Save Our Souls

~Note: Something a little different than usual, but I like the idea. The story part of this is broken up into three sections, as the people in this story are put into pairs. This is something I do plan on continuing when time allows, and I quite look forward to it. Enjoy!~

POEM:

A princess in her tower.

A man on the run.

A woman searching.

A child unloved.

An old man with everything.

And a girl with a broken heart.

Their stories so different,

yet all so the same.

There is something they all want,

there is something they all need.

They are all broken and beaten,

and someone’s needed to guide them.

And on their search for love and comfort

they only ask for one thing.

They only ask for someone to save their souls.

STORY:

The princess in her tower and the man on the run

For Sarah, the night was as empty as the black abyss. Even though the city was bustling with life and energy, she sat still on her balcony, staring into the empty space. She had wished that something would come out of that space, and whether it be good or bad she cared not. Perhaps a hero would appear and take her away from this place. Or maybe some darker force would steal her instead. Either way, both would save her.

A chilling wind stirred the air, and she moved to pull a sleeve down to cover her arms where goosebumps had spread from the cold. Sarah winced softly, and slowly raised the sleeve to reveal the imprints of her father’s rampage, the slurred words of his tirade still echoing in her mind. She shivered again, but this time not from the chill in the air. He always came home like that, ready to release everything he had on her and her mother. But he provided for them, gave them a home in exchange for their obedience and loyalty, so what were they to do? Sarah lowered the sleeve, again presenting the image of the lovely daughter her father wanted.

Staring back out into the abyss again, she waited. She still held close the hope that something would come one day. Something that would take her and hold her close and give her the love she wanted. Sarah waited, sitting on the balcony for hours, just waiting. Nothing came. With a solemn look painted on her face, and turned to the double doors leading inside. She opened them, and took one last look behind her before slipping inside. Still, nothing came. Perhaps, she thought, nothing ever would.

---

For James, the night was filled with the sounds of men as he was chased yet again, never seeming to find rest. They always seemed to find him though, but miraculously he always found a place to hide from them. Accused of a crime he never committed, it seemed to be his fate to run and hide. Everyone thought he was someone he was not, someone who had taken the life of the one person he’d had left, and as James continued his trek to some unknown destination, endless thought poured from his mind, and all he wanted was relief.

Running from the throng of men at his back, he ducked into alley nearby, and weaved in and out of the streets that followed, eventually coming upon a dense forest of trees. He listened, and the chatter and clamor of the group died down to nothingness, and a sigh of relief passed through his lips. For now, he was safe. James walked along the edge of the woods, finding himself coming upon the backside of a group of houses, the forest and the small plain between them as their backyard. He liked the forest. It was quiet and still, nothing unexpected and frightening coming out to grab at him. To him, it looked like it could be a home, a place where he could find comfort and solace in the trees.

Glancing at the houses across the way, James caught a glimpse of a young woman. She was standing on her balcony at the doors, holding them open, and she seemed to be staring at the woods, like she was waiting for something to appear. He wondered just what it was she expected to come prancing out to meet her. She never saw him, but as he stared up at her face, he sensed a kind of sadness and longing, just the same as he felt inside himself. She went inside unsatisfied, and James turned back to the same woods. He settled among the trees, still with a view of the house the girl had come from. Even though they hadn’t met, he felt a connection to her. Though it made him sad that they might never meet. He was a wanted man. How he wished he could have someone to share his sorrows with, someone who would not look at him in disgust or run in fear. But for now, it was only the trees that gave him comfort as he leaned back on their trunks, staring up into the star dotted sky as he wished for something better.

The woman searching and the child unloved

It had been almost eight years. Eight years since she had put her son on the doorstep of the orphanage. And holding her infant son in her arms, it took all the strength she had to let him go. She didn’t want to leave him there, but she knew it was better for him, even though it hurt her more than anything had ever hurt before. She just couldn’t take care of him. If she kept her dear child, she wouldn’t be able to provide for him like he deserved. So she decided to let him go.

Charlotte sat on the curb outside that same orphanage she had left her son, her head resting in her hands. Her child wasn’t there. She had finally made something of herself, and was finally able to support her child, but he wasn’t there. She had walked in that building optimistic and hopeful that she would finally see her son again after working so hard in order to be able to take care of him. Now he was gone.

That day she had left him there, Charlotte had taken her necklace made of cheap gold, with a small charm of the sun on it and placed it around her sons neck, in hopes that it would help her find him again. She believed that that sun would always shine bright, providing a light to guide her way back to him when she was ready. Every morning when she woke, she would watch the sun, and it made her smile as she thought that with the rising sun, a new hope was arising for her and her son.

But none of the little boys had the necklace. When she had spoken to the director of the orphanage, and told her that when she left her child, she had left her necklace with him as well, the woman just shook her head. She told Charlotte that there was no little boy with that kind of necklace there. Hearing her say that tore Charlotte’s heart right from her chest. She had worked so hard, and now he was just out of reach.

After sitting on that curb for so long, Charlotte now saw the sun beginning to sink below the horizon. She watched it as it fell, her heart sinking with it. She knew her son was out there, he just had to be. But he was so far. She had no idea where he was, and she felt sick to her stomach thinking about how she had come so close to bringing him home, only to have him ripped from her grasp once again.

---

It had been almost eight years. Seven years and three hundred and twenty nine days. Ever since he had learned to count, Matthew had counted all the days that his mother had left him. He kept a little notebook by his bed, and in the back pages he would add one tally every morning. Whenever he added one, he wondered why his mother would have left him here. Did she not love him? Was there someone else that was more important than him? Was he a burden to her?

Matthew had learned from the director of the orphanage that his mother had left him on their doorstep one night without a word. She simply knocked on the door and ran. Perhaps she was ashamed of leaving him, he thought. But sometimes, it felt like he was nothing more than trash she was throwing away. The director had told him that his mother had loved him, and that perhaps the reason she left was because she could not care for him. Matthew desperately hoped that this was the truth.

One evening at the orphanage, Matthew looked out of the window of his new room at the small playground across the street. The adults had taken him to this playground a few times since he had arrived. But now as he stared, all he saw were children with their parents, and he longed and wished that it could be him over there with his mother, pushing him on the swings or playfully chasing him around, mocking confusion when he hid in plain sight. All he wanted was to be a normal child in a normal family.

He fingered the golden chain around his neck, the only token from his mother. Matthew had kept it with him always, a hopeful reminder that perhaps she would return for him one day. He held it close to his heart as he watched the children and parents, a soft orange glow cast all around from the setting sun behind them. He sat and pictured them, himself and his mother. He imagined her as the most beautiful woman on the earth, graceful as she chased him around, ducking under the bridges and surprising him from behind, the two of them laughing together. He saw his life with her perfectly, and a single tear ran down his face, knowing that that life with her, that chance of what he had always wanted had been ripped from his grasp.

The old man with everything and the girl with a broken heart

The old grandfather clock in the parlor sang its song once again like it did every fifteen minutes. Six thirty was the time, and Francis opened his eyes to stare at the other side of the bed, the side his wife used to sleep on. He reached out to gently pat her pillow before rising to sit on the bed. Staring out the window, he watched the rising sun for a moment before standing, and began to carry out his morning rituals. Dressing, Francis stood in front of the full sized mirror and took the green tie from his stand, the one his wife had liked the best, and fixed it around his neck. In the mirror, he imagined his darling Lucy helping him get out the kinks that he could never get, smiling and laughing. She would always tell him that he was hopeless, and joke about how on earth he would fix his ties in the morning without her there with him. Francis looked back on that memory with a bitter sweetness, for that time had come sooner than he expected.

He slowly descended the stairs, and glanced with longing in the dining room. Where there used to be the hustle and bustle of four children and his wife having breakfast, was now silence. How he longed for those days back, and how he wished he has joined them.

Francis was a business man, a man of much work and little play. He had only learned too late that that was a mistake. As a young man, he always strived to be the best. To have the best house and the most money. To have the most wonderful wife and most beautiful children. All of that he achieved. But now, it all seemed worthless. All the money he had that he could continue to spend and spend and never run out, and the reputation he had built up meant nothing. He no longer had his wife, and his children were off, far away where they had their own lives that no longer included him. Too much had he focused on working to provide for them, when what he should have been doing was sitting in the parlor with them, telling stories to his sons and dancing with his daughters and giving endless kisses to his wife. Now that time had passed, and he would never get it back.

Now he sat at the dining table with his morning cup of coffee, glancing from chair to chair, images of his children and his wife dancing across his eyes. He smiled ruefully at the empty places. Once he finished, he placed his cup in the spacious kitchen, and as he walked to the front door to go outside for his walk, his footsteps echoed, and with each sound Francis was reminded of everything he had, and everything he had lost.

---

The red cell phone that sat upon the desk sang its song once again like it had every 15 minutes for the past two hours. Six thirty was the time, and Emily opened her tear stained eyes to glance at the name on the screen. “Ed<3,” it had read. She used to think he was the most wonderful person in the entire world. Now, all she could see was the image of him and that beautiful blonde kissing right where Ed had kissed her for the first time.

It was a moment she had always hoped would stay in her mind forever, Ed kissing her for the first time under the flowering apple tree. But now it was something she wanted never to think of again. They had been in a relationship for exactly five years, six months, and three days, and Emily had hoped that it would last forever. She had hoped that they might spend the rest of their lives together. But all of that had changed in a single instant.

She had been off to meet Ed at their special place, the apple tree where he had first kissed her. Emily had gone early, hoping to surprise him with her early arrival. Instead of coming to the smiling face of her lover, she came to the backside of the blonde he had cheated on her with, which he casually stroked as he passionately kissed her. Emily froze. Only after long minutes did Ed and the girl finally part, with a final promise that they would soon see each other again. Only after those words left his lips did Ed see Emily, his eyes bulging at the sight of her. She never gave him a chance to explain. Emily simply darted off in the other direction, tears blinding her as she ran home.

Now she sat on the bed holding the ringing phone, feeling the vibrations that were like a plea for her to answer. She knew what she would hear if she did. He would tell her that he was sorry, that it had all been a misunderstanding, and that nothing like that would ever happen again. Emily would not believe that. She set the phone back on the desk and curled up under the covers of her bed, silent cries shaking her body, for she had long ago lost her voice to crying. Closing her eyes as if trying to close out the rest of the world around her, every ring of that phone reminded Emily of everything she had just lost.