The soft shifting of the grass beneath our feet serves as a subtle reminder of what I had left behind for the roars and unsettled sins of the city. Fields lay untouched for miles with the occasional livestock that frequented the areas of Meadow Valley.
This town holds too many memories. Too many truths, lies, and regrets that fly around me. They whisper unwanted taunts that disrupt the peaceful aura this town would usually bring me, corrupting the past.
"What's the city like?" Harrison asks, suddenly breaking the silence between us as we slowly walk in sync. Emotion no longer lingers in his words, his tone returning to its forever curious pitch of questions and wonders.
"Your great grandfather lives there, no?" I reply with an eyebrow lifting. "And so does your father's brother?"
"Well, yeah, but I've never been there," Harrison shrugs casually. "Dad has offered but I don't really have an interest in leaving."
"Then why the question?"
Silence follows and the absence of an answer draws my gaze to the side to see his own pointed towards the sky.
"I just wanted to figure out why it took you away," he finally spoke softly, his words nearly swept away by the wind around us.
More silence follows, my steps halting our journey. I'm not quite sure what to say, or if I have the right to add to his thought as I watch Harri take a few more steps before realizing I had fallen behind. He stops and peers over his shoulder in curiosity.
Our eyes meet, violet locking onto that blindingly bright golden flame for what feels like eternity.
"It was loud," I say, my lids slowly closing to release myself from the trance. "You can't think, can't process, can't reflect. It was both suffocating and distracting."
My feet begin to move once more but my eyes remain close to hide the true meaning of the words I had given him.
"Sometimes we need an escape, I guess," Harrison replies, his voice seeming so close. "Even if it's from ourselves."
It's quite strange to hear such thoughts from Harrison, the boy I knew merely spouting nonsense containing useless information, but that was then and this is now.
Now is the reality we currently walk, the fields of our childhood existing beyond the hands of time.
My gaze falls to the greenery underneath us, the thick weeds and partially chewed plants swaying in time with the wind at our backs. The sweet smell of the air untouched by human filth reminds me of a much easier time. A time of innocence and delusions.
"Harrison."
"Hmmm?"
Once again, I stop and this time Harri rests beside me. I lift my gaze to his face, his expression blank and his arms crossed up behind his head. In our teenage years we are of equal height, something I had previously lacked in despite having the advantage of an extra year.
"Do you consider yourself a good person?"
I witness his brows slowly furrow at my monotonous tone, the gears of his mind visibly turning.
"I guess it depends..." he answers, slowly lowering his arms and grabbing his chin in thought. "When Dad asks me to clean the stalls or tend to the newborns and I sleep in instead, I wouldn't consider myself a good person, but when I see him come back home exhausted, I feel pretty guilty. I wouldn't feel bad if I wasn't a good person, right?"
Regret...
If regret, an emotion that bathes in negativity, determines our worth then what becomes of the beings without regret? The ones hardened, desensitized, and neglected? Are they of no value?
"You are naive," I retort with a stiffened expression.
"Hey, you're the one that asked the question!" he exclaims. My face is already turned to continue on ahead at a faster pace but I can feel the confusion in his words.
More words fly from his mouth, but another sound catches my attention. The familiar cascading rumble of the only danger that roamed in these otherwise forgotten hills.
Unable to refrain from the automatic response deep within my soul I fail to stop myself from spinning on my heel and bracing myself against the ground. Using Harrison's motion and weight, I muster up all the strength I possibly can and manage to shove him away just in time for the herd of horses to stampede between us.
The natural roar of the beasts and the devastation of their hooves ravage the space in which Harri stood just moments before. As the wind assaults my face from the stampede only inches away, I grip my teeth firmly against the onslaught of overwhelming emotion. My palms tingle from the impact and an ache develops in my jaw from the tension left behind from my actions.
Within seconds, the powerful beasts leave us behind as quickly as they had appeared, my gaze once again lifting to lock onto Harri's dumbfounded expression as he lays sprawled out on the grass, safe from harm.
My jaw only tightens, my teeth protesting from the pressure. No one else can wound me in this way. No word, no cry, no action, and yet, this boy shatters all that I have gained over these last five years. All that I have discovered, all that I have accomplished, let go, and transformed.
Within seconds, Harrison has drawn me back into the blissful lie of what I had wanted to be, of what I now know was all a dream.
Apparently, whatever magic he possesses holds much more power than what can be extinguished under the raw power of nature.
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