👣🚶 left behind👣🚶
Meenah writes ✍️
Episode 18
Harriet’s POV
The mirror reflected it all.
The mirror reminded me of everything.
The mirror reminded me of why I’ll have to do it.
I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, wearing nothing but p@n-ties as I examined the crisscross marks allover my b©dy, from my n£¢k, my arms, my wrists and ankles that were chaffed from the hold of the chains, my th!ghs. The only unaffected p@rt, thankfully, was my face. Because I didn’t know how I’d have managed to have it covered.
I sighed as I ran my f!ngersdelicately across the red marks that revealed pink flesh and winced at the pains.
I sighed.
My life was perfect before that goddamned excursion that changed it all, before all these troubles.
And now, as young as I was, I’m going to be sporting marks everywhere.
I heard Jean’s voice as she entered the room, humming as she rummaged for what ever she was looking for.
“Harry?” she called. That’s when I remembered that I didn’t lock the door. I lunged towards it, and immediately I pressed it and locked it, she turned the knob.
”Oh, you’re in there?”
“Yes.”
“OK. I just wanted to…. well, we’ll talk when you’re out.”
“Yeah.”
Phew.
And the h0t water poured on my skin, I screamed into the pillow I brou-ght with me to the bathroom specially for that purpose.
Jean smiled at me when I emerged from the bathroom.
“You seem to have taken up a special fondness for covering clothes now. Rex?”
I sat on the be-d beside her.
“No, I just… like the fashion?”
“Harry, something wrong? Were you with him the other night?”
I shook my head. “Met a new girlfriend on the way home. Tamina. The weather was kind of turbulent, so I stayed at hers.”
Jean looked like she didn’t buy it.
“O…k,” she said doubtfully.
“Anyway, Ewan said I should tell you that he’s out now, but later at dusk he’ll like to take you out for a walk if you’re not engaged?”
“Eh?” was all I could say.
“Yeah! And boy, he sounded super nervous when he said that. You should have seen the number of times he ran his hands throu-gh his hair!”
She fell back on the be-d, rolling in a fit of laughter, while I giggled.
“You… should have….” she trailed off and continued laughing, ha-rder.
“Hey, so what’s funny?” I asked.
“He sounded like he was asking a girl out on a d@t£ for the first time! Harry, you’re it,” she tapped my shoulder.
“It?”
“Duh Harry. It, like, it. The girl.”
“Oh.”
“Spoilsport! You should be excited. I’m here all giddy, and I’m not even the one going!”
“OK OK. I’m excited,” I said. And it was the truth.
I didn’t know what to expect to be sincere.
Rex was an ordinary guy who asked me out on occasions, not like I was interested.
But this… this was Ewan. The guy whom my mind drifts off to on it’s own accord.
The guy who stirs up bu-tterflies in my tummy by just being near.
The guy whom I was connected to in a strangely weird way.
The guy that…. if I examined myself closely… I might have a little thing for.
I pla-yfully sma-cked Jean on the stomach, and smile triumphantly at her gro-an .
“That serves you right.”
“For what?”
“For being excited in my place,” I replied as I walked out of the room.
Zoe’s POV
Stumping my feet on the ground wasn’t enough to let out the anger and hurt that I felt when I heard Ewan telling Jean to inform Harriet about a d@t£ outing.
Now I’m done trying to make Ewan notice me, instead I was gonna take it out on her.
I saw her standing in the corridor, staring with so much attention at the carvings that were on the walls.
She didn’t even flin-ch when I c@m£ and stood beside her.
“Harriet.”
She jumped a bit, and turned to me.
“Zoe,” she replied, rather coldly.
I was taken by surprise, because Harriet was always smiling at me and everyone.
What’s this now?
“Anything wrong?” I couldn’t help asking.
“What do you want?” she replied.
I wasn’t so interested in telling her off again.
I wanted to know what I did to her.
“Are you mad at me or something?”
“Zoe did Rex ask you to tell me to meet him at the alley that dark night?”
“Ye–yes?”
She eyed me for a second.
“What do you want?” she asked again.
“Harriet did he do something to you?” I asked, feeling somehow responsible for what I wasn’t sure of.
“Mind your business.”
She returned her gaze to the hieroglyphs.
I took a de-ep breath.
“Harriet, what is really up with you and Ewan?”
“Nothing.”
“Can I ask a favour?”
“No.”
She cast me a long look, and said, “Have the corridor to yourself if you wish.”
Then she went out.
What have I done?
Harriet’s POV
Evening had set in now.
I’ll have to prep for my d@t£ with Ewan.
What am I saying, it isn’t a d@t£.
Stupid.
___
#Amazon
Harriet’s POV
At least the hammering in my heart has reduced to a minimum level, though it hasn’t st©pped completely.
Being close to someone you have a thing for does that to you.
The sky was grey, and spe-ckled with the first batch of twi-nklers that dared to take a peek into the evening. Yes, I’m talking about the stars.
I remember how worked up I was over what to wear earlier on. A dress, a dress, or a dress? Crazy, but that was what happened. And despite as-sistance from Jean, I ended up wearing a long sleeved grey cashmere pu-llover over black long jean. I couldn’t wear any of the dresses because of the healing wounds allover me. Now you get it.
Jean had practically pushed, pu-ll-ed and dragged me throu-gh the corridor, to the front door where Ewan stood, leaning on the pillar. And that’s when the hammering heart began.
We’d walked throu-gh out. It was more like an evening stroll. Pointing at stuff, laughing at crazy things. We’d eaten out too, at a fancy restaurant I didn’t even know exist. The food tasted good. Different, but good.
He showed me the oldest river in Amazon, which he said housed the most dangerous anacondas and sea creatures. Personally, I was beginning to wonder if he was taking me on a tour guide as opposed to the d@t£ I’d imagined. I felt bad, until I found out that he was nervous too.
It seemed that discovery just made everything easier and simpler.
From there we had a lot of fun, until dusk set, and the breeze blew allover Amazon.
.
Ewan and I sat on a deck of a pool. I let my legs remain suspended in the cool water, while he sat cross legged, throwing pebbles in the water so that it bounced thrice on the surface of the water before sinking.
I looked up at him.
His focus was on what he was doing, ma-king sure the pebbles skidded across the water.
I smiled.
“You know I won’t bite,” I said.
He threw one more and turned to me.
“Bite?” he asked in confusion.
I giggled a bit. “Yeah. I mean, you’re so caught up in your stone over water game that you seem to forget I’m right here. Or maybe you’re purposely paying attention to it?”
“What, no. Why would I–” he threw a stone, “–do that?”
“Hmm…let’s see…,” I made a thinking gesture with my index f!nger on my chin, “….maybe you find me overbearing? Or disturbing?”
Now was his turn to chuckle. He looked at me. “Harriet, it’s neither. Unless you’d like to put it the way; disturbingly attrac-tive.” He win-ked with a side smile, while my mouth was left hanging open.
I guess I was looking for that. But I’m suddenly speechless.
He leaned in and used the ti-p of his f!ngersto jam my mouth together slowly.
“It’s the truth,” he whispered, with his t©uçh lingering on my chin.
I stared into his eyes.
What I wanted to do in that moment was to lean into him and take, no, share, and k!ss.
But I knew I couldn’t.
Because I couldn’t risk being selfish and putting his life, my family’s life, and the whole of Amazon in danger.
So I lowered my gaze, and spoiled the moment.
I had to.
“Ewan…” I cleared my throat, “um..you were telling me about what happened when the Master um..why you hate the Master…” I trailed off, because I was stuttering too much.
“Oh, I remember. I was, until we got distracted.” He grinned and stared off, as if recollecting what was definitely the k!sswe had in Juliante’s libr@ry. I remembered it so well too, but I didn’t want to.
” Well, I really didn’t want to talk about it again. But I will. ”
He paused as if finding the words, or the mood to commence with.
“I told you about the time the raid occurred. When I was unable to protect my parents.”
I nodded.
“Well, our house got burned down, and all exits were sealed, without any escape way for them. I was at a tree. I rebelled that day, against them. I was cooling of the steam, when I heard loud cries coming from the villages. I ran all the way. When I saw our house burning from a distance, I was momentarily unable to move. I prayed inside me that my parents weren’t in there. But my hopes were dashed when I got to the door and found it ba-red with woods. I kicked the door open. Smoke was f0rç£d out. I’d called out for them….I found father on the floor. Dead alre-ady, bleeding. Sword wound.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I was sorry that I had to be the one to cause him to relieve those pains that he had buried, if not forgotten.
He gave me a weak smile and continued;
“Mother. She was on the floor, near a chair that had ropes on it. They’d restrained her, and somehow, she’d managed to cut it off. She was holding on to something for dear life.
She coughed. I immediately carried her out. But she’d alre-ady inhaled smoke into her lungs, and was finding it ha-rd to breathe. That was when she handed the horn to me. She said the spirits appointed me to keep it before their capture, but she didn’t want me expo-sed to danger at first. I was so sorry that I had walked out on them. And if they died because of protecting that Horn, then I vowed upon their corpses to protect it with my life.”
I gulped, and took his hand in mine, squee-zing it comfortingly.
“So, where did you keep it?” I asked, hating myself for doing so.
“Juliante. He helped me stash it away in a place where no one could find it, or think of looking.”
“Where?”
He turned to look at me, and I feared if I sounded so inquisitive.
“In the vaults between Light and the Dark. They call it Zenbow.”
#Somewhere_in_Amazon
The Master watched with anticipation as Harriet cajoled Ewan into disclosing the location of the Harmony Horn.
Rex stood on standby, not wanting to be ap@rt of the plan, but having no choice either.
“The girl keeps stalling,” the Master growled.
“Give her time. She’ll do it,” Rex said.
They had been monitoring Harriet ever since she set feet back into Juliante’s house. Watching her every move. Waiting for the moment that the Horn’s location will be revealed.
Tamina watched too, feeling hurt that Harriet had to be made to un-dergo such.
And then he said it; “In the vaults between Light and the Dark. They call it Zenbow.”
The s£ntence kept repla-ying continuously in the Master’s head, and then he laughed out loud and long.
“Get the troops re-ady. And get me the Harmony Horn. We’ve got some taking over to do.”
“Yes father,” Rex said.
Ewan’s POV
I said it.
It felt so good to finally get the burden of being the only one with the knowledge of the Horn.
But at the same time, I felt that there was imminent danger waiting.
Juliante had warned me about Harriet this afternoon before we left.
“Stay away from her, Ewan. And be careful. I don’t believe she’s up to any good.”
“But Juliante this is the same girl with whom I’m bonded to. How can I?”
“She’s not meant for you,” he deadpanned.
I sighed.
But why does my heart tell me that she is?
I f0rç£d my gaze away from staring in space, and back to her.
She sat there, with her legs in the water, and her eyes lifted heavenward. The stars reflected in her beautiful indigo orbs, ma-king it even more beautiful and dreamy.
And thosel-ips that were p@rted as if she was de-ep in thought and did not realize it. But it was tempting. I wanted to k!ssher.
I wanted to run my f!ngersacross that smooth skin.
I don’t know if it was the unique bond we had, or if she’d re-ad my thought, or if I stared at her too much, but she froze, and turned to me. And in her eyes, I saw that that’s exactly what she wanted to. No mind re-ading here.
I took herl-ips in mine.
Harriet’s POV
This k!sswas soft , softer than any other we had.
His thumb ca-ressed my cheek, while the other angled my head for the perfect k!ss.
I pu-ll-ed him to me, closer, and p@rted myl-ips, granting him access to the heat of my mouth, with our ton-gues tangling in an exotic rhythm.
Then he trailed we-t k!sses from my mouth throu-gh my jawline, down to my n£¢k, and he lingered there.
I hvgged him closer while craning my n£¢k.
The bu-tterflies in my tummy were now going riot, fluttering everywhere, giving me this giddy feeling I couldn’t control, but enjoyed nonetheless.
Every rational thought of why I–we–shouldn’t be doing this flew out the window.
By a miracle we made our way home, too occu-pied to know how we did it.
We headed straight to his room, and once the door was secured behind us hisl-ips found mine again, k!ss!ngme with a rou-gh abandon. I wra-pped my legs around his torso, and he turned around so that my back was against the wall.
I wra-pped my hands all over him, ignoring the voice in my head that told me this was wrong. That voice tried to reason with me, to list out why I shouldn’t do this.
I chose not to hear it.
Ewan nipped on the soft sp©t behind my ear, and m0@n escaped myl-ips, a small sound that seemed to turn him on. I was too.
Then his hand found it’s way into my pu-llover to unclasp my br@, and I Screamed.
The magic was gone.
That’s when I un-derstood what my mind was trying to tell me all along.
The wounds on my b©dy.
To be continued