Athymy

I chose a large rock near the brook as my hideout. The ice had mostly melted, and the burbling streams of water came loud enough that no potential prey should’ve detected me. One set back was the sunlight clashing with the eternal stretch of snow ahead of me. It was so bright that I felt like I could’ve gone blind if I’d let my gaze stray there for too long. Probably it was because I wasn’t used to hunting at midday— Sang was usually given those shifts while I hunted at night. 

A sigh escaped me. It sickened me knowing that Sang was but one victim among many. Even my father was one of them, but he’d died months before I was born. 

It wasn’t fair. If only the cycle could be broken. For those with silver eyes to be treated for what they really were. Human—not entities to carry out Etisha’s wickedness and thus must be killed, but human. 

A sweep of black leaped out from behind a tree a few feet away. 

Slowly, cautiously, I stood, drawing out my bow and arrow. One eye shut, I pulled back against the string, focusing, waiting. 

Nose twitching, the hare bent its head to graze on a small patch of grass. What felt like minutes passed before it finally turned its back to me. 

I grinned and pulled even further on my bowstring, ready to send the tip of my arrow through the skull of my future dinner, when sunlight streaked against metal caught my eye. Forcing their way in, memories flashed before me. 

A spear through Sang’s chest. A glimpse of mirror-like eyes. Sang’s cloth crushed in my mother’s grip as she wailed. My dream—-Etisha standing smugly amongst a storm of shadow beasts. 

Then all at once, the memories sizzled. My thoughts choked on the smoke they’d left behind. Back to the present, I found myself kneeling over the river, my hands empty. I’d shot my arrow without realizing and probably lost it. But I couldn’t bring myself to care enough to search, to check whether it was wedged between the eyes of a rabbit. 

I didn’t want to think about arrows anymore.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to wherever my brother was now. A week of pent up grief crumbled over top of me. 

But I was alone now, and just like Mother, I could finally let it go. 

“Sang,” I said in a trembling voice. “It’s not right, you shouldn’t have been taken like this. Wretched curse!” Then I buried my face in my hands and cried. Cried for Sang, cried at the unfairness of this world, cried for a father I’d never gotten the chance to meet. Curse you Etisha for cursing us, and curse you tribe for your hands stained in the blood of innocents.

Again and again, I screamed for my brother, as if my voice alone could reach out and pull him from the depths. My sobs continued until a sharp pain met both my eyes. I hissed, rubbing at them. I waited for the pain to subside, yet still they burned as I looked toward the water. 

Specks of light danced before me. Then slowly taking shape, the reflection of a girl stared back at me, her silver eyes meeting mine.

I gasped, tearing from the image and falling hard on my rear. My heart thundered as I stared back toward the stream innocently weaving between rocks and winding behind distant trees. 

I swallowed, my mouth now dry. I was only seeing things, I told myself, just like how most of the tribes' people often saw things.

Before I could convince myself to believe this, a shadow fell across my path. 

“Feba…” came a voice, low and deep. 

I froze as all the blood drained from my face. Ever slowly, I turned and lifted my head. 

A beast with long, thick black fur loomed over me. His hollow yellow eyes stared into mine.

Terror washed over me. I screamed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went to reach for my spear, then remembered I’d lost it. Without a weapon to my advantage, running was my only option. I scrambled to my feet, but my legs trembled and failed me. 

My breath came in choked gasps as I tried to inch backwards toward the brook. Once I made it to the bank, I’d run. 

But the beast staggered and reached massive claws toward me. 

I’m going to die, the realization came quickly. It’s impossible to escape now. 

A thousand different emotions struck me at once as I curled in on myself and braced for my fate, the tears quick to spill down my cheeks. This whole time, it was I whose life should have ended, not Sang’s. For it was my eyes that gleamed silver in the wake of beasts, and not his. Never his. Not once his. 

I couldn’t help the venom that coated my heart. Curse this forsaken world. Curse it. Curse it. 

“Feba.” The beast drew out the word. A hand settled on my head, massive enough to snap my head in a heartbeat. My mind drew blank. I remained utterly still, waiting. 

But death didn’t come. What felt like an eternity passed before the beast spoke again, saying, “There you are.” 

Recognition spiked through me then. Wait, I knew that voice. I don’t know how, for it sounded far more different than it once had been. Still, I knew it. It wasn’t long before I found myself staring into those hollow golden spaces for eyes. 

Sang’s eyes. 

An unbidden sob escaped me then. “Sang?” I choked, elated at first, then horror, as Sang’s fate quickly dawned on me. 

He’d died despising this world. 

“Oh Sang.” I barely got my words out. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Throwing myself against him and receiving a face full of fur, I cried, my sobs slicing through the thick serenity of forest, the soft burble of the water. “I wish I could’ve stopped this. I wish I could’ve saved you! ”Then I cried for what felt like hours. It wasn’t until my lungs ached and my eyes stung that I withdrew from Sang’s arms and had enough strength to look him in the eyes again. 

“It isn’t your fault.” Sang lifted an arm, brushed a giant finger across my cheek. “Pitiful, I died angry with everyone, thinkin they all hated my existence. Then you called me. I’m. . . I’m so glad you called me.” He gave me what I perceived was a friendly smile, which looked very misplaced with a mouth of daggers for teeth. 

Eyes damp again, my throat felt tight as responses ran through my head. But I knew if I spoke—-dared to attempt words—-I’d only crumble further. 

So instead I smiled, as cheerfully as I could. I sniffed. “It’s okay, you don’t have to feel like so anymore. We can roam lands together, where no one will ever hate us.” I lifted my chin, and for a moment, I caught in his eyes my reflection, my irises as pale as ice.

Smiling still, I reached for him. “Then we’ll never have to be part of any curse.” 

My breath caught as something struck my back. Sang’s eyes widened on something below.

My mind was already muddling by the time I followed the look and saw the bloody end of a spear, my spear, protruding from my chest. 

“Away with Etisha! Her curse possesses you.” Cousin Ram’s voice boomed behind me.

Hand shaking, my fingers reached numbly for the point as my thoughts muddled. My breath came in shallow breaths. I opened my mouth but words failed me. I wavered and fell, my body landing hard on the rocks as the world spun to darkness.