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“𝐵𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛. 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤.”
.
𝑾𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒍
A little boy ran across the street. Several other small ones followed, chasing the one in the front. Beautiful smiles adorned all their faces and it brought a smile to my face too.
People engaged in their regular- routined work, the low hubbub of crowds chatting in hushed voices and the light twinkling of laughter , everything brought relief to my eyes.
“ Is anything bothering you ?”
I looked beside me to face the white-haired girl, wearing a very familiar black and red attire, looking as serious as ever, her eyes showing the tiniest bit of worry which may go unnoticed by others but not by me.
“ It is nothing, Carla. I'm fine,” I said as I turned my gaze, back on the road ahead.
“ But your smile says otherwise.” I sighed as I knew there's no hiding from her keen eyes. Looking up at the clear, blue sky, a soft breeze playing on my face. I said,“ this peace is addictive, isn't it ?”
“ What do you want to hear from me?” I shook my head, side-to-side, dismissing her doubtful thoughts. Carla's mind is so hard to read at times, that I fear people will misinterpret her.“ An honest reply,” I said, and finally looked into her eyes.
“ Well, I think the answer is obvious.” We were still walking and it was not long before we reached Fairy Tail. The atmosphere was as lively as ever, a mood to cheer up almost everyone.
We stopped at the entrance.
“ I want it to remain like this forever.”
“ Don't get too drunk in your emotions. You never know when the bottle is snatched away from you,” Carla said, and honestly, her response was not unexpected.
“ Carla, I want to grow stronger.”
“ Not that again,” she said and pinched the bridge of her nose.“You're strong enough, Wendy.”
“ No, I'm not,” I said, with a determined gaze.“ I want to grow strong enough to preserve this lively atmosphere, to preserve the smiles on the faces of the kids. Carla, I want to protect you.”
The last line might have caught her off-guard. She blinked a few times. I continued.“ I don't need somebody else to save you, nor I want you to save me.”
“Way to ruin the happy mood, Wendy. Why do you always think of the negative ?”
“Well, life is full of negativity.” I offered her a silly grin.
Carla released a deep breath.“ There's no winning against your silly talks.”
I smiled.
“ That's me.”
*
“ Carla , I'm going out for a walk,” I said. Not waiting for a response, I exited the door, slipping my feet into the polished, brown boots. Unexpectedly, I received it from Happy on my birthday, last year.
“ Child , wait ! ” Carla called out. I hesitated as I turned on my heels to face the flying cat behind me. She was back to her exceed form, and looked as stoic as ever.
“ Where do you think you're going at this time of the day ?” Carla asked.
“ Nowhere far. I wanted to take an evening stroll, into the forests,” I said. The real motive is to relieve my mind of some of the overburdened thoughts, that's been revolving around my brain for quite some time now. Some of these thoughts are rather disturbing and needs some me-time to clear off.
“ Can I tag along ?”The question was unexpected from Carla. Knowing Carla, the normal her would probably not have bothered to ask for permission (To me it seems like she's asking for permission ). It would have been more of a demand.
“ I don't know what's the polite way to say this but...no. I want to go alone,” I said, apologetically.
“ I thought so,” Carla said, giving me a worried glance.
“ Do you perhaps think that I cannot look after myself ?” I asked, a hint of disappointment laced to my voice.
“ I did not say anything of that sort, did I ?”
I nodded.
“ Fine. Is it really that bad to be concerned about a friend ?” Carla said.
She gave me one last glance before turning back to go on her own way.
“ But I didn't mean it that way,” I whispered under my breath.
*
‘ I have come quite far ,’ I thought as I looked down upon the beautiful pond - a sight I am not familiar with, here in Magnolia .
Sitting down by the bank I looked at the bluish-green water. I slowly let my mind immerse in the depths of the pond, not looking at anything in particular. To my amusement, the water followed a particular pattern, swirling in a spiralled manner. Somehow the manoeuvre fascinated me.
I could see, one-by-one, all the milestones that I have traversed on the way to the current stage of my life. But then I remembered, just how much did I even see of life till now ? Isn't there more ?
Fixing a primary goal in my life is all I need to do right now. And I've already decided on one. I want to grow strong, just like Natsu-san, so that I don't lose my dear ones, as it had happened with Caitshelter. Although I hate to fight and bring harm to others, I will do it for the sake of my friends, to protect them. I feel like starting all over, take it from the beginning for it's never too late to learn.
The water slowly took shape as it started revolving at a rapid pace, forming a small crater right in the middle of the pond. I felt dizzy watching it but did not dare move my gaze.
‘ No , I must leave . Something's not right ,’ I thought as I looked towards the setting sun on the red canvas of the sky.
The moment I stood up to leave, the world turned upside down as I felt all my energy being sucked out of my body. My vision turned black as I lost consciousness .
“ Carla..”
*
Author : So, how was that ?
Killua : Okay, I guess.
Author : No one asked you.
Gon : I hope they read this.
Wendy : Thank Mavis, I said my lines without making any mistake....*huff*
Author : I think we're on a roll.
Gon : I can't wait for the next chapter !
Author : Me too !! Hope you liked it. Please like, comment and share. Thank you for reading this.
