Where's My Love? - Lo'ak

Chapter 4: The Leaf

Esmyrie feels numb.

So incredibly numb... It's as if she isn't even breathing, and isn't even alive.

Just earlier today she was hugging her father, telling him she loved him and that she would be back for their favorite dinner.

Now, here she is, grieving over the man, the only family member she had left, gone.

Nilar was her savior, and now with him gone, part of Esmyrie thought it would be best she was gone too.

She has always been an outcast. She is part of the Omaticaya and Metkayina Clan. Part sea and part forest. All of Omaticaya saw her as different, as an outcast, as someone who didn't deserve to live there. Her father was the only thing that kept her safe from her differences. He was fully Omaticaya, and so they respected him therefore they respected her.

Now he is gone, and she fears they will see her like they always did, an outcast. And all outcasts of Omaticaya get banished, whether literally or spiritually, she fears she will have that fate as well.

She can't wrap her head around how fast her life has changed. She had a father hours earlier. She had hugged him. He had hugged her. They had so much left to do together.

He was supposed to be there for her first love, and first heartbreak. He was supposed to be there for the birth of her first child (if she ever had one). He was supposed to be there for it all, and now, now all those dreams are ruined, being replaced with independence. Alone.

Alone.

Alone.

Alone.

Esmyrie will forever be alone.

After Jake told her the news, she fled. She had to.

She couldn't stand staying in that tent any longer, not when Jake was looking at her so sadly, as if it would make everything okay, or better, that he was grieving too.

She couldn't breathe in there, so she thought coming out here would be better, but it isn't.

It's like she still can't get enough breath in her lungs.

She sits on a leaf, her and Lo'ak's leaf.

There is paint on it, somehow not vanishing from the rain. Some paint is old, dating back to when they were only children.

They have their handprints painted on it, small hands right next to each other. One of four fingers and the other of five.

She smiles sadly at the memories this leaf provides her. It has been hers and Lo'aks spot for years, and even now, she goes to it when she is sad.

She hears Lo'aks Ikran before she sees it, and she is quick to wipe at her tears, not wanting her bestfriend to see her in this state.

Lo'ak quickly lands a few branches above her, petting at his Ikran lovingly, before climbing down, landing on the leaf Esmyrie lays on.

He stays silent, not knowing now to approach the girl. He has only seen her upset a few amount of times, and most times she was upset, it was because of him. He was able to apologize and make it better, but this wasn't him making her upset, this was her being upset over the loss of a family member.

"You can sit down, you know." Esmyrie finally says, breaking the silence, but not daring to stare at the boy behind her.

Lo'ak nods his head, which he doesn't know why he does, for Esmyrie can't see him do the act, and sits down beside her.

Lo'ak takes the moment to notice the girl, and he frowns when he see's the tears staining her face and the pinkish red that is in her white hair, not cleaned up from the wound she got earlier today. His eyes eventually travel down her body, and when they land on her hands, his eyes widen.