The Fortress in the Clouds

SHE WANTED TO say that the one she feared most was her mother.

It was not that hard to picture her only family as the villain. After all, the older woman had eyes glinting with menace, occasionally ridden with storms that caused chaos across oceans. Her lips were always sneering if not scowling, nails that resembled talons gripping onto a bottle of liquor to drown her own sorrows away.

Naomi’s mother was a horrible woman but she was still her mother.

There was a time where she was loving, showing care like it was free. She sang lullabies with a voice that could rival a choir of angels, sending Naomi off into a world of dreams. Her sewing was beautiful, creating embroidery that depicted flowers and birds during spring where colors bloomed in abundance.

Once, very long ago, that woman was Naomi’s mother and not the monster that now wears her face.

So, she remained silent, pushing the thoughts of her mother to the back of her mind with a gulp. She needed a new answer, someone else to place the reason for her fright upon.

Then, she realized everything.

“I am afraid of being alone,” she murmured, more to herself than to others.

Her reason was ironic, really, seeing as how she would rather escape her home without a companion than face one she would have to be with for the rest of his miserable slimy life. Yet, it did not knock down any of the truth to it.

She feared loneliness. However, she also wanted companionship when it was due and only when it was due. When it was desired.

Naomi was a bird. She wanted to fly free, to soar to the heavens without restrictions. Yet, she wanted a nest she could return to, a home she could remember as her safe haven.

Ultimately, Naomi was just a compilation of contradictions. There were so many things she desired and at the same time loathed. There would perhaps never be anyone in the world that could make out what went on in that mind of hers.

When she spoke her answer, the door creaked loudly, hissing as a stream of air burst forth from the cracks of the large metal doors. It slowly moved open, stretching to allow a small slip of space for Naomi and Argus to sneak into.

“That’s it?” She asked, a hand raised to shield her eyes from the dust. “It worked?”

“You had to answer truthfully. If your heart has pure intentions and you know of this fear, then there is potential in you to conquer that fear. That is when you are ready to pass the final gate.” Argus chose his words carefully, planning them down to the last letter and enunciating them with great care. “The test can only help you so far. You will have to deal with your problems themselves.”

“Is that what the test is for?”

“I do not know,” he answered truthfully. “It was created many years before I was born. I did not question the way my world worked and that was a mistake on my part.”

Naomi purses her lips in silence. Biting down hard on her bottom lip, she quickly crossed the path in front of her, hands still tightly clasped in Argus’s own ones. She did not bother to raise the issue that Argus was the one that actually held on, nor did she silently try to shake his hand off.

In truth, she adored the comfort he brought her. It was a warm flutter, as if summer had kissed her lips and every other inch of her body at the same time. The bluebirds sang, the wind chimed music, and the ocean bubbled with the scent of the salt. Such a beautiful sensation it was. She had not felt that in so long.

Naomi knew then that she trusted Argus easily because of one reason and one reason only.

He made her feel less lonely.