Page 6 of All That Has Flown Beyond
Ahmik’s voice was steady as he spoke, except when it was his mother’s turn to be buried. Their Kephale. Ahmik’s voice wavered, but it had gone on.
Kaiyo had closed his eyes as he tried to keep the grief from choking him.
Kaiyo’s mother had allowed him to stay at the pack house with Thea and Ahmik that night. Thea had gone to bed early, exhausted by loss. Ahmik and Kaiyo had sat outside in the warm air, looking at the blackness of the forest.
“I’ve got nothing left.” Ahmik’s voice had been a rusted murmur in the silence. Kaiyo had turned towards his friend. His Kephale, now.
“You’ve got me,” he had said. Ahmik had looked down at their hands laced together.
They had just been two children, suddenly pitted against the world.
“You’ve got me,” Kaiyo had said again.
He had never doubted it would be him and Ahmik until the world really did end.
**********
The room smelt familiar. Like him, and pack, and his mother. Kaiyo wasn’t a werewolf, but that much he could tell.
Kaiyo opened his eyes. His bedroom came into focus slowly. There was a shadow sitting at the edge of his bed. He turned his head slowly and felt everything crash over him.
“Mom…” His voice was a small, wounded creature. Kaiyo could feel the tears already swelling.
He reached inside himself, but there was nothing. He was completely and utterly alone.
“Mom,” he sobbed again. His mom leaned down, enveloping him in her arms.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, love. It’s going to be okay,” she soothed, but her lies sounded hollow.
“What did they do? What did they do to me?” Kaiyo gasped. He clutched at his mom for a moment before desperation roused fear, roused anger.
Kaiyo started struggling against her.
“I can’t, they can’t do this, they can’t—”
“Kaiyo, you need to calm down. You’re still injured and the…the ritual, it—”
“No. No, no, no!”
“Sshhh. It’s—Kaiyo, you need to rest. We can deal with this, but not if you open your stitches. Come on, love. Lie back down. For me,” his mom said.
Kaiyo’s body gave in. It collapsed onto the bed. He stared up at his mom. Her slim, short form, her blue eyes, and short-cropped blonde hair, it was all distorted by the salt in his eyes.
“Mom. Mom. What am I…what am I going to do? I can’t, I can’t…” He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t form words or thoughts. There was only the debris of battle inside his head. “Please…”
His mom shushed him gently.
“Rest for now. We can—”
“I can’t. I can’t. What am I going to do?”
“Honey…”
Kaiyo was starting college in a few weeks. Biology. He had felt comfortable leaving, knowing he had a place to come back to. But now…
“I can’t, I can’t go to college, I can’t—”
“Yes, you can. Kaiyo. Love, listen to me. I know it feels like the world is ending, but it has ended before. We’re going to get through this.”
