Alicya's heart

chapter 7: life back home (Alister's POV)

It's been months since I've seen Alicya. Months. All I can do now is keep myself and her family busy so we don't crumble beneath the weight of it all. I mean she's alive but it feels as if she's dead. I just wish I could talk to her. That day is still etched in my mind, on a continuous loop. The wolf attacking, me stunned at what I am seeing not being able to react. Her stabbing the wolf to death. The blood, her wounds. Her going limp in my arms. I can't forget any of it. The woman I was to marry, the one I envisioned a future with dying in my arms. I couldn't stop it but now all I can hold onto is the knowledge that she is ok. That she survived.
She's stuck up there with the ancients, alone. She will be home. All these thoughts ran through my head as I was plowing a plot in the field to plant some new crops, the harvest has been more than exceptional lately, we are all thankful for it. Winter said it was a blessing from the ancient Avasa, I call bullshit. The only reason she saved Alicya was because of a favor that was due. There are no good ancients in my mind, they caused all of this. If they would have just stayed in their realm maybe earth wouldn't be a crumbling wasteland. The technology we used to hold wouldn't be desolate, we wouldn't be fighting to survive. I know our own stupidity was part of the cause. I'm not taking this completely blameless. But I hate them.
I swiped a bead of sweat from my forehead as I laid the plow down and pulled a satchel of seeds from my pocket. "Corn it is." I said to myself as I knelt beside the freshly turned earth and started sewing the seeds one by one. I could feel someone watching me I just smiled ready for the surprise attack. Lori lept out from behind the tomatoes onto my back. "Uncle Alister I got you." I grabbed her arms and stood up and twirled around keeping a firm, safe, hold. "Lori, I'm working here." We laughed and I bent down letting her back onto the ground. " Whatcha doing?" She asked hands behind her back and swayed side to side. "Planting corn." Holding up the satchel. "Can I help?" An eager look on her face. "Sure string bean. Here's a few start sewing on that side." I handed her a handful of seeds and gestured towards the right corner of the plot. She smiled and bounced away.
It's good to see her smiling and playing again. For the first month after Alicya was taken to the ancient realm she barely spoke a word, took a lot of time and care from everyone in the village to perk her up again. I'll admit it did help when the ancient popped in a month ago to say that she was awake and ok, we haven't seen her since. Something feels off but I don't quite know what it is. The creatures are getting stronger, more aggressive, and although the crops are growing, it's barely raining. The creeks are drying up, we are almost out of places to get water. Things me and Malik have to worry about, no reason to concern the rest as of now. Though I believe they know deep down, and I have a feeling Winter knows more than she's letting on. We keep the troubles quiet for the children and only talk amongst the adults when they've fallen asleep.
Jean and I have been killing the creatures left and right, we've had to become sneaky. Their senses have heightened, though they have become blind, their hearing and smell seems to have become stronger. Admittedly it's been hard trying to keep them at bay.
    
I've been in my head for so long I didn't notice someone walking up behind me. "Alister, dinners ready." I heard Winter say as she brushed my shoulder slightly. I stand up, brush off my hands and smile. "Thanks for letting me know, kinda got lost in my head there for a second." She just smiled and walked away. I joined my Father at the table and started putting food on my plate. Mostly vegetables again, wildlife has been scarce. Not much the ancients can do about that I expect, at this rate we will be strictly vegetarian before the summers over. My father looks at me a slight grin on his face. I can't stand him, the things we hide from other people. The things he's done.
     Malik puts on a front infront of everyone, kind and quiet in public. Angry and abusive in private. "A shame we shall never speak of," he says. The amount of bruises I've had to help my mother cover, the amount of blows I've had to give to protect her. I'll never be like him I refuse to. Sometimes I wish a creature would take him out, but that would effect the number of people protecting the village. That's all he's good for, protecting the village.
      I head back to my home, trying to get there before my father, but he was waiting by the door quietly. "Did you tell anyone about last night?" He asked, looking down at his boots, shuffling them around. "Do I ever. Have to protect your precious image right?" His eyes grew dark. "Listen to me boy, mind your fuckin tounge when your speaking to me. Figured you'd learn that by now." He growled in a low whisper. I pushed by him and into the cabin. Before I could get to far I could feel his hand around my arm pulling me back. "Don't walk away while I'm talking to you son. I'm your elder you will respect me." I snatched my arm from his grip. "Respect you? A man who freely beats his wife and his son. Yeah there's a lot to respect." I spat on the ground. If I can direct the anger towards me maybe, just maybe, mom won't have to deal with it tonight. He reached his hand back and slapped me across the face. "You think because you're grown you can talk back to me boy? You think you're better than me huh? All you're good for is protecting this village even that girl of yours won't come back to you. Useless." I lost my cool and tackled him to the ground, delivering blow after blow to anywhere my fists could touch. Before I knew it someone was pulling me off of him.
       "Come on son. Let's get you out of here before you kill the bastard." It was Jean, pulling from my trance I looked at the room. I had knocked over the small table in the center of our livingroom and my father was covered in blood, still conscious, covering his face. Jean led me outside holding my shoulders. "You alright son? What the hell happened?" He wet a cloth at the well beside us and gestured towards my hand. My knuckles was bloody and bruised. "I got tired of it Jean. Sick and fucking tired of it. The way he treats me, the way he treats mom. He beat the shit out of her last night, that's why she didn't help in the field today. Mom's begged me to hide it for years and I've listened while dealing with him myself, but I'm done. I'm done Jean I can't do it anymore." The tears was welling up in my eyes, my breath coming in sobs. Jean pulled me to him and put his hand on my hair. "Its alright son, we'll take care of it you go fetch your mom, y'all are staying with us tonight. It's gonna be ok son I promise." For the first time in a long time, I believed it.