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The Beast
(Here is one of those short stories I was talking about. Hope yall like it! I'malso open to critique! Either on which direction you'd think I should go in with the stories, but also the story itself.)
The dreams Aria has, she’s always felt were special. Some people had dreams that were choppy and they couldn’t remember parts of, but Aria’s dreams felt Real. She’d wake up sweating and panting as if she was running in Real life, or bruises and scratches on her skin that weren’t there when she had gone to bed the night before. She often could still hear the Character of the dreams, as if she and that person were melded. They never questioned her being there. Almost as if she’d been there the whole time with them, in their timeline.
On this particular night, Aria opened her eyes to discover herself standing on soft, soil and grass. She looked around her and noticed the Bright Orange Star was just beginning to rise, casting purple, orange and pink hues upon the land in front of her. She was standing on high ground, able to see the villages below, with their caravans brightly colored, covered in clothe. She could see people hanging up their clothes on string going from one tree to another. Others were walking around, or tending to their farms, while the children were playing and laughing, chasing each other down the dirt paved roads. She could see a village a bit further out, hidden by a dark green forest. Aria felt a sense of home towards this village. She took a deep breath, and exhaled grounding herself in the environment around her. “OK let’s go see what this adventure holds”, she says to herself as she makes her way down the rocky mountain. The village was small, and friendly enough, but she got the sense that she wasn’t exactly from this village, which is what was causing the slight glares and gawking of the town’s people. Some, however, greeted her with much love and beautiful smiles as they came to hug her.
In this town there was an extremely tall, hairy man. Intimidating by nature, this man resembled more beast than human, as he hunched over, trying to hide his height. He was standing by her caravan, waiting for her as she trekked the couple more steps to him. She was very taken by this being, for she could tell, even after witnessing so much hate, he was still embodied a beautiful, gentle soul. On the inside, she recognized a piece of herself in him. They walked through the town, immediately comfortable in their steps, and in their presence. It was as if they had done these silent walks a million times. “Although, if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not even sure they hadn’t walked this road a million times,” she thought to herself. He didn’t talk much, but yet somehow still radiated wisdom. He took his time walking, and when he did speak, it wasn’t very many words, but still slow to get out. She recognized his fear, his lack of confidence, yet could also see that he held something that could change the world for all who interacted with this part of his soul.
They walked as outcasts, her arm looking tiny as it wrapped around his arm. She could tell this was a comfortable, and very intimate love. Not the physical kind, but the kind when one soul remembers another, after knowing each other their entire existence. All she knew was she Loved him. Like a brother, a father, a best friend. She Protected him, and him her. Suddenly, they are on the streets and people are screaming at The Beast. “Why must they always fear what they don’t understand?” She fights and sobs for them to see what a beautiful, gentle man he is. She pleaded with them, to leave them alone, but the next thing she knows, the scene changes. Aria looks around and sees they are now in his caravan. She’s looking at his intricate wood and crystal carvings, when she smells something that reminded her of the time she was running from the warriors, in the dirt land. Smoke. She knew the stench that was filling her nose, making her lungs feel tight. She looked up at the Beast, noticing the fear in her eyes, was mimicked in his. People are shouting outside, screaming. She could see the color of hate, smell the hate and fear and…envy? Why am I smelling envy? "No time to think! Must get out.” Her brain screams at her. She looked up to see the Beast had already shattered a window. He starts to pick her up, and she just remembers him kissing her forehead before throwing her out the flame covered window, and she awoke. Crying, sobbing, feeling the loss of her friend, even in her world, her timeline. Her heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, and she begged out loud for The Beast to be ok.
This episode consumed her thoughts for days, weeks. Just as every other one had. Why did they seem so real? No one else talked about far off lands and long, lost friends. No one else spoke of timelines, unnamed worlds, knowing someone’s soul without knowing their name. Yet when she was in this mind state, She Knew these people. Or at least their souls. Siiigh, Aria wished her daily wish of wanting to have someone she trusted. Someone who Saw her. Even just as a friend. Why aren’t any of those people here with her? Were they searching for her, like she was searching for them? She wondered if any of them felt this aching in their heart for her, if anyone looked for the reflections of her soul, in others like she does. Hoping to just catch even a glimpse of evidence that she was not the only one who was experiencing these emotions.
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The Beast
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