Ascension

I’d begun losing count of the hours I’d spent in this hole.

Days, a week probably, but I didn’t care. He wasn’t coming. I soon lost the impetus to try and escape, as the idea of running back to a husband who wasn’t keen on finding his missing wife wasn’t too appealing.

Naeht had been busy. I heard him constantly moving in and out of the house. Most of the time I was left alone. I didn’t mind being alone as it meant that he wouldn’t be there to taunt me, although, with the gem, I knew that I was always being watched. He didn’t say anything most of the time, but whenever the gem was used I felt another presence in my head, like I was somehow sharing my consciousness.

I didn’t mind it with Rain, he already knew me in almost every possible way. There was nothing that I wouldn’t share with him. Naeht however, felt like an intruder, one I wanted to force out, but could do nothing about as he was trapped within my own body. I couldn’t tune him out without tuning out myself.

I tried not to dwell on the big issues, but focused on the smaller problems I had facing me. For example, the fact my back hurt from not being able to stand and that I stank from not having a bath in days. The slightest of my worries was that my oh so lovely period would start any day now and how it was going to be more than uncomfortable to sit in a pool of my own menstrual blood and viscera. Those problems made my life so much easier to bear.

I heard the door open again, which meant that he was home. The latch above my head rattled and light flooded into the room. I was compelled to move towards it, but I decided that it was best I stayed in the dark.

“Summer,” he called as he jumped down into the hole.

I didn’t answer but he’d already spotted me in the corner. He stopped a way off and looked at me.

“I wonder what plot you have brewing in your pretty little head.”

“I’m not going to try to escape if that was what you were wondering. I’m tired and I don’t have enough energy to play games anymore.” I said without looking at him.

“Are you sure about that? Tir na n-Óg is quite a place when compared to this hovel. My brother would be so happy to have you back.”

“What do you want Naeht?”

“A lot of things, but right now I was wondering if you would like to get out of this hole and join me upstairs?” he said coming closer.

“Why the change of heart,” I said narrowing my eyes at him.

“My fight was never with you Summer.”

“Well, that is a first. The fight is usually against me.” He smiled slightly. “What if I decided that I liked it better down here?”

“I find that highly unlikely, but it is your choice,” he said turning away.

“Wait,” I was averse to going up there with him but I thought about my little problems. “What are the conditions?”

He stopped. “Not many, just that you have to assume another identity and that you don’t leave the house,” he said turning back to me.

“And no dosing,” I added.

“That all depends on you.”

I bit my lower lip as I considered his conditions. “Fine, I’ll come,” I said easing out of my sitting position.

He offered me his hand but I brushed passed him. I waited for him at the door and he indicated that I climbed up first which I did. He then followed me out closing the door behind himself.

It was good to be outside again. The house though small, from what I could see was well furnished. I would have probably been more impressed if I wasn’t already acquainted with their expensive tastes in décor.

“If you don’t mind,” he said asking me to move. I did and he rolled out a huge rug that covered the door.

“Where is the bathroom I need to bathe,” I said standing to face him.

“It is in there,” he said pointing to the nearby door. I looked at him and then moved towards it. “Don’t try anything Summer,” he warned.

“I said that I wouldn’t. I’m not inclined to go somewhere where I am not missed.” I said as I closed the door.

There was no warm water here but the cold water sufficed. I was glad to get the grime and stink off of my skin and out my hair. After I showered, I found a towel hanging on the rack which I used to wrap around my body. I then grabbed my dirty clothes from the ground and also opted to wash them out. I then hung them to dry over the empty towel rack.

I walked over to the nearby mirror. I hardly recognized myself as my features looked old and drawn out. I was to assume a new identity I might as well adopt one to match how I felt.

Slowly I watched as the black and orange strands of my hair turn into an even grey. My face became thinner and wrinkles became the main highlight of my features. My back was hunched and my muscles felt weak and useless.

I started moving towards the door, but it was taking forever as my feet shook with each step. It sucked being old. Maybe I was taking this too far, I decided. I already felt old on the inside, but the actual condition was even worse. I changed quickly to regain my youth and stepped out the door.

Naeht was sitting around the table looking out the window. “A bleached blonde, not bad. But the green eyes are a dead giveaway.” he said as I regained his attention.

“Okay fine,” I said changing. “Is this any better?”

“Blue seems more in character.”

“My clothes are not wearable at the moment. I would like something to put on. If you don’t mind.” I said leaning on the doorpost.

“But of course. I couldn’t have you walking around in a towel all day now could we.” I didn’t answer. “Follow me,” he said getting up.

We walked out of another door into a small foyer containing only the steps going upstairs. I trailed behind him quietly as he led me to a room at the far end of the hall. He opened the door for me to go in.

“Just like Guantanamo Bay,” I said stepping inside the lavishly decorated bedroom.

“As I said earlier, my fight isn’t with you. You will find everything you need in here.” I didn’t say anything but just went to stand by the bed. “I think you would like some privacy now, right?”

“That would be appreciated,” I said turning to him.

“I forgot to tell you, but I have one other condition,” he said pushing his head back through the door.

“And what would that be?”

“This door can only be opened from the outside and it will remain locked until I decide to let you out. Which might not be for a while. You do understand my stance don’t you?”

“Of course, why would I expect any different. You have no reason to trust me.” I said flatly.

“I am happy that we could reach an understanding.” his head disappeared and the door clicked into place. I heard the key being removed from the door and then there was quiet. Is that what my passivity and his dominance were being called...an understanding?

I went over to the door and tried it myself. Like he said it was locked. I then moved around the room checking all the drawers and closets. He wasn’t lying about me having everything I needed. From clothes to toiletries, books, magazines, everything was here. The only things missing were probably food, which he probably figured that I didn’t need and anything that gave me a connection to the outside world which, included not having even a window. It caused me to wonder how long Naeht had been planning this.

I dropped the wet towel from around me and got dressed quickly, everything fitting me just fine. I made my way over to the bed and crawled in the middle of it, burying my head in the pillows. It was funny how I thought that after I got married, I would never have to sleep alone again. Yet here I was alone in a foreign country, in a foreign house, laying on a foreign bed and with a foreigner holding me hostage. In a matter of days, my whole life had become foreign. Sleep, though, evasive finally overcame me and it became my temporary escape from all this foreignness.

My door flew open. I was frightened at first as I didn’t know what to expect from Naeht, but from the looks of things, it couldn’t be pleasant. I dared myself to open my eyes and look in that direction. I held my breath when I saw who it was.

“Thorn, is that really you?” I said climbing out of bed and walking towards him.

“Yes,” he said coming to stop directly in front of me.

I searched his face. The intense grey eyes, the strong jaw line that held no more of its boyish roundness, the perfect hard-soft lips. I stepped in closer and ran my fingers down the planes of his face. His hand moved up to cover mine as he pressed it hard against his skin.

A single tear rolled down my face.

“I am sorry I took so long,” he said softly.

“I am sorry that I gave up so easily,” I said squeezing myself closer to him and his arms snaked around my waist fitting exactly how I remembered. “I overheard that you didn’t think I ran away as you asked someone to tail Naeht, but I still gave up hope. I doubted that you would ever come and I am so sorry. It’s that I heard that you’d sent Naeht to find me.” I said sobbing heavily.

“It is ok. It doesn’t matter. I am here now.” he said kissing me on the forehead.

“How did you find me? The gem was taken.” I said taking my face out of his chest to look up at his face.

“You are my other half. I heard your call and I answered. I don’t need a gem to do that. We are too strongly linked. There isn’t any known power that could ever separate us permanently. I want you to remember that.” he whispered as he brushed away my tears.

I nodded my head and then dropped it back into his chest as tears of joy continued to flood my face.

In a fashion that had become routine, I woke up not knowing what time of the day it was. I, however, was in a better mood as everything still had a dreamlike quality to it.

I was unsure anything was real anymore but I knew the loud tap on the door was. I sat up and waited for him to come in. The dream was over. The nightmare had restarted.

“Summer, I see you are up,” he said stepping inside.

“I can see that me being constantly bugged by you was also an unmentioned condition.”

He smiled slightly. “I am just here to tell you that I will be leaving for a few days. I can’t be found sitting around here when I should be out looking for you. That wouldn’t be very smart of me now would it.”

“Have anyone ever told you how much of a manipulative jerk you are?” I said folding my arms. “When Rain does find me you are going to be sorry.”

“I thought we were getting along. That hurt Summer.” I rolled my eyes at his raillery.

“What is going to hurt even more is when Rain finds out what you have done.”

“I see the fire is up and blazing again. I wonder what brought this on. This new lease on life behaviour, I must say comes as a bit of disappointment.”

“Nothing a good night’s rest couldn’t fix. I am in such a great mood, not even you have the power to break me today.”

“If you say so,” he said in a carefree nonchalance that annoyed me to the bone. “I am leaving now and I would advise you not to do anything stupid as I’ll be watching.” he said flashing the citrine gem briefly before it disappeared in his pocket. He then walked out the door, the locks being deftly slid into place.

I had wanted so badly to walk up to him and tear the gem away from his hands, as him touching it made something so precious appear like a malignant tumour eating away my privacy.

I’d thought of pounding on the door heavily and screaming my lungs out, but I knew that it wouldn’t have made a difference. Several times I’d thought of blasting my way out of here but I wasn’t sure if I was up to it. I was too weak to stand and me drawing on the little energy that was left might be too much and I could end up killing myself. He’d probably kept me in the dark intentionally knowing that without the sun, it would take a much longer time for me to recover. At this point I wasn’t even close to fifty percent of what I’d been and I could still end up doing more harm than good to myself if I tried bending.

I sighed heavily as I tried to figure out what my next move would be. I couldn’t try anything too drastic as he’d still be watching. After a while I gave up thinking of battle strategies as the only results I was gleaned were increasing frustration and a headache.

I made my way over to a pile of books, stacked neatly on a small shelf. One by one I took them out and read the titles, Love and Lost. Fisherman’s Tirade and other similarly named stories, none of which particularly appealed to my taste in literature. The last thing I needed was someone else’s weepy story to further compound my own maudlin mood. I was about to put the last title back in place when something caught my eye. It was another book but it seemed to have fallen behind the other neatly shelved books.

I had to take out a few of the other books before I could get around to it. There was something different about this one. For one it wasn’t a novel and it seemed much older than all the others. I got up from the floor and went over to the bed where I sat and examined its cover. It was of dark leather and there wasn’t any writing on the outside.

I flipped open the cover only to discover that I was holding it upside down, starting from the back of the book. I flipped it over to the correct sides and again started my probe. It appeared to be a diary. The first date being marked as March twenty-third the year eighteen hundred. I liked the handwriting as the tilted calligraphy, with its flashy curves reminded me very much of how Thorn wrote. I browsed through the book and noticed that the author hadn’t written something for every day, but seemed like each date was of special importance and that the letter R was signed at the end of each entry. There were a lot of blank pages left in the back although the last entry I noted was signed January nineteen 1990, the date just before Thorn’s birthday.

I flipped back to the front page. There were a lot of entries before getting to the last, but I had all the time in the world so I figured why not. What harm could come from me reading somebody’s old secrets?

My mouth hung open as I read the final entry, the same way it did since I started reading the diary. I was way past surprised. I was shell-shocked! When I thought of the implications of all I’d just read, it meant that several fundamental facts in Rain’s, Seidon’s and Naeht’s, especially Naeht’s life were no longer true.

The diary was written by Thorn’s mother, Rain. That was what the R stood for. She lied to Seidon about everything in her life before she met him. She seemed to express deep, pain and regret from withholding vital information about herself, her mission and about Naeht’s parentage. I could understand the difficulty it would pose to tell someone you loved that you were sent to kill them and that the child you were carrying was that of your greatest enemy.

However, she should have tried explaining to Seidon, he would have understood. If you said that you loved someone, you can’t keep those huge secrets from them, especially in the beginning as everything that followed would be based on a big lie.

I tried putting myself in her shoes. If I had a secret that I thought would cause me to lose Thorn forever, would I tell him? I immediately got her perspective. I probably would, but only if the situation deemed it necessary.

I sympathized with her. It had to be a heavy chip to carry alone. Writing it all down was her way of dealing with it. She didn’t destroy the book, maybe she did hope that the truth did come out one day if anyone happened to come across it.

I wondered who else had read it? If Naeht did, was this his reason for doing what he was doing now? Was kidnapping me and hurting his brother some way of exacting revenge on his mother? She was gone and the only other person closer to her than himself was Thorn.

Did Thorn know? I couldn’t imagine that he did. I remembered him telling me his version of his mother‘s earlier life, the one that his father had told him and the one that Rain had told Seidon. Would I be the one unlucky enough to tell him the truth about his mother? He already blamed himself for her death, I wasn’t cruel enough to defame his mother’s name. He had fallen in love with the version of his mother presented to him and I couldn’t bring myself to take that away from him.

It was decided, I was going to keep my mouth shut. Rain’s secrets would also follow me to the grave. I got up off the bed, the first time I’d done so in hours, and placed the diary in the same place I’d found it.