Cleaning

Anybody who knows me should watch out for falling clouds, birds, planes, stars and whatever else the sky contains. I cleaned (at least a little) so the sky will soon be falling.

Granted, I am not done cleaning. But I dusted a little, cleaned the bird cages, and vaccuumed.

It's a miracle.

I still have quite a bit to do. My room is horribly cluttered, and I still have quite a bit of dusting to do. But it does look better.

Ok, I'll post what you really came for.

Torn

31

By the time they reached the house Maureen had fallen asleep. Julius carried her to the bedroom and laid her down.

He pulled up the leg of her pants and took off her sock. The ankle was swollen, but he doubted that she had seriously injured it. He left her lying there and went to the kitchen to get some ice to reduce the swelling.

She was still asleep when he returned. He moved the chair around to the other side of the bed and tended to the ankle. The swelling started to go down and he decided to tend to the scratches.

He went to the closet where the towels were, and chose a small hand towel. He moistened it and returned to the bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed and started to wipe the dirt out of the scratches on her face.

He had just finished wiping Maureen’s forehead when she started to wake up. He moved the towel down her cheek, then moved it so that he could look into her eyes.

“How are you feeling?”

Maureen looked around the room. “How did I get back in here?” she asked weakly.

“I carried you… I carried you back here from the woods.”

“It wasn’t a dream then…”

“No, and I am sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that. I let my emotions get the better of me, and you have suffered for it.”

Julius turned away, trying to hide the shame that he felt. He moved back to the chair, and not facing Maureen inspected the progress of her ankle.

“Julius…’

He stopped looking at her ankle and turned to face her.

“Yes?”

Maureen fell silent as Julius stared expectantly at her.

Finally she shook her head, “I’m sorry, I can’t. Not yet.”

Julius nodded, understanding. “Would you like for me to get you something to drink?”

Maureen looked at him and smiled, glad to see that he was able to give her the space that she needed. She nodded.

“What would you like?”

Maureen thought for a moment. “Just ice water, please.”

Julius went and got the water. He considered adding more of the medicine that Dienira had given him, but decided that he would leave that up to Maureen.

He returned to the room and handed her the water. He held onto the medicine for a moment and then handed that to her as well.

Maureen looked at him as she accepted the medicine, questioning with her eyes.

“I’m leaving the decision up to you.”

“How much do I add?”

It was Julius’ turn to have the question in his eyes.

Maureen laughed. It was weak, but a laugh nonetheless. “Just because I don’t think it’s fair doesn’t mean that I have any less will to live. You have said that the fight is coming, and I don’t think that I will be allowed out of it just because I don’t feel like fighting.”

Julius took the medicine and poured a little into her water. She swirled it and tasted. Surprised that there was still no flavor to the medicine she took a longer swallow of water.

Silence filled the room.

Julius looked again at her ankle.

“How’s it doing?”

Julius almost jumped at the sound of her voice, he had gotten so used to the silence.

“It’s doing better, but I think it’ll be better if you stay off of it the rest of today and tomorrow.”

Maureen nodded, and the silence filled the empty space again.

Julius moved from her ankle to cleaning the scratches again, this time he started with her arms. She winced at some, but didn’t complain.

He decided to rinse the towel before resuming on her face.

He returned to the room but was tired of the silence, so he didn’t resume wiping off the wounds immediately.

“I’m sorry.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry. I should have told you from the beginning. You shouldn’t have to have found out what was expected of you in that way. I should have told you what you were in for from the beginning.”

“You’re repeating yourself,” Maureen said with a smile in her voice.

Julius stopped fidgeting, and looked at her.

They both broke into laughter.

Once the laughter subsided Julius started to wipe at the scratches on Maureen’s face.

“I am sorry. I felt like I was protecting you.”

A blush crept into Julius’ face. “I had meant to tell you from the beginning, but I saw how much your family means to you. I saw that, and I knew what would happen when you win. I decided to try to give you as much time with them as I could.

I see in you the happiness that you had always longed for. I just couldn’t bring myself to end that happiness.”

He paused, both in his speech and in the cleaning of her face. His hand had stopped on her left cheek.

They sat there, looking into each other’s eyes. An eternity seemed to pass between them.

Before he knew what he was doing Julius found himself kissing her. What surprised him even more was he found that she was kissing him in return.

It was a moment that Julius had been waiting for years to experience, but he knew it was wrong. He gently pushed himself away from her.

Maureen was confused.

“I’m sorry, Kyra. I have always loved you, and I always will love you. If there ever comes a time when we can be together again I will be the first to take it. Right now, though, is not that time. You have a mate, and a child, and that is just the start. I could never forgive myself if your happiness was ended because of a stupid mistake that I made.”

Julius stood up and started to pace the room.

Maureen was silent for a moment, torn between two truths that she knew was right. Finally she came to an internal decision.

“Tell me about it. Tell me of the life that we spent together.”

Julius turned and faced her, shock apparent on his face. “Are you sure?”

“I ran because when you told me about my own death memories seemed to flood into me from nowhere. I need to know. I need to know if they were true memories, or just the concoctions of a fractured mind.”

“Your mind isn’t fractured, just strained.”

“Julius… I know that this won’t be easy for you, but I need to know. Please don’t try to change the subject.”

Julius sighed, and fell silent.

Maureen moved and laid her hand upon his. He looked into her eyes, they were filled with a sadness that he had never seen before. “Please?” she asked.

Julius took a breath, and began.