Prompt: Into the woods
There's an old riddle I tell to the folks who come tired to the halfway house.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGEezCqpQk
'How far can you walk into a forest?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvd4UVf1Mx
Some of them know the answer, some don't.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckntjVr76R
'Halfway. Now take your rest.'
The Wood of White Nights was my home.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKIQ8tqafZ
It was a place between two places where rarely people had a reason to stay. Two poor towns, farming areas, or so they claimed, because the crops always failed and never the baleful cry of an animal I heard.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bAPb114RZ
People had their own reasons for passing by the Halfway House, and I had my own reasons to live there.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAch8qvk88
I suppose, if nothing else, it gave me something to do.
It was a hobby of sorts - I had always had a way of talking to people, and at the Halfway House I could learn about a different life every day. All the sadness and - occasionally - gladness that would lead someone to stay at a dying building in a forest full of dangerous beasts.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGV5i5NlkRU
For some, perhaps they were seeking something. Tales of lost treasure in the Woods, or old friends who stopped returning letters or calls. It's strange, really - the people who were looking for something were lost themselves.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcc7iekpQ9
The House provided refuge for others, a place where the outside world no longer mattered, a place where time itself failed to keep composure, a place where they could escape the judgements and expectations.
And I suppose that for a while it kept my interest. Lives and stories were precious things and the knowledge of each one was like a temporary high of intimacy - something that I could never have achieved elsewhere.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRS6RM0IlKg
But too soon, I learnt that life was like a loop, a pencil retracing the same track over and over again - I met the same people, the same stories, the same tired faces with eyes of broken promise.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2KcxAkZrF
There was nowhere else for me then, of course. So I stayed. And with every passing year, I couldn't help but feel that I was looking into the mirror every time I greeted a lost soul into the House. I was running. Away, or to, even I didn't know. But I was running, by staying still.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfvi7Iacoj
You see, runners inevitably hit a brick wall. For them, it was death. For me, it was an old friend who returned as a stranger under a rain-soaked sun.
'Welcome to the Halfway House.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1fEAw7ow5
The girl was dripping, and the warm rays of light from the sky had done nothing to dry her. She was English - with those perpetual dimples and perceptive eyes - and her hair was dyed an angel white. She was short - and her complexion said that she couldn't have been any older than twenty seven.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pNya0D0KM
'You must be tired. Sit, please.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYVxgGkJE8
She remained on her feet, and walked up to me.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0xtGadEcmp
'Do you know how far you can walk into a forest?' I asked her, seeing myself ask myself the same question from the inside of the droplets hanging at her eyelashes.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy53NPDU0kj
'Halfway, you bastard. It's me.' The moment that tears began running down her cheeks and not just residual rain was misty, like a watercolor - perhaps she was crying before she even entered.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUTFUn7h89
'Aria!' I embraced her, but only lightly, conscious of my suit getting wet. 'You're looking younger than I last saw you.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SwDo2VzPZ
'Please don't give me that bullshit Al, I'm old. I'm too old for all of this.' She let go, and finally sat down. She never liked being told when to do things.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLFvqn02sh
'Another one?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNGtODzmu7
'What do you think? Of course it was another one.' She pulled out a few sepia polaroids from her satchel and gave a heavy sigh at them before handing the stack to me.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eXeCAcFVr
'What was his name?' Aria always picked the ones with the lovely smiles. Here - riding on his back in a park, laughing. Here - him making a mess of the spaghetti. Here - a kiss.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGsQsIQ0biy
'Jacob. Jacob Ryans.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLGy96QXBl
'He's very beautiful. You two look so happy together.' Here - both of them asleep on a couch. Here - a walk on the beach with a white dog.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0vlW0Hb6p
'Were, Al, we were happy.' She collapsed into an outburst of bodily fluid again. Crying, bleeding, orgasming, I never really got the differences. There's always the pain and the pleasure, and at the extremities, they merge into the one - like a great circle of emotions. 'God, Al, I don't know why I keep doing this to myself.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6c8hJLLQKU
'Don't say that. What you do is a good thing. You give these men an extra few years of happiness. You know that all these people would have died if you didn't come into their bodies.' Us Muses could pass into any dying body and grant it with immortality so long as we stayed inside. She was the Aria - the outpour of raw emotion. I was the Allemande - the noble, the detached.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdVMPR7S8l
'But you know what I took away? Closure. And not having that - that hurts more.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0xz8BZs9Aw
'You can still fix things.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nAsG0qLtn
'Al, you know I can't do that. I can't tell them, I can't leave them in any way. I loved them all. I love them all.' She took the photos back and took a long look at the one by the beach. 'The dog was called Marbles. You like riddles, Al? Why's the dog called Marbles?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtahduNagYa
'You tell me, sis.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXpzu4aHzO
She laughed. 'He's batshit bonkers. But adorable all the same. We got him from the adoption place in - I don't even remember. But he was heard barking from the sewers. His previous owner left him there.' A corner of the English girl's smile appeared and faded just as quickly like an imprint from the past.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUa1SGDaik
'I just don't know why I keep making the same mistakes.' She folded the photos.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWAHCXaOnW
'Well, sis, life is like a loop - '958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wO8XeWptZ
'Can you just shut up for once, Al? Not all of your goddamn philosophies are goddamn right. You're stuck here for what you've done, how can you say you know about life?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xRXEf6j4W
I stayed silent. She was in a mood.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYGpp0kLUI
'It's like a spiral.' She said, suddenly. 'You always think you're heading somewhere but you just keep going round and round. You know the funny thing about spirals?' I didn't interrupt her - it was rhetorical, and I would only frustrate her further. 'You can draw an infinite number of spirals. An infinite number of lives. They get close, but the only place they really touch is at the center, at the end. At the end of them all.'
Having Aria around was always difficult, but I know she did it for me.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunT6BjcvBB
You see - I couldn't actually leave the woods. I had made a mistake, a long time ago. Aria takes photos of the world for me, with an old polaroid that she never found the strength to throw away. After a few decades I had had enough of the cities and mountains and lakes, and I asked if I could just see her life.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjuLOm9jem
It was always about the love, for her. I never understood why. But she would purposefully try to find the ones who were in a healthy relationship, the ones whose boyfriends or girlfriends were always by their hospital bed.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnWfKh9TVP
And once those dying bodies woke again, she would never let those people go, not until she had to leave. She stayed with each one only five, ten years - you see, the bodies don't age once we're inside. To keep us safe, she left before it would become noticeable.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYmtsEfR7y
I suppose I should have thanked her more than I did.
'You're still here.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2O5VpPeXv
It was morning, and Aria was sitting, the English girl, in the dining room. She had never stayed longer than the night before. 'I need a break from it all.' She sighed.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyZJ0RLW4Q
'You're at the right place.' I took the place beside her. 'The cornflakes are shit.' I reminded her. 'Have the yogurt.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AwEupWplb
'How did it feel, Al?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLjQWB8bt8
'How did what...'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0CpKWgPUK
'To do what you did. To do that to all those people.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNTHN2cjhn
'Why are you asking me this now?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9UUsAkwBS
She laid her head into her palms. 'Because nothing has changed.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhb9GgCDGN
She didn't want to say it, but I knew what she was thinking. She was tired of being trapped in this world with me.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYfbdDuujs
'Sis, I'm sorry.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWoiO7YssN
She looked up, crying again. 'But were you really?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqipLuSeLX
I couldn't answer that. One option would be a lie and the other would break her heart.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwr7tOr0iy
I stood.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGIGKT3MS5
'I'll go get you some yogurt.'
'Do you ever wish you could die?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAax7x0cgrx
Aria was slowly retreating into a shroud of depression.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjFRcJwdtU
'No. There's so much to live for.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYzNtUaedN
'But I've seen it all. There's nothing left.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcB9xjyaiYh
'Don't say that.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpoh1CZk6v
Even I was surprised at how much she cried those few days she stayed at the Halfway House. It bothered me. I never wanted to see her like this.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqN4yLZuFY2
And it was only then that I decided to do what I knew was possible several, several years ago.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qD6eZkWiH
'Sis... I can get you out.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvlAf3Kr8p
'...what do you mean?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlspriuK5NZ
'I can get you out. I can get you back home. But you have to be patient.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7l2w4PdPa0
'...I don't understand.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JLh7AbGN7
'Back home, sis. Away from all of this.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBouRvXeSlH
'But how?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRksBI7Kjw0
The tears had stopped and I knew I had made a promise that I couldn't bear to break.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCRZyBT3ze
'You'll understand tomorrow. Sleep on it.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRrijbtZGv
She turned away again.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHlspNBgBe
She didn't say thanks - reminding me even now how I had mistreated her before.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84GcFwt5FD
'Remember. You'll have to be patient.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIcrYmSt6H
I wait a few moments for a response before I close her door.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyRR7gAJ1V
It was time for me to leave. To run away, to run towards.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGL4HFPkNE
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An English girl with hair angel white, kneeled before the gates of her home.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl19o255VkN
'Father?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYab0zh2Y5g
'Aria. You know you're not allowed here.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUJ7rifPXv
'It's not Aria.'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROre32UpDc
Muses could go only into dying bodies, of which there were none in the Wood of White Nights, where time itself lay tired.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5AbVNE7GFI
But there had been one - a girl with cancer, who should have died seven years ago, who woke at the brink and came to the woods.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxC7uUlEuc
'Allemande?'958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTbeTZG5BY
I could feel him, ready to send me back to the forest in a single spin of the landscape.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdQv9to3D0
'Wait.' I say.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhRVQT2w8k
I know what I need to do to make things right. I know what I need to do to pay for my past. I know how to send Aria home.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczLQPz5jtk
Because I realized, longer ago than I believed, that I was wrong. Life didn't have a simple shape, an order - life was a mirror, in the corner of the universe, in which you could see eternity, and the reflections of a thousand others -958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡom5vqX0Jba
And so I will suffer the reflection of the suffering I caused.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAP1Sh2thR
I had been running - not away from the forests in fear, not to the forests in hope of comfort, but to hide from the forests that festered within myself.958Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8USbzBJAU
And when all the pain finally ends, they will offer me the heavens once again in forgiveness - but I would stay only a moment to say farewell - and return home, to the Halfway House.
