Begin Again | Short Story

In the history of language, the first obscenity was silence. And yet there they were, in the post-script of history, lost on the side of the road, silent, empty, closed off to each other

Selena sat against a rusty car and sighed. The morning sky had lost much of its dusty orange tinge and the breeze was warm enough for her to remove a few layers of clothing. Unlike Lucius, she was losing faith in the existence of the waterfall. No the road or the distance, it seemed the flatlands that stood between them and the distant mountains were insurmountable. But they had to go somewhere. They had to try.

For the last three days, she had heard no other voice but the wind's. Even her own inner voice was muted, indistinct. To distract herself, Selene imagined herself as the protagonist from those old books she had found in the ruins of a school. They told tales of strange creatures like butterflies and birds and rabbits, of children getting lost in forests, of families and farms and prairies. How wonderful it must have been, she thought, to live in such a world.

"I must be on the right path this time." She pointed at the blue and grey outline against the sky. "Maybe a 4-day walk, if we pick up the pace a little."

Lucius looked at her without saying a word.

"Had I known you wouldn't deign to speak to me, I wouldn't have saved your life," she complained.

He shrugged. It was obvious to him she didn't believe the waterfall existed, but he had seen it in his dreams. It was always the same dream -- the voices of the women in their looms, the laughter of children playing outside, the birds bidding the day goodbye, the spiky cold grass underfoot, the reflection in the water that showed him a man much younger than he thought he was. He could still feel the water on his fingertips. It felt so real. It felt like home.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "Talk, or don't. I don't care."

She almost wished he didn't follow her when she stood up to resume her long walk to the mountains to the west. There were too many ghosts behind her already -- the parents she barely knew, the husband who left her for dead, the friend who used her last breath to denounce death.

They walked in silence for days on end. Selena worried about her low provisions, which she had to share with him now, and the cold evenings. Lucius noticed the growing number of trees in the fields and the echoes of the forest in the wind. Thinking about his dream made him long for a long-lost treasure. The water showed him a face full of regret, the scars he got in payment for his ambition, and the longing that consumed him the further away he turned from himself.

By the fifth day, they had reached the foot of the mountain with their provisions almost gone, but with their hope renewed. Without saying a word, he began walking in front of her, guiding her through thick vegetation, following the distant scent of the water. By sunset, the sound of the water was overpowering. He noticed picked up the pace as if he knew exactly how to get there.

They arrived by sunset, under a few faint stars that peaked among a few wispy clouds.

"You've been here before," she whispered.

He nodded.

Selene was in awe of the roaring of the water, with the realisation that she didn't have to run anymore. She didn't have to sleep in open fields with one eye open, on the lookout for travellers or nightmares. Her legs gave in, and she lay on the cool grass as the sun died its nightly death.

Lucius approached the edge of the stream, his head filled with the voices of the people from his dream. It was the same water that showed him his face. It was the same grass. One of the huts on the other side had been his home. It was never just a dream, and they weren't just voices. They were his family, his friends, the woman he loved, and the children he cared for. His home seemed so small to him once, but he had failed to see the entire universe lives under those trees.

Beside him and Selene, there was no one else around. The huts seemed deserted and in disrepair. But they weren't alone. The branches danced with the breeze and the birds sang in a symphony that felt like homecoming. He kneeled to wash his tears with water from the stream, to wipe away the guilt. Selene knelt beside him.

"I'm Lucius," he whispered.

She nodded and put her arm around him. The silence had been broken, and their history could be resumed.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, why not share it with a friend? It’s free!

Hi, and thanks for reading all the way to the end. Yes, I did miss last week’s story. I was sick for a few days, which unfortunately also coincided with my birthday last Wednesday. So, I decided to spend more time revising it and post it this week.

This story was inspired by the poem The Primer by Christina Davies.