Page 45 of Gift from the Source
Six
Willow
A gut-wrenching scream rips through me as I’m released from my mind.
Everything is spinning so fast, it’s making the contents of my stomach turn viciously. The dizziness, plus the force of my bellow, knocks me off balance and I stagger into my tree.
The second my palm lands against the bark, I lose all control of my body, thoughts, everything as I’m sucked right back into the past.
“No, no, no. No!”
My screams slash through the silence of the clearing and the birds respond with petrified squawks as they fly for safety. The silence that follows is so haunting, it makes my ears hurt.
I rock back and forth, digging my fingers in the ground where he just laid and mutter please repeatedly just to fill the void of quietness.
“Elementra, please. Please give him back to me, please,” I beg as raging tears and bellows of agony come out of me.
My body feels like it’s been squashed under the weight of a mountain and my soul is shrieking out in pain. Nothing feels right.
It’s all wrong.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
It’s his birthday.
My birthday.
The day wealways celebrate, just the two of us.
You’re not supposed to die on your birthday.
My head pops up and my hand slips into the pocket dimension in the tree, then I pull it back out just as fast.
“He’s not dead. There’s no way. If he were, his dimension would’ve permanently closed. Yeah, exactly. Th-that was just some weird new way of transporting. Right. He’s not gone. This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This isn’t…Elementra, please tell me this isn’t real.”
My rocking starts back up as I cover my ears with my hands, blocking out the sound of silence. It’s suffocating.
It’s going to be the death of me.
“Please answer me,” I scream as loud as I can.
“I am here, Ultima unum.”
“Oh, thank fuck. Please send him back to me. I don’t like this. This is a very, very cruel birthday joke.”
“Willow…”
“No, no, no. Don’t say my name like that. Don’t. He…he can’t really be gone.”
Even as the insanity and denial try to take full control of my mind and the darkness descends from all sides, I already know the truth. I feel it in every pore, nerve, cell, and crevice of my soul.
My dad is gone.
He’s in the beyond.
“He is. He is already here beside me. Safe and well.”
“No,” I cry.
