Silence

Silence
After Dali stepped out of the room, she walked towards the exit, aiming only to walk out of the clinic without being noticed, but that alone was impossible seeing as she was Dali, and even the subtle sight of her hair would cause an uproar in this small village. 
She walked out of the clinic and took the path beside the clinic. It was a path that was rarely used by the villagers except during nights of a full moon when they would go and hunt for food.
Well, taking this path led to the thick woods, the one the illusion protected them from, but this thick woods had something that Dali desperately needed at the moment. 
Silence.
Peace.
Deep into the woods was a lake. It was also the place they got their fish from, but most of the healers hated killing anything for their food. The only exception was during the nights of a full moon. 
So, seeing as it wasn’t a full moon, then it was expected that nobody would be here with her, and she could easily, very easily, wail her eyes out.
She walked into the thick woods, following the sound of water, and when she found it, she stood by the bank before slowly lowering herself to the ground. She sat there staring at the water as her eyes flowed with salty tears.
The excitement of Kiara being back and being physically okay had worn down. Now the only thing she felt was the deep regret for what she did two years ago. 
This was the guilt that had been eating her up every waking hour. She had the voice at the back of her head, repeating itself over and over again, telling her that she really could not attain their forgiveness. And not just attain, that she was undeserving of it.
Perhaps she was. 
She really did ruin their lives.
“Dali?”
She snapped her head around. Behind her stood Marcus. He had a soft look in his eyes and a smile on his lips. He was holding a basket, and from what she could smell, it was filled with fruits.
Dali appreciated the gesture, but truthfully, all she wanted was some alone time with her thoughts. He was a gentle man who noticed that something was up with her and chose to accompany her.
He sat beside her and placed the basket of fruits right in between them. The basket was filled with grapes, apples, and some other fruits she didn’t see.
“What are you doing here?” Dali asked after she was offered a banana.
Dali collected the banana and waited for an answer. 
“I came here to see my sister,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
Dali froze. She had thought he followed her, when in actuality he had come to see his sister. 
His sister. 
A little girl who died in the cruel battle. The healers were superstitious. Seeing as they couldn’t go back to pick the bodies of their dead family, they decided to make headstones for them. They all laid a few up, engraved the name of their family on it, and then visited those headstones a few times to spend some time with family.
Truthfully, there wasn’t a point to this, but when you’re grieving this way, what does one need rationality for? It was best to not even think about it and just do what makes them happy.
Like talking to headstones like they were talking to family.
Marcus bit into an apple, just like she did, he stared into the lake.
“Now do you wanna talk about why you’re here?” he asked.
Dali shook her head. “I came here simply because I don’t feel like talking.”
Marcus nodded his head. “If that’s the case, we can stay silent like this.” He turned his eyes to meet hers. Deep, filled with so much love waiting for a receiver. 
Many times she had thought about just being the recipient. She had thought about forgetting all about Chase and being with a man that would actually treat her with so much love and care. He would love her the way she had never been loved before.
But then Kiara’s unconscious frame flowed into her head, and she remembered the reason why she couldn’t actually do this. She could not be with him no matter how much it made sense.
“I’m fluent in silence.” 
His words knocked the air right out of her. She quickly turned her face away, hiding her beating heart. 
He was true to his words. He did only silently eat his fruits, staring into the deep lake. His jaw tight, his curtain bangs shielding a side of his face. He was effortlessly good looking. 
However, other than that, there was nothing else that fascinated her when it came to him. 
He was handsome. He was talented, and he cared for her, but unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.
Hours passed by. Marcus lost in his own thoughts and so was Dali. She ended up placing her head on his thighs and her body laying on the ground. He fed her grapes in silence, and her eyes remained closed, not because she enjoyed the sound of the breeze, not because she loved the soft fluttering of the birds’ wings, and not because everything felt suddenly easy and the pressure weighing her down was gone.
She closed her eyes because she feared opening them and meeting his eyes.
He might just kiss her, and that would be really unsettling. 
They had a warm friendship, but it was as clear as day that he wanted more, but she was comfortable being just friends. 
When the sun was getting ready to settle, they both decided it was time to return back to the village. Marcus had a smile on his face throughout that one would think they didn’t just sit on the floor in silence but rather did something else.
“Why are you smiling?” Dali asked as they made their way back to the village.
Marcus shrugged. “I spent some time with you. This is the longest I’ve ever stayed when visiting Carla.”
Dali nodded her head. “And how did it feel talking to her?”
Marcus shrugged. “It did me good.” But he noticed how she asked about Carla and not about the time they had spent together.
Dali owed him nothing, and more than anyone, he knew this, but that did not stop him from hoping or wishing that things could be different.
As they returned to the village, the first thing they felt was the uneasiness in the air. Dali noted the absence of so many people, but then the voices wafted through the air.
There was a sudden abrupt emotion that only surfaced as she drew closer to the village. It felt a lot like anger. Pure rage. Inhumane rage. 
She turned to Marcus, who stood beside her, innocently gripping his basket. They maintained the silence and quickly rushed forward.
Right in front of the clinic, Chase was laying on the floor, and Kiara was right above him, but what was more shocking was her hand was wrapped around his neck.
That instant, Dali rushed forward. There were people gathered around them, and no one was making a move to separate them. But luckily for Chase, Kiara was not punching him, but it was more like she was restraining him.
Dali pushed past the crowd and found her way to the middle where she saw the scene.
“What the fuck is going on here?”