22d • ✍️ Daily Write
Continuation of this werk's 5 min prompt
Finally determined to get away, Adrian waited until the early dawn when there was just enough light to see outside but the house was still dark. She opened the curtains a smidge in her room to let in enough dim light to get dressed and stuff a few valuables into her backpack.
Tiptoeing to the door of her room, she placed her young plump hand on the knob and slowly turned it, careful not to make a sound. She pulled the door into the room and looked out into the hallway. The light was on as usual and she felt the normal dread inside her belly when it shone inside her room, but this time it was her shadow that stretched across the floor for a moment as she stood in the doorway.
Her resolve was too strong to linger, however, and she continued out the door, down the hallway, and through the back door, careful to make no sound as she closed it behind her.
She followed the road out of town until she got to her favorite trail that went around the lake, remembering the day she met the strange glowing lady.
“Oh, excuse me!” Adrian said as she bumped into a woman walking on the trail, too engrossed in studying the rocks on the ground to notice her before colliding. It also helped that the woman’s feet and clothing somehow blended into her surroundings seamlessly. She was standing so still, Adrian wouldn’t have seen her if she hadn’t stumbled into her.
“Hmmm hmmm…” the woman hummed.
“Whaaah?” Adrian gasped as she noticed glowing strands of light pulsing through the woman’s skin as she hummed. These strands joined with similar strands in the rocks she was standing on and touching with her hands.
“Hmmm hmmm…” she hummed again, pulsing with aquamarine and citrine light.
“Wow, how are you doing that?” Adrian asked, completely forgetting the troubles that drove her to escape down this trail whenever she got a chance.
The woman looked at the awestruck girl and gently pulled her hands away from the stones she had been touching. The bright webs dimmed in her skin and she spoke.
“I sing to the stones and they sing back to me. I am a Frenite and I am of the same family as the stones, especially the ones that glow. And how are you doing that?” she asked in return.
“Wow, I have never met a Frenite before, but I have heard of them,” Adrian replied. “But what do you mean, how am I doing what?”
“You are standing upright and walking with coverings on your feet. If I were to try that, I would fall over very quickly,” the woman replied.
Adrian looked down at her shoes and then at the woman’s bare feet that seemed to grow roots into the ground. “Well, I…” she stammered, unsure how to answer.
The woman started making a strange sound, like water flowing over pebbles in a creek, but more vocal. It took a few moments for Adrian to realize the woman was laughing, and only because it was contagious and she was laughing too.
“Don’t worry,” the woman reassured her. “You don’t need to explain shoes to me and how you walk without roots sprouting out of your feet. I was once like you,” she explained.
“You were?” Adrian asked, looking up at her, intrigued.
“Yes, a human girl full of curiosity and hurt,” she continued.
“How…how did you know I am…hurt?” Adrian asked, her voice dimming slightly.
“I can smell your pain. I still carry painful memories in my body just like you do. But yours are more fresh,” the woman explained. She slowly sat down on a boulder and looked at Adrian at eye level. “My name is Citrinia. You can call me Trini. I know when I was hurting fresh like you, I needed a friend to talk to, so you can come find me here anytime you need that, ok?”
She remembered all of the times she had come to talk with Trini. Especially the time she told her that she could help her if she ever wanted to get away from the people that were hurting her. She eagerly searched for Trini now.
Even though she was looking carefully, she still bumped into her, just like all the other times.
“Oh, sorry, Trini!” she exclaimed. “I hope one day I will learn to see you before I run into you.”
“You need to develop your other senses so you don’t rely solely on your eyes. Have you been doing the exercise I taught you?” she asked.
“I did one time…” Adrian said. “But that isn’t why I came to see you today.”
“Yes I know,” Trini assured her as she lowered down onto one knee to look her in the eyes and took Adrian’s hands in her own. “I can smell your fear. You have decided to run away, haven’t you?”
“Yes. You said you would help me if I ever did. Will you still help me?” Adrian asked, looking down at the ground as tears rolled down her cheeks and made small wet spots in the dirt of the trail.
“Of course I will,” said Trini and she scooped Adrian into her arms and carried her down the trail. Adrian felt so safe in Trini’s arms that all the tears she had silenced in her 13 years of life began to spill out of her and she sobbed and shuddered, clinging to Trini’s glowing neck, burying her wet face in her long silken hair, all the way to the cave. As the daylight dimmed, Adrian peered out to see the entrance to the cave.
It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, but once they did, she could see the sources of the glimmering she noticed along the walls and floor. Crystal veins traveled through the stone, creating intricate webs of gleaming light, just like those on Trini’s skin.
“Hmmm hmmm,” hummed Trini and the webs glowed brighter. Trini’s smooth humming and the beautiful webs of gold and aquamarine light calmed Adrian’s sobs. Trini placed her gently on a soft bed of moss and sang her a lullaby that soothed her gently to sleep.
Stars and moons dance through the night
Blessing you with silver light
Rest your head until the dawn
Dream all of your troubles gone
Breathe deep and long
Heart beating strong
Drink the nectar of mossy blooms
Through your sleeping skin
Mother spider weaves on her loom
The story of your kin
Trust the strength of her infinite thread
To keep you warm and safe in your bed
As the girl slept, Trini sang the cave shut, weaving dense moss and roots across its mouth. Then she sang her own roots down into the veins of the stone and called out to her mentors.
“Another child has come to us. Join me.”
__________________________________________________________________________
“Class, this is Adrian, our newest student. Please make her feel welcome,” Trini announced to the class of young humans and Frenites. They all sat on the floor of a well lit cave in clusters of 3 or 4 students around beams of light shining down from the skylights. They looked up with eyes glinting in the slanted sunlight and waved to her amidst a chorus of smiling greetings. All except one. Adrian noticed the boy’s unsmiling eyes immediately. Her senses were finely tuned to pick up any sign of distaste or disapproval, and she felt this from him. The tentative peace she had started to feel inside, the calming of the constant buzzing she had always used to keep herself alert to the possibility of violence from others, shattered. The buzzing inside wound up again to an uncomfortable pitch.
She squeezed Trini’s hand and looked up at her in distress. “Oh, you’re ok, everyone is friendly here. You’re safe,” Trini attempted to assure her.
Adrian looked back over at the boy who had resumed his activities with his group of fellow students and then up again at Trini and shook her head. “No, I’m not,” she whispered.
“Ok, do you want to go back to my space and talk about it?” Trini asked. Adrian nodded and sighed with some relief as they turned and left the classroom.
Back in Trini’s warm, moss lined cave, next to the fire in the hearth, Trini poured Adrian a cup of tea and offered her a cookie. “What happened back there?” she asked.
“One of the boys, he didn’t smile and greet me like the others did,” Adrian replied, cradling her tea.
“Oh, that was probably Daren. I am sure he didn’t mean any harm by it,” Trini explained. “He actually has a lot in common with you. Someone in his human family hurt him badly too. He is always a bit suspicious of new students because it takes him a while to trust people.”
“Well, something about him scared me,” Adrian replied. “I heard my buzzing wind up inside again and you told me to always listen to that. You said it could help me if I learn how to listen to it clearly.”
“Yes, indeed it can,” Trini replied, cradling her own tea. “The trick is to learn how to separate out the buzzing from the past from the current buzzing. Would you like me to help you with that?”
“Sure,” Adrian replied, relaxing a bit more.
“Ok, close your eyes and take some deep breaths,” Trini instructed. “Feel your feet on the ground and your bottom on the sitting stone. Feel gravity holding you firmly on the surface of the earth. Remember, if anything feels upsetting as we continue, you can always return to your breath and the sensation of gravity holding you. You can even open your eyes and look at something beautiful in the room.” Trini paused and observed Adrian as she breathed deeply. Her face and shoulders softened with each breath.
“Now, imagine you are back in the classroom, looking at Daren’s face. Notice everything about that moment, the look on his face, the sounds of the other children, the smell of the moss and the plants they were working with. Notice if any memories arise from your past.” Trini watched Adrian closely as she continued to breathe deeply. Suddenly her breath shortened and she opened her eyes wide, looking straight into Trini’s eyes. Trini reached out and took Adrian’s hand.
“Did a memory come up for you?” she asked.
Adrian nodded, eyes locked on Trini’s eyes.
“Do you want to share about it?” Trini whispered.
Adrian shook her head.
“Ok, then just breathe with me,” Trini instructed, taking audible slow breaths. “Feel your feet on the ground, your bottom on the sitting stone, gravity holding you. You are here with me now,” she reminded her until her breathing slowed.
“Now, when you are ready, you can close your eyes again and imagine you are back in the classroom once more. You know Daren reminds you of things from your past, so I will hold those memories for you in a sealed golding bag. Can you imagine me holding them as you enter the classroom again?” she asked.
Adrian nodded, pursing her lips with resolve.
“Ok, now look at Daren again as the children are greeting you. Notice the look on his face, his response to meeting you. Try to feel what he is feeling,” she instructed, noticing Adrian’s face grow tense again. “Keep breathing deeply, and remember I am holding your bag of memories. Try to see only the current situation.”
Adrian’s eyes shot open again and she squeezed Trini’s hand. “I think there is something very wrong with Daren,” she said.
___________________________________________________________________________
“You are training her well, Trini,” Aventi said as they looked over the busy classroom of human students, Adrian among them, excitedly debating about how to identify different mushrooms.
“Well she is an exceptional child. Her ability to empathize with others is highly developed. And she has taken to differentiating the past from the present quite keenly,” Trini replied.
“Well, you were the one who decided to listen to her about that Daren boy. We were all trying so hard with him, but she saw before any of us that his pain had turned into hatred,” Aventi replied.
“Yes,” Trini replied. “I wish there was more we could do with them when this happens.”
“So do I, believe me, so do I,” Aventi agreed, trailing off into contemplation.
___________________________________________________________________________
“Trini, what happened to Daren?” Adrian asked as they walked back to Trini’s cave, which had become Adrian’s cave as well.
“Well, after you told me what you saw in him, I talked with the other teachers and they agreed to do an assessment on him,” she explained. “It is something we do sometimes to determine if students have the potential to heal their past hurts towards helping others or if they will turn them into fuel for hurting others. Most people we spend some time with can overcome the urge to continue the hurting cycle. Unfortunately, he did not. So we sent him back to live in the human community.”
“Will he be safe there?” Adrian asked.
“Well, it’s hard to tell. The humans don’t have very effective healing methods for children who don’t pass our assessments, but we have contacts in schools that try to minimize the damage they will do as adults. Sometimes it works ok, and they live fairly normal lives, by human standards,” she nodded as Adrian gave her a look of dismay. “But unfortunately we cannot do more unless we transform them into Frenites, and we will not do that unless they die, or request to be transformed as fully consenting adults. They must go through years of training and testing first as well.”
“Can you do anything else to help anyone he might hurt?” Adrian asked, anguish in her voice.
“Well, you know, I didn’t want to tell you this, but one of my jobs is to follow up on those like Daren that we had to send back and make contact with anyone they might be hurting to see if they need our help…” she paused, curious if Adrian would put the pieces together.
Adrian gasped and sat up straight, slapping her hands flat on the table. “Do you mean…my stepdad, was he one of your students?”
Trini nodded.
“Ahhhggg!” Adrian cried out, stood up, and ran across the room. She grabbed a cushion from the day bed and threw it across the room at Trini. “Why didn’t you get me out of there sooner? How could you let him marry my mom? How could you?” she shouted.
“Adrian, I know this is upsetting, and I can answer all of your questions. But first, please, let’s do the anger release practice I taught you so you can get it out of your system. Take some deep breaths and throw some more pillows at me. Scream at me, as loud as you want. Go ahead, let me have it,” she instructed, holding her arms out.
Adrian screamed and stomped and threw pillows until she ran out of bile and collapsed panting on the day bed. Trini approached, answering Adrian’s questions.
“I couldn’t interfere directly. That is not our way. I tried to befriend your mother, but as you know, she has her own pain and she does not trust easily. She wanted nothing to do with me, especially since your step dad hates us so much. All I could do was wait nearby, singing to you silently.”
At these words, tears began streaming down both of their faces and Adrian sobbed into her hands.
“You heard my call and came to the woods for refuge,” Trini continued. “I had to earn your trust. You remember. You didn’t make that easy, but I stuck with it.”
Adrian’s sobbing turned into snorting laughter. “Yeah, like the time I pretended I didn’t know how to skip rocks and you spent all afternoon patiently teaching me,” she reminisced.
“Oh, Ashes, yes, you were such a rascal,” Trini complained.
“I needed to see if you would get frustrated,” Adrian explained.
They looked at each other grinning through evaporating tears.
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Continuation of this werk's 5 min prompt
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