Tristan stumbled recklessly through the woods, his feet aching. He held his stomach, trying to no avail to diminish the sharp pain. Blood covered his hand and dripped down his arm. Behind him, the shouts continued, ringing in his ears even though every step took him farther away. The sound of gunshots filled the forest. Explosions made the leaf-covered floor shake, sending him off balance. Tristan grasped the nearest tree for support. He gave up trying to go on and slid to the ground. The hilt of the knife still lodged in his stomach was slick with blood. He closed his eyes, his breathing ragged. Above him the moon shone brightly momentarily before large storm clouds hid it from sight. Tristan opened his eyes, watching as the moonlit shadows moved over the floor.
He closed his eyes again, the pain allowing them to remain open only for so long. He saw a field. It was through a clearing in the woods. He saw himself running through it, dressed in all white. A voice called his name. A girl’s voice…
Tristan jolted awake from the intense pain in his side. The bleeding had worsened, covering his entire hand and arm. He knew what he had to do. He took a deep, ragged breath and gripped the hilt of the knife. With the remaining strength he had, he quickly pulled it out of his stomach. A scream filled the air, disturbing the now quiet night. Pain penetrated every nerve in his body as he collapsed on the ground.
…She wore a white dress. She was beautiful. The sun surrounded her, making her seem even more unearthly. Tristan squinted at the light. She motioned for him to follow her. He ran to where she was and they climbed a hill. The peak came into view, where two others stood. A boy and girl, both also in white. When they joined them, the girl he had heard calling his name took his hand and turned to the horizon. They stood there, the four of them, gazing at the view…
Tristan opened his eyes, returning to the still night, the blood-soaked ground around him, the excruciating pain in his stomach. He wanted to scream for all he had lost. But, he wouldn’t cry. He never cried. Not until that moment, when his eyes met the billions of small, sparkling stars in the midnight sky. A tear escaped his eye and he shut them, blocking the rest from falling.
…He saw them again. They were beneath a tree, on top of the hill, watching the river that was etched through the forest below them. The boy with eyes of fire took the raven-haired girl’s hand and they ran towards the woods, laughing. The girl who had called Tristan, the one so fond in his memory, looked at him and then at the pair running down the hill. They followed them, hand in hand; a carving left behind them in the trunk of the tree…HMCT FOREVER.
He heard the words echoing in his mind as the pain closed in around him. He knew they were true. He opened his eyes once more, for the last time, and saw the knife lying by his side, the moon’s reflection glinting in its bloody blade. And then there was nothing. The pain was gone. He heard the voice. The girl’s voice, call his name.
The words that had gotten him through it all, the pain, the fear, the loss, whispered to him now as he desperately tried to see them again, the ones in white.
Once more into the fray,
Into the last good fight I’ll ever know,
Live and die on this day,
Live and die on this day.
And then the two words that bond them together came. HMCT FOREVER.
