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By Sarah G. Crespo
What wish will she choose? Will her father tell
her the truth? Those were the common questions they asked. The
ordinary folks considered her very lucky. The Elders pitied her.
___
“She will always be your Mama. I didn’t tell
you because before your mother died, she told me to start anew, find
a new life for us. Your Mama came to our life as if your mother sent
her herself. I know you feel she loves you like you are her own.
Listen, this will not change anything between you and your Mama.”
The words floated on her head. She looked at her
father across the dining table. Her throat struggled to say
something but nothing came out of her lips. Her father told her the
truth when they got back home after the eclipse. And after that she
couldn’t stop crying when she was alone.
She stood without finishing her breakfast. Her
mother was in the garden, watering the flowers. She wanted to run to
her but her feet did not obey her. But at the same time, her
thoughts wondered how her real mother would look if she was watering
the plants. Her heart ached. She looked back to her father who was
still sitting at the table.
“Who will be my real Mama if I will wish for
her to live again? Will she stay here with us?”
There was no answer. She ran towards her room
and locked the door.
___
Chryseis was staring blankly outside her window.
Her eyes caught the color velvet passing the street. She decided to
go outside and follow the Knight. They were crossing the bridge to
the forest when the Knight stopped to face her.
“Why are you following me?”
“I want to know where you are sleeping.”
“We don’t sleep.”
The Knight walked again. She still didn’t stop following him.
“Beyond this point you can’t follow anymore. You have to give me
your name if you want to come with me.”
She remembered her father’s warning.
“What will happen to me if I will tell you my name? They say you
are soul stealers.”
“What is your wish?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“You will wish to see the future.”
“How did you know?”
“It is already made. Tell me your name and I
will let you see the future, you know you came here for that,
everything is made but the answers must be sought.”
“I do not understand you.” Chryseis’ hands
began to tremble. “I wish to just see the face of my mother.”
Her head ached again.”
“You cannot see her without the seeing the
future.”
“But she is already dead…”
“Make your wish. Do not fool yourself anymore. Time is melting,
perform your part.”
“My name is Chryseis.”
The fire on her eyes blazed and closed her sight.
___
She found herself walking up in a spiraling
staircase. Nothing was there but the stairs and the door above it.
Darkness surrounded her. When she reached the door and opened it,
she saw a very large library. Odin was there at the middle, writing
on his table. He noticed her presence and turned to her.
“So, you’re finally here. Good. I am glad
we’re finishing this. I need a new one.”
“Show me the future”
“You already saw it.”
“What? Where is it?” Chryseis asked.
He handed her a piece of paper.
the end, a long coming
unwrapping verses
between heartbeats,
the night’s song: a mourning
the world will be nothing
after last lines have been sung
the remains: traces of a dream,
a flash of paradise
like paper lanterns of youth
memory cannot retrieve you anymore
you are always receding
to some unknown distance
where no song could reach
the night
—1st day of winter on the month of Phoebus.
Chryseis.
“I wrote this?” She asked.
“Yes, you will.”
“I don’t remember anything about it.”
He pulled the piece of paper from her hands and
as he looked at it, it burned, the fire turned the paper into sand.
“No one will see the future unless one is
blind,” Odin said and he threw the sands on her eyes to quench the
fire in them. He went back to his table and wrote “Chryseis will
die in the forest. That will be her future.”
“Show me the face of my mother.”
“Sorry, I forgot how I wrote her character.
Maybe, after I finish this I will write you a better one. But I will
give you new shoes and a cone of strawberry ice cream.” Odin
laughed. “You are not my best story.”
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