Elijah (WiP)

I know I had come across true love once, and I know it because the feeling still burns in my bones. I met him at the age of 4, his name was Elijah. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would see him fade into colorless dust, brushing away to coat the earth and never be found, leaving his family like a shipwreck in a never-ending tide. Elijah, oh how much I could have done for you, how much I could have done to save you. But in my seven year old shoes, I stood paralyzed as menacing arms gripped mine, with a scolding voice that replayed over and over in my head. One day, we were going to stare deep into each-others eyes, telling ourselves it was where we wanted to be for the rest of our lives. We were going to run in our adult shoes, playing tag, until our legs didn't work anymore. That was our true fate, not this. But now I live with a demon always sitting on my shoulder. He likes to laugh at me for what I've done, reminding me of the horrors over again, just as soon as I try to move on. He binds me with chains of silence, he binds me with a closed mind. He draws the man who burnt my clothes, the man who burnt your life. Elijah, I could have saved you.

Elijah... One day, I hope you will forgive me.

But do you remember our last day together, Elijah? The one where we walked home from school through fields of gold, spinning the earth beneath our feet? Do you remember the sun and how it melted the clouds beneath it, revealing the freckles on our faces? Our hands intertwined unconsciously, as our tiny hearts beat like racing drums. We ran until our laughter knocked us down, and stayed until the sky was coated with marmalade. If only we could have frozen the moment and never moved on. If only we could have both stayed in our seven year old bodies. If only I had never been given the opportunity to grow up alone.

I wish our hands stayed intertwined the whole way through. I wish we closed our eyes, and imagined the sun was melting us into the fields of gold. I wish my little legs didn't learn to escape. I wish it was me instead of you, so that you could have run home to your family, letting them know everything was okay.

And in this moment, I wish the fires that covered you could dry my tears.

I searched for you in the eyes of the sun, in the dancing wheat that feathered my eyes, in the butterfly wings that flapped my hair gently behind my ears. I searched for you in the cotton tails of the milk weeds, parting from their buds, to say hello as soon as they said goodbye, soon brushing through familiar cornstalks, to reveal your marble face. Oh Elijah, how I wait for the day your smile will bring the field back to life, but all I see are charcoal dusted, broken stalks, with a demon dancing on top of a mountain of ember lit ashes, acting as if nothing were wrong, as if this place were a sanctuary of good dreams, where kids like us could play all day and all night long and never be taken away. Elijah, I can't look at those milk weeds anymore, because they always say hello, and I never got to say good-bye.

The heat of Summer always reminded me of the comfort of my mother, but now, it greets me like the trees of Winter. Somehow I stay horrendously captivated in Summer's reign, climbing through Peter as you once did, with trembling soles that found it hard to grip his bark, hoping to keep balance long enough to pick a peach that matched the colors of the run down sky. Remember when you would take a big bite, back cradled against Peter's torso, trying to caress the crescent moon into the empty space? I guess the real question is, how could you ever forget it? You were my summer, Elijah, and now it's nothing but a bittersweet memory.

They tell me to try and remember. They tell me it's okay, and that all I have to do is tell them what I saw. I close my eyes, but I can't see anything through the screaming of red and orange flares. He sits beside me, gripping my skin tight, hanging sharp teeth over a dirtied lip. He threatens me with hell, and as he threatens me with fire, I feel familiar fingers curling into mine.

“C'mon, don't look so sad!”

“But, Elijah... don't you understand?”

He turns his head upwards to see me, and sits down, picking dandelions out of the ground.

“Yeah I do... I miss playing tag.”

“Isn't there anyone there you can play with?”

“Yeah, but they aren't as fun as you and they can't run as fast.”

I cry as he holds out a group of dandelions.

“But you're getting older now, April.”

I take them.

“Elijah...”

His fingers curl around mine.

“It gets harder and harder to hold your hand.”

“But I'll always hold yours.”

I see a tear roll down his cheek.

“Can I ask you a question, Eli?”

“Yeah?”

“Why aren't you mad at me?”

He stops pulling the grass and looks at me.

“You're not the bad man.”

“...But I could've saved you.”

“April, do you remember the sun and how it melted the clouds beneath it?”

“Elijah, the real question is, how could I ever forget it?”