A Place To Bloom

Drunk

Geraln glared at me. The morning sunlight cast him in orange highlights, accentuating the bruises on his face, dark black smudges beneath his skin along his nose and cheek. He frowned through a swollen lip, then shook his head and turned down the road without a word to me.

I'd be spending a week on the road with him and Davod.

Davod stood, wrapped up with Runya in an embrace. She stood on a large boulder and reached her arms up over his shoulders to wrap around his neck and kiss him on the lips. The two of them shared muted giggles, sweet moments of remembrance with his hand splayed out over her arse before he pulled away towards the road, only for her to tug that bloated buffoon back to her for one more kiss.

As for me, I lowered my cheek into Sarina's hair, feeling for the last time those soft, tiny curls in my skin as she wrapped her arms around me. She didn't press. She used to press her whole body into mine, enfolding me into her and making us one.

I'd ruined that.

It was a friendly hug, one that ended with her setting those black eyes at me devoid of the longing I'd longed for. "Goodbye, Caleb."

I didn't want to tear away. I wanted to tell her I was sorry, to make her understand. "I'll come back. Things will be different."

She gave a cursory smile. "Don't wait for me."

"But..."

"I know you, Caleb; you've been a brother to me and I've known you my whole life. You're going to 'behave yourself' for a little while, then you'll get distracted."

"I won't! I promise!"

She smirked. "You will. And stop acting like you made a mistake."

"But, I did! It was a mistake!"

"No." She rested her hand on my cheek. "God made you exactly as you were meant to be, and there's a girl out there who'll grab your attention so well that you can't even see any other. I love you so much. You have given me so much more than words can say, shown me so much more than you can know. You will always hold a special place in my heart, but I cannot be the sun in your sky. I'm sorry."

I fought back a tear, then another. A third one escaped my grasp, and the weight of whatever war was going on in the world suddenly meant nothing to me. "If God wills it," I said, "we will be together."

She smiled and looked down. "I'm not waiting for you."

"But..."

She returned her gaze to me. "It would break my heart if you wait for me."

"If God wills it..." words escaped me, drained out from my eyes.

Sarina took one last hug from me and said it. "Goodbye, Caleb."

With that, I took in the last remnant of mountain lily oil she liked to put in her hair, ripped my attention from her, and turned down the road. I didn't get a few steps before I heard rapid footfalls brushing through the grass behind me. I turned around in time for the blur of little Teryn to throw her arms about me and squeeze me tight. I embraced her in turn while she pleaded, "I don't want you to go! Everyone else is so mean to me!"

After a full minute, I crouched down low so as to look into her watery eyes—hard to believe she'd gotten so tall that I'd be looking up from here. "Hey!"

She wiped her cheeks and sniffled as she looked at me.

"Can you do something for me while I'm gone?"

She nodded.

"I need you to look after the little ones. Make sure they're doing their lessons every day, and don't let them skip out on their chores all the time. Just sometimes. Look out for them the same way Sarina and I look out for you. Can you do that for me?"