An Ember's Tale

Chapter Fifteen

Ember's eyes slowly opened. She gripped her sheets in her hand as silent tears rolled down her swollen cheeks. Her head was buried into her pillow, but she didn't have the strength to sob. All she could do was continue to let her shallow breaths fan her face while tears continued to roll down her red cheeks. She managed to weakly lift her head and look over to find a pale moonlight streaming in from her window, shedding grey light into her cabin.

She slowly moved her body until she was sitting up in her bed, looking over the darkroom. Her mind flashed back to her dream while more tears cascaded down her cheeks. She had cried so often lately- she half expected to run out of tears. But they still fell, hot and silent against her cold skin, reflecting her broken heart.

Ember had never seen her parents before... but the fact that she had first seen them before they were murdered shattered her soul even more until she felt too empty to be consumed by anything. Her mind went numb and silent as she rubbed her tired eyes. All she could see was her mother's wide eyes before she was shot. Her father's dead body was falling to the ground with a thud still echoing in her ears...

"Maybe some fresh air would help..." she told herself in a dry, cracking voice that she hardly recognized as her own.

Her feet hit the cold floor as she stretched her numb limbs until they awoke with tiny tingles and ached. She grabbed the stray blanket off of the bed and wrapped it around her shaking shoulders. Ember made her way across the room until she reached the door and opened it with a loud, creaking sound that echoed throughout the silent night. She entered the hallway and followed the moonlight streaming down the stairway before climbing them and reached the main deck.

The crescent moon greeted her, along with thousands of stars that shone above her. She smiled softly before she headed to the railing and embraced the cool breeze around her. Ember exhaled deeply, letting the cold air filter through her.

Her hand gripped the railing as she looked down at the dark water below her. She liked watching the star's reflection in the rippling water. She guessed, some part of her preferred the reflection rather than the actuality. Reflections could be changed, manipulated, while staring directly at something was what she got... it was her reality, and despite all, she tried to change it, it was hers nonetheless.

Ember wished she could change so many things, but that night, she just wanted to alter the entirety of her past. She had always hoped that some part of her, at one point, was happy, but now she knew everything she had ever thought had been a lie. Stolen and kept from her... things she had a right to know.

But how could she blame them?

How could she blame her Grandmother for promising to keep her safe? How could she blame her parents for sacrificing themselves to save her...

Still, some part of her burned for a family. One that didn't die for her, but one that stayed with her. That fought and protested until they could be happy together. So many things would be different... she could already see a whole home full of light and laughter. A blazing hearth while they all gathered around at the end of a tiring day and filled their hearts with laughter and bliss. The wish that made her heartache and her hands dig into the wood of the railing.

"Can't sleep?" a deep voice said from behind her that she knew all too well.

Ember cursed as she reached up and held the blanket tighter around her. She heard someone stop beside her as they looked out into the dark waters, but she forced herself not to turn toward them.

"No," Ember said. "I did sleep, but staying asleep seems to be the real challenge lately."

"Bad dream?"