Story 6

It was dark, as it always is here. The night never seems to stop and the moon never seems to shine bright enough to light the void I live in. I sat in front of the box, the one he had left me, the one that I had refused to open for nearly a year. I was scared, of the darkness, of him, of the box, of this crippling loneliness. I couldn't bear it anymore, my sanity slowly slipping away as I tried not to cry again.

It had been a year since this box appeared and he had left. A year when I realized just how much I needed him. A year when I finally admitted to myself I loved him. but now it was too late, too much to bear, too much darkness, too much silence.

I miss his sounds. The sounds of his cards, his passive humming as he would flip through them and read them to himself. The slight sounds of annoyance when a reading didn't tell him what he needed to know. The sounds of him whispering his feelings for me to himself.

The darkness was too much now, far too much. It used to be something I looked forward to, since that is when he would come to me. The darkness was when he would sit, on the floor, and shuffle his cards. The darkness was when he would sit in silence as he watched over me.

But now he was gone, and the darkness and the silence were no longer things I could look forward to. Now the darkness and the silence were suffocating me, trapping me, preventing me from breathing or seeing.

I had so many questions, and no answers to any of them. I knew where the answers lay, but I could never bring myself to open it. The box, he had left it with me when he stopped coming. When the darkness became blinding and the silence became deafening. The box had answers, the answers to my many questions, questions about him. Questions for him. If I just opened the box everything would make sense... wouldn't it?

I couldn't, I refused to. I promised myself that I wouldn't. I had hidden the box away and buried its key deep out in the forest. Yet here I was, on his spot on the floor. Sitting in front of that box, holding the key in my hand.

If I opened it I would know. If I opened it I would have answers. If I opened it, I wouldn't have to feel like this anymore. So I did.

I opened the box, the key barely fitting into the lock. It jumped open, as if it had a million things to tell me and not enough time to say them all.

inside of it was a smaller box and an envelope. The smaller box held a deck of cards - It was his deck of cards-, the ones he shuffled and hummed at all throughout the night. Inside the envelope there were two rings on a chain and a note.

'i'm sorry' it read 'I can no longer be here. I offered you a place with me once before, and you refused me. Now I offer it to you once more, wear your ring on your finger and mine around your neck and meet me where the moon shines through the trees one month from now, when its light is brightest.'

I sat there, staring at the cards and cradling the note and rings. I was too late, my stubbornness has killed me. I wanted to be with him, I hated that I had turned him down before. I missed him, I was in denial then but I am no longer. I love him, but I can never see him again. He was gone, I had had one more chance, but I took it away from myself. Was he there that night? in the spot he knew was my favorite? How long did he wait? Did he wait at all?

There were no more chances, I had ruined my own happiness. and in turn I had ruined him as well. There was nothing I could do, our worlds were forever apart. the only thing that could bring him back to me would be a being of his nature. And one is never able to find those.

I felt hopeless, crushing loneliness. I hated how I had brought this onto myself. Why didn't I tell him? Why did I refuse his offers? Now I shall suffer because of myself, and because I had brought suffering upon him. That was the worst of it. He hadn't given up on me, he had given me one more chance. He had waited for me to appear in our spot, with our rings and his deck of cards, and I didn't even show up.

I need to fix this, I need to find him again. Can I? I can't bring him back to me, so it's hopeless. He was willing to leave all behind for me, and I couldn't be bothered to sacrifice a single thing in return. Is that why he left?

I cant bring him back to me, but could I be brought to him? I have, no. I can't. I promised myself I wouldn't, that I wouldn't use it after all that happened. But... I had promised myself I wouldn't open this box, and I did. And this is for him not for me.

No, it's still for me. It's a selfish thing, but I can't bear any of this any longer. What if he was still waiting? What if I had just one more chance?

I would do it, I couldn't stop myself anymore even if I wanted to. I threw open the doors of the house and ran out into the forest. I didn't stop running until I came to the river bed where I had thrown it away so long ago.

one last chance, one last turn, I had to find it again. And I did. I dug around in the river mud for what felt like ages, but when I brought up that cursed bottle the sun hadn't even touched the skyline yet.

I made my way out of the river and to the spot where the moon always shines through the trees. My ring around my finger and his around my neck, the deck cards in one hand and the bottle in another.

I went to the center of the usually moonlit clearing and tore off the cap of the bottle. I took the final swig that was within it, and closed my eyes. In seconds I could feel her again, she was here, probably smirking at me victoriously. I had caved, she knew I would. I had returned for the final wish she owed me.

"take me to him. the owner of these cards and the ring around my neck, take me to him." I spoke without opening my eyes. I didn't want to see her, I wanted to see him.

I heard her laughter, that annoying grating laughter, and then all the sounds around me stopped. It was silent, so I opened my eyes.

I was in a place I had never seen before. A place made of polished black stone and iridescent things speckled throughout it. I looked around frantically, I didn't know where he was or how to find him. Do I wait? Or do I go out to find him?

*This is a part of the same story from 'Story 5'. Has this changed your perspective on the story?

- Moki-Mori*