Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

HELENA I couldn’t breathe. Its weight pressed into me, cold and unsteady. Like it didn’t fully belong in its own body. That broken breath hovered at my neck, stuttering in and out. too close, too real. Evey instinct screamed at me to fight, to push it off, to run. but my body had a mind of its own. It wouldn’t move. Not from fear, from something else. Its hand, if it could still be called that, shifted against my shoulder and the moment it touched my bared skin, everything shattered. Not outward but inward. A flood of something not mine tore through me, images, sensations, fragments of a life that didn’t belong to me. walking into the village, relief, hunger, trust, warmth and healing. Too fast, skin knitting, pain fading and something else slipping beneath it all. A forgetting, names, faces and itself. I gasped, choking on it, my fingers clawing weakly at the ground as more forced its way in. darkness behind closed doors. Voices that spoke gently but never answered. The slow reali

HELENA The elder hesitated, his eyes darting around before falling on me again. I wasn’t backing down. I needed the truth. “She fell in love.” the answer caught me completely off guard. “She met a traveller from the outside village.” He continued. “She wanted a life beyond this place. She believed distance could weaken what was inside her.”His expression darkened. “For a while it did.” my throat tightened painfully. “She came back for me.” it was not really a question. The elder nodded slowly. “When you started showing signs, she panicked. The hearing, the dreams. The way animals reacted to you.” he looked sick saying it. “She tried to take you away before the village could choose you.”Memory struck suddenly and sharp. My mother running through the woods carrying me. rain hammering against the trees. Men shouting behind us. Her crying while gripping my face so tightly it hurt. Run. The word echoed through my skull like it had been buried there all these years.Run and never come ba

HELENABy the time I woke up, three days had passed. I groggily opened my eyes then quickly closed them. A ray of sunlight streamed through the window, landing right on my face. I kept my eyes closed for a moment listening to my body. My throat felt dry like sandpaper. I still sting on my foot and hand, but it was bearable.I tried again but now with my hand blocking the sun. I then scanning my surroundings. Relief hit me when I realized I was home. A small smile tugged on my lips. The smell of food hit my nostrils and my stomach growled loudly. I chuckled pushing myself trying to sit up, my head spun and I closed my eyes once again waiting.Finally, it stopped and pushed myself up once again, sitting on the bed leaning with my back against the wall.I looked down at my foot, it was bandaged, my hand as well. Just then I heard people talking right in front of the door. “What if she doesn’t make it?” came a woman’s voice, soft and sad. “Don’t talk like that, you know how strong she is.

HELENA“You have been quiet since we got here, are you not feeling well?” Zane asked with so much concern. I was feeling fine, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. “I am not sick, just don’t feel like myself today. Can we get grandma’s buns and leave?” he quickly nodded leading me to the stall to buy the buns.After that we rode home in silence. Zane could tell something was wrong with me but could say what. I didn’t know what was wrong with me either, so I couldn’t tell him even if he asked. What I felt was not something I could put into words. We got back to the village before noon.I got off my horse and rushed inside. Leaving Zane tying the horses. The house was the same as I had left it in the morning. Which made me wonder why grandma had not woken up. with the buns in hand, I rushed to her room. only to find it cold for some reason. I rushed to the bed and there she laid.Looking peaceful. My hands trembled slightly for some unknown reason. “Grandma.” I cal

HELENA It had been a month since grandma passed. I was still not used to not having her around. I still dished her porridge in the morning then remember after getting to her room that she was no longer there. The pain of losing her would come right back as if it had just happened. It wasn’t easy but I kept going. Kept living, kept eating, kept sleeping. She said to live well, eat well and sleep well. I was trying to keep my promise. That was the only thing I could do. “Hey, Helena!” Zane’s voice rang out in the yard and I walked out. he was busy tying his horse with his hunting gear on. “Come, let’s go hunting.”I had not gone hunting since, I was still in mourning, but the mourning period had passed now that the month was over. He came in after tying his horse. “Get ready, I met some guys from the next village while hunting a few days go. They would not believe me when I told them you are the best hunter there. today, I want us to show them.”I knew he was trying to cheer me up, he