Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) - By Devon Ashley Page 0,37
gently lift Juniper into a sitting position and carefully nudge her legs over the edge. Below us is the river. I know she’ll fall directly into it. Just like that other pixie. I wonder where they go? Do they float wherever the current takes them? Or do they sink and the river keeps them right where they land? I shudder to think the latter and pray for the former. Juniper’s finally free again. I know her soul has left this place, but I want her body to do so too.
“Goodbye, Juniper,” Willow whispers.
“May Mother Nature take care of you as well as you took care of us,” I add.
Without another word or a glance in either direction, we lift Juniper’s body over the edge. She slips easily in my hands. As much as I’ll miss her, I’m happy to know she’s out of here for good. No more hunger. No more heat exhaustion. No more slavery.
Just a soul free to dance playfully in the wind with her best friend again.
We watch as Juniper hits the water below us. Watching is all we can do; we’re too high to hear the splash. Please float away. Please. But I’ll never know if she did. Try as we do, we’re not close enough to see if something as small as a pixie bobs in the water. We can only hope.
Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep after Juniper’s funeral. I kept worrying about my own mortality. I know I’ve only been here a little more than a month, but I’ve seen what this place can do to you. It wears on you physically and emotionally. Those that don’t learn to deal end up locked within their mind, completely numb and void of life. None of them deserve this life. To feel like the world has abandoned them.
Why can’t our existence be like the stars? Happily twinkling and dancing in the night sky, bringing light and entertainment to all who see? The stars make everyone ponder unanswered questions, makes everyone smile. And no matter who you are, where you are or what you’ve done, they’re always there for you. No matter what.
I envy those stars, and I watch them until the night fades, then replaced first by morning twilight, and finally, dawn. The indigo sky lightens and a few wispy cirrus clouds high in the sky begin to turn a pinkish orange.
It’s when I’m studying the sky that I notice it. A ripple in the glamour. I’ve always known it was there; I feel it each time I pass through the magical layer. But something never occurred to me before. I jump to my feet and peek over the edge of the pit. A sense of revelation pulses through my body and my heart quickens at the thought. I extend my arm as far down the cliff as I can and feel the magical ripple against my fingertips, tingling my skin like when I pass through the illusion covering our pit.
What if?
I rush to Willow’s part of the pit, where I see she’s still sleeping. All the pixies are up and about already, eating their share of breakfast. I guess Holly took the lead and left us to sleep. I’m sure it didn’t take her long to realize Juniper’s body was no longer with us. She tries to hand me a bowl of mash as I rush by, a sense of forlorn apparent on her features, but I disregard her completely on my way to Willow.
“Willow!” I shake her a little harder than I probably should have, but I can’t help it. “Willow!”
She stirs groggily but quickly jumps to her feet in panic. “What?” she bursts, her eyes darting in all directions with panic.
“It’s all an illusion. Just a glamour.”
“What?” she asks, a little annoyed since she’s still expecting some sort of danger to come at her.
“Our surroundings. We’re not living in some desolate wasteland. Look out over the pit. Everywhere you look is lush greenery. Trees are filled with life. Birds, insects, wind! There’s a river just below us. Everything we see in this prison is just an illusion. They’ve glamoured everything we’re exposed to so we’ll think there’s no escaping this place. That trail we take every day? What if you go just far enough through the trees? Eventually you’ll pass right through the glamour like we do with the one covering our pit. There’s a lush forest surrounding us on all sides. I just know it!”