Evermore - Prologue

“We heard it in the whisperings of those Unseen.
That every life of this world and the other is interwoven through creation,
the eternal threads of an endless tapestry, and that it shall be laid bare in the in between,
for all fleeting travellers."
                   
Conlai Black

Prologue

He emerged out of the woods at the back of the house; he could see her waiting for him down by the river. He paused, briefly struck by how beautiful she looked in the fading twilight, ethereal and distant and as delicate as the air.

Behind him hush voices and indistinct forms whispered anxiously, an invisible congregation formed in the darkness waiting impatiently for what was to transpire.

“Wait here.” He said quietly stepping away from the shadows and making his way down to the water.

She turned as he approached waiting until he was at her side. They stood in silence for several seconds as the encroaching night passed overhead, slowly snuffing out the last dying embers of day and turning the river at their feet into a murky black void. The stark white reflection of the house shimmered on its surface like a silver button on a strip of black ribbon.

“I’ve left him inside,” She whispered. “He’s sleeping.”

He listened and watched as a final shaft of daylight passed over her face illuminating her bright blue eyes for a moment revealing the bitter sadness she had managed to mask in her voice.

She waited for a response and receiving none continued.

“It’s nearly time, did you bring the others?” she glanced to the dark tree line as she spoke.

“I had guessed you would expect me to look after him for you?” he muttered cursing his words even as he spoke them, she remained calm.

“He needs to be protected.”

“Is that really what you think Penny? Because when it all comes down to it you’re the one who’s leaving, did you even think of how he’d react if he wakes up and finds you abandoned him?”

Penny glared at him stifled tears sparkling in her eyes, again he felt ashamed by the venom in his voice.

“I trust you to look after my son Finn,” she spoke softly. “I’d hoped you’d do your best by him?”

“I’m going to send him away from here, make him forget all about his this place and of you. It will be like you never existed for him.”

She could no longer stay the tears and Finn apologetic stepped forward to hold her as she began crying bitterly into his shoulder her body trembling with each sob, those watching from the shadows gave no indication save for a warm breeze blowing gently across the water.

“That would be for the best I suppose,” she stammered. “It’s a complicated situation after all, it would be impossible to try and explain to him.”

“Don’t go.” He held her tight, unwilling to let her go.

“You already know this has to be done.”

“Why does it?” He persisted. “I’m sure I can keep you safe, both of you, I can break the oath you made to him…” she silenced him with a shake of her head.
         
“Neither of us will be safe as long as I’m here, he will have us both before the morning unless…” she stood up straight wiping the tears away with a renewed determination in her voice.
         
“Unless I’m in a place he can’t reach me.”
         
Finn coughed on his reply, resigned.
             
Their final farewell was not spoken aloud but experienced through their contact, wrapped in each other’s arms, savouring each other’s touch and smell, breathing deep that which was about to be lost forever.
             
In those few precious seconds all became suddenly still around them, the wind passing in the trees ceased, all birds and insects were silenced and the river at their feet became as smooth as silk, a thousand invisible eyes turned away and they were alone, though only for a brief moment.
             
Finn was desperately searching his mind for reasons that might stop her for even a second more, but found nothing.
             
“We’d better not waste any more time,” she said at last still hugging Finn hard around the shoulders, he clutched her back tightly.
             
“Goodbye,” She leant up and kissed him softly on the lips before stepping down into the dark water forcing them apart with a shiver.
             
Finn watched from the shore as she swam out to the middle of the river untouched by the current, he fought the urge to dive in and haul her out yearning for that one crucial sentence to come to mind that could bring her out and back to him.
             
He kept his eyes on the dark shadow that was Penny floating out in the glistening blackness; she stopped and waved back to him on the shore.
             
“Take care of him Finn,” her words were barely audible from the shore. Finn watched unblinking as she slid silently beneath the surface without a struggle. He kept staring till all the ripples had disappeared and the water returned to its steady calm and every trace of Penny had vanished from the world – even the warm touch left by her kiss.
             
His eyes clouded with tears, he headed slowly back toward the house, night having now completely fallen. He stumbled in the dark feeling the eyes in the forest watching him following him to his door.
             
“You’ve all done your part,” He called out to the night. “You can leave now.”
             
A slight rustling in the forest was the only evidence that he had been heard.
             
He fell through into the kitchen letting all his sorrow out in one long sigh his mind raced, still feebly searching for a solution he knew was out of reach and by now far too late. He leant over the bench top with his head in his hands imagining her alone out in the water, being snared from below, holding her breath as she was pulled down into the abysmal depths.
             
He stared out the kitchen window into the dark at the glossy sheen of the water; a few lights were on in town still glowing on the opposite shore, she had been right about one thing, he would never be able to find her now.
             
She was gone, all traces sacrificed to the other world…
             
No.
             
Something had been left behind.
             
She had left him a charge, her one final request of him as a friend.
             
He headed to the sitting room, the lamps were already lit and as he entered he caught sight of a young boy sleeping undisturbed on the couch with his mothers jacket laid over him like a blanket, he slept peacefully unaffected by all that had just happened outside.
             
‘And as it will remain,’ Finn thought drawing himself out of his grief, and occupying his mind with a new steadfast resolve. He hurried upstairs drifting through different rooms retrieving the various bits and pieces required for the task at hand and returned to the sitting room swiftly never interrupting the boy’s sleep.
             
He quietly began removing all furniture from around the sleeping boy and stacking it to the sides of the room out of the way then measuring the empty floor with long strides.
             
‘Just enough space.’
             
He finished by rolling up the long rug and heaving it aside with the rest of the furniture positioning the two lamps still lit on the floor before the couch.
             
He seated himself near the boy on a small footstool and took his time preparing for what he was about to attempt. He paused for a moment to just watch the boy as he slept sandy haired and peaceful. Whatever his personal feelings for this boy he was the last thread left in this realm to his dear Penny. He hung his head saddened in knowing the boy was enjoying his last unconscious seconds of belief that his mother was still by his side and would still be in the morning.
             
All that kept him focused on the task ahead was the knowledge that the child should never have to learn otherwise.