Fly Until You See The Light

Prairie - Chapter 9

Total darkness. Emptiness surrounds him, and he is alone. Then, suddenly, a memory comes to life around him.

The Village of Dreams...? What is it doing there?

The holes in the thin ice used for fishing are clearly visible; some people, further on, skate with grace and elegance, jumping and going fast without ever stopping.

Ojtaro has always been afraid of ice... And there is a reason.

Suddenly, he notices them. Some Children probably around eight years old playing happily in the snow.

He is among them too. Himself, but from the past. At that time, he was their age.

Ojtaro observes the scene in silence.

The Children play quietly and laugh. Their amused faces brighten the atmosphere. Thay can't see him thought, and that's normal. He's reliving a memory from the past.

«Come!» one of the kids shouts, while inviting the group to follow him. Ojtaro, their friend, also reaches them. «Look at the fishes! Look at how they swim! I saw four of them, and there are more!».

Out of all the memories he has in his mind, why is this one the one he has to see?! Why the one he hates the most?!

Time slowly passes and, after the call of the Child, the ice under the group begins to crack.

And he is the first to notice, his sight was, is and will always be the best. The young boy doesn't hesitate to warn his friends, who listen to him and immediately walk away from the silver floor. All but one. A little girl. He hasn't seen her since that day. She stays still as a statue and doesn't want to move.

The fourteen-year-old closes his eyes; he doesn't want to see the scene, he already knows that his past version has already rushed and pushed the little girl away to save her... To his disadvantage.

And he's in the water, slowly drowning. He sees the Darkness of the water, feels the cold and frost of the humidity. He sees all of this with the eyes of his past himself. Until he closes his eyes.

And, with a gasp, he wakes up from that nightmare.

-----

It's hard to breathe now.... Why does he relive that experience almost every night?! He can't escape that terrible feeling of freezing in the dark, in total Darkness. That's all he fears.

To catch his breath, he takes off his grayish mask. But everything gets worse, terribly worse than usual.

He feels the transparent tears fall from his eyes and, to avoid being heard or noticed by Sentinekka, who is sweetly asleep, he rests his head on his knees and tries to not to make any sounds that could awake her.

-----

«No need to hide, Oj'».

Sentinekka turns towards his friend, who is surprised and lowers his gaze.

«I... Didn't mean to wake you up... S...Sorry» he says, between sobs.

She sits down on the grass, worried. «Tell me what happened, I can help you» she proposes, showing herself available for him.

«It's not necessary... I'm fine» the boy objects.

«Of course, perfectly fine» she replies sarcastically. Then, when she sees him sigh, she decides to get up and sit next to him. «Tell, come on» Sentinekka encourages him.

She doesn't care that she's seeing Ojtaro's real face, his black and white eyes and his so grey skin. She wants to help him. «Is it a bad dream?».

He doesn't know if he should tell her the truth or if he should keep it all inside. Then, finally, he explains that it's a nightmare that scares him. And she listens to him patiently and calmly.

He tells her about that distant but so precise memory, and she doesn't interrupt her companion's story even once.

When he finishes, she tells him:«Do you know that you have been a really good example?».

He smiles at her and nods with some conviction. And she continues:«From the way you said it, it surely wasn't nice... But think, every time that you have this dream, not about your life... But about the one you saved, Ojtaro. Think of that little girl who survived because you were there. Doesn't this make you happy?».

Ojtaro chuckles and, happy as never, he hugs Sentinekka as tightly as possible and strokes her head gently. Sen' is such a good friend, she didn't hesitate to help him and immediately made him stop crying. This is new for someone like him, someone who is used only to his sibling's love and affection.-----

Author's Note: my best friend Rigel, not in this site sadly, helped me writing this scene (mostly Ojtaro's nightmare), so I thank them so much and hope they're having fun whatever they're doing <3!