Alternatively

Wait For Me

"She's gone."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's gone. Six feet under, cold to the touch, coins over the eye gone."

His knees hit the ground.

"They took her, your name was the last thing she said."

"My name..."

"Why would you care, you'll find another girl somewhere."

He had only been gone for a few minutes, he didn't even hear her.

"Chin up, kid, life goes on."

"Not without her," came his ragged whisper.

"Not without her, jeeze, what a romantic."

His stomach revolted and he clasped a numb hand over his mouth, staring at the dying grass.

"Oh, son, you don't look so good."

"She- I-"

"You'd do something crazy for her, wouldn't you?"

His hand clawed, dragging down his face. "I'd do anything for her."

"Anything," the man mused, dark eyes looking him over. "I'm inclined to help."

"Help?"

"I can tell you how to get there, get her back."

Her voice whispered in his ear and he staggered to his feet. "Tell me."

"I ain't really supposed to say...but you did earn yourself a favor back there."

"Tell me."

The man pursed his lips, digging something out of his pocket. "It's a long road, a rough journey. Are you sure about this one?"

"Tell me."

"How to get there, well," he flipped a golden coin his way. "You gotta go in the dark of night."

It was down the railroad tracks, following the telephone wires and hitting the boarded up dead end. Her laugh haunted him, not clinging but disappearing. He was desperate, he was willing to follow her to the ends of the earth.

"You keep on walkin' and you don't look back."

He didn't even hear her, how could he not have heard her?

He ripped down the boards with one swipe, dank air running through his hair and inspiring goosebumps down his spine. There were wails, swelling and sinking and echoing up the tunnel. Her voice wasn't there, he couldn't hear her, how could he not hear her?

His chest heaved and he could see her blonde hair glimmering in their last sunset, see her eyes sparkling with life and annoyance. She was alive, she was meant to be alive.

"Lay low, stay out of sight."

The tunnel was lined with smoke and bone, the path indented with millennia of footsteps.

She told him it wasn't safe, told him they needed to be on guard.

How could he not have heard her?

"You'll hear them before you reach the gates, the dogs will know you aren't supposed to be there."

It was stupid, he was so stupid. He remembered seeing lemon grass, remembered how that was something they had lost in the scramble to escape Thebes. It was by the river, not too far from their camp. He never would have left if he knew.

"Wait for me," his plea hung in the thick air. "I'm coming, wait for me."

"Keep this coin in your hand at all times, you never know what's lurkin', what's waitin'."