His parents died, and it fell to Asher to bury them. They lived, Asher, his mother, and his father, alone on their farm. On market days they would walk together to the settlement a league away, to trade with the townsfolk for whatever supplies they needed. Those were Asher's favorite days, for they were the only times he could be with other children his own age. Or any other people at all, for that matter. However, even though their farm was somewhat secluded, Asher loved it. The mountains as his neighbors, the fields as his playing ground, the beautiful sunrises he could see through his window each morning. "Kings of the greatest cities would spend their fortunes to live in a place as beautiful as this," his father used to say. He, too, loved the farm that he had built with his wife. And then yesterday, while out in the field, his hoe came down on the tail of a swamp snake. It lunged first at the ankle of Asher's mother, and then turned on his father. Their shouts came to Asher in the date grove and he ran to them, but when he arrived, they were gone. Their bodies were still, and the snake had vanished. The holes on their legs and the bruises in their skin were the only sign that it had been there. Struck dumb, Asher simply stared.
Eventually, the thought broke into his mind that he should bury them. He worked without thinking, knowing that once he allowed himself to touch that growing storm within his mind, he would lose all control over it. His mother he buried first, and then his father. They lay together beneath the grape vines they had planted when they first built the farm. And only then, after the last shovelful of dirt fell, did Asher at last allow himself to feel. His tears rolled out, falling like rain on the turned earth. He stayed that way for an hour, crying, talking to his parents, begging them for comfort, for guidance.
At last, when the sun had set, he returned to the house, where he fell into his bed and cried until sleep brought what comfort it could.
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The Unending Epic Written to Appease a Friend, Tell a Tale, an...
FantasíaEach day, the story grows. The tale begins when two lives are suddenly and irrevocably twined together, and a boy from a lonely farm and a girl without a people find themselves each other's only friend. Little by little the fabric of their lives wea...
