth, they’d had each other.
Now, in the fading light cascading from the leaves they couldn’t find such comfort in her eyes, in fact they doubted it was her anymore. Her hands, her arms, once soft refuge, now were turned to frigid needles and rigid wood. Her feet, so light and willing to carry her across times both steep and rocky, carried nothing at all as it floated above the ground. It was untethered from such mortal concepts as gravity and humanity. How could such a beastly thing be their love? Aloisa had always been far too sweet, far too human.
Yet, everything about it contradicted their thoughts. For it was so clearly and maddeningly her. Gone was her smile, her eyes, her soul. Gone was everything, but it dared to wear her name. Aloisa was far too human a name for this creation of nature. This being that did not know of Bronia, that did not know of love, that did not know of her. It couldn’t remember the moments between them, it wouldn’t ever be able to, it possessed her body but never her mind.
With shaky stature Bronia slowly escaped the eyes of the newly born cryptid. Left to never return, left to forever mourn.
-
Hey all, I hope you enjoyed it! I have had a serious writer’s block lately, so this is an idea I had for an ending for What Goes Unseen (you might remember Aloisa from last week’s post!). It’s my first draft so don’t judge too harshly! I love winter because it's really pretty but this weather is not good for my skin! And lotion feels so icky haha, but anyways not much to report, I’ve just been chilling (literally). Oh! See if you can spot the Marble Hornets reference in the story lol! Hope you all had a great week!
Your Faithful Scrivener, and Scout, Lorelai Harper