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Remember
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Mahlon dreamt the stars were falling on him, and when he awoke, he was soaked in his sweat, harsh breaths tearing out of him. Reaching out, he felt the cold, gold anklet that she had given to him.
Ruth.
Her name was marked on his heart. He uttered it under his breath more times than he would admit. It was three days since the night at the fountain, and his mind was overwhelmed with thoughts of her.
He thought of her safety. He wondered if she was okay, if she would ever do anything crazy because of—
He prayed, more than he usually did. He brought her case before Yahweh, and he pleaded for a way to save her.
Help me, help her, God.
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Elimilek sat in silence, enduring his wounds, on top of a small hill that overlooked the green veld, where the cattle came to graze. The orange sun settled on the horizon, tinting the sky, deeper shades of pink, across the blue.
When Benesh settled down beside him, a groan tearing out of his lips, Elimilek turned to greet him with a nod.
“You've been out here for a while.” Benesh said, and that's when the sound of distant laughter met their ears.“You sure you don't want to join us.”
Elimilek nodded, turning to stare up at the sun, the depth of his eyes deep.
“ It's not good for a man to lose himself in his thoughts. That only leads to misery, believe me, Achi.”
Elimilek turned back to him. “And you would prefer I what? Forget? Lose myself in the pleasures of the current moment.”
Benesh’s eyes widened, hurt flashing in them. A harsh silence settled over them, and then calmly, Benesh said, “ It's what you think of me, isn't it?”
It was a rhetorical question, the answer already out in the open. Although the conflict was resolved between the two, the night at the banquet hung in the air between them, acknowledged only in those moments where Benesh would laugh at an Israeli joke, go on ahead with the men to drink, tell Elimilek to not be as uptight, around the men.
It got thicker in moments when Elimilek would mention Yahweh in conversation with their fellow workmen, with a boldness and a love Benesh could only long to have, or when he said 'no' to the food they offered at certain times because he was fasting.
The unspoken tension was left hanging like a cloud over them, one they both thought would surely pass.
“You think you're better than me, don't you?” Benesh stated.
Elimilek sighed, turning to look at Benesh, who had a bruise on his right eye. One Elimilek knew was dealt at the hand of Cain. “I do not think I'm better than you, Achi. How can I be better when we both suffer under the same system?”
Benesh broke his gaze away, jaw hardening, the raw pain in his eyes, noticeable, with no smile lines hiding the truth anymore.
With both their eyes, transfixed, on the horizon, the silence carried the burdens that the two men shared.
Elimilek later broke it, his voice soft, thick with an emotion he hadn't wanted to reveal. “My spirit is grieved, Benesh.”
“...”
“You've forgotten, the Lord.”
His words pierced the heart of Benesh, making the man turn to look at him, his expression having fallen.
YOU ARE READING
Ruth: Reimagined
Romance"I want you to belong to someone Ruth." Adira said, her voice softer. "I want you to be able to breathe in a world where everything is placed on a woman's chest, on her back and tied to her legs and then she's told to be beautiful, to be good enoug...
