"Ka is a wheel; its one purpose is to turn. The spin of ka always brings us back to the same place, to face and reface our mistakes and defeats until we can learn from them." ― Robin Furth
The air is cooling, the wind soft, cutting through blades of grass and tickling the tips of the petals of a rose garden that sits a few feet outside of a large one-story home in the countryside. It was that time of day when evening was drawing near and it was getting colder, but the sunlight was still present.
"We should go inside now, we've been out here all day. You'll be cold. And you're dirty." Robert says. Mina frowns up at him as she places her hands on her hips.
"Not yet, I'm not ready." she replies. Their time in the garden was special for the two of them, and she cherished every moment.
Besides, she knew going inside meant promptly being placed in the bath.
"You'll be cold." Robert repeats, kneeling, pushing piles of earth along the base of a newly-planted sapling, its thin branches weaving.
"No, I won't. I actually like the cold." she replies as her tiny hands continue to pile small clumps of dirt into little mounds. She pauses and grins, her azure eyes twinkling.
"You're like your mother. She doesn't mind it either." Robert gives her a gentle rub along her head.
A little monster sometimes.
Figurative, of course.
Mina remains silent, smiling as she continues her task of planting a seed carefully in the ground, before she perks up, patting the moist soil in place.
"I want to hear the story again, about how they got to Tarros." she says as she points to the garden of roses with the pink, red and yellow petals and the pulsating centers. The burgeoning shadows being cast along them not diminishing their beauty.
"You've heard it enough, haven't you?" Robert smiles. "It never changes. It's always the same."
"I know, I know. But I want to hear it again. About the monster in the cave and the Thycenian woman. I mean, it gave her one of them right?" Mina pauses and stares, little fingers coming up to fleck a crumb of dirt from under her nose.
"Yes, but it was fake." Robert replies as he moves to sit, resting his arm on his bent knee.
"But why would he give her a fake one?" Mina queries, halting her movements to observe him again, those big round eyes anticipating, eyebrows knotted.
"Because the monster wasn't very nice. But he eventually gave her a real one. And from there an entire garden grew," Robert glances over to the roses, their centers flashing, almost in unison. "And that's how they got to this planet."
"And they fell in love and he wasn't a monster anymore," Mina finishes, happily patting the ground, sealing it. "I love that story."
A story. The real one not so clean-cut.
Yes, I was a monster, but no more. That seems like it was ages ago.
Deadlights destroyed. Only left with this modest form. The form of Robert Gray. Just a simple hotel owner.
A creature of consumption now a creator.
Robert looks at the little girl with wonderment, reaching his fingers over to move stray strands of hair blowing in her face that have broken loose from her pigtails.
Love rather than hate.
"Now, let's get inside. Your mother and sisters are waiting. It's almost dinner time." Robert rises up, wiping his palms off on his trousers. He stands grinning down at her as he sticks his fingers out, wiggling them. She takes it, but not without a bit of adorable pouting.
Just like her father.
"Alright," she hangs her head, before lifting back up to beam up at him as she grips his hand. "But no bath."
Robert, giving her a stern look that's more playful than anything, reaches down to boop her nose, making her giggle. They turn to walk along the dirt pathway, stopping to stare off into the distance.
Seems far away. All of it.
Another time. Another world.
He glances down to smile at Mina before scooping her up and balancing her on his shoulders. She curves her arms around his neck, resting her temple against his scalp.
"No bath." she says, her voice muted against his shock of copper hair.
"Bath first." he counters as he walks past the garden to the front door, just as the sunset comes on, triggering the roses' ghostly song, the voices being carried away in the light wind.
YOU ARE READING
Reverie
Mystery / Thriller"The Losers Club had driven It from the personal gaming reserve It had made. Now, it was time for It to make a new one. Just as It had to create a new physical form after Its other was destroyed by those hated ones. And It wants no more to feel. No...
