A Brother's Love Ch. 03

Matt thought for a moment before nodding, seeming to be subdued. He looked absently towards the stars, frowning fiercely with dark, sparkling eyes. "She's on the watch tower..." he said, then adding softly, ashamedly; "I left her crying there."

Kit prickled slightly as if pinched, but didn't say anything because it wasn't his place to; Matt was Lena's brother, after all; their arguments were their own. Besides, Lena could stand up for herself perfectly well, he knew.

"Don't worry Matt...she'll be alright, I promise you that."

Matt didn't answer and when he finally spoke it was simply to say "I think I need to get some space...on my own...just for tonight..." he shut his eyes briefly, clenching his fists once more and a grimace passed across his features. "I'll see you tomorrow Kit."

There was a sudden breeze then, unnatural in its movement, and within moments, Matt had gained in translucency, until he was little more than fireflies of light in the dark night air. Then he vanished altogether and Kit stood alone in the darkness, looking down from the crown of that oak-capped hill, onto the deep, dense forest that lay below.

*

Lena stood looking out across that same stretch of tree's, her gaze trained back towards the Howard's farm, observing her world like a princess from a locked tower. The forest was an impenetrable blanket of shadow across the moor and the only lights she could see were faint sparkles of firelight from houses far off and the flash of cold, white moonlight across the black trees.

She shivered slightly in the mounting breeze, her golden hair flickering around her face like dancing cobras, her knuckles clenched, bone white, at her sides. Beneath her feet, the vast silence of The Watch Tower slept like a great, ancient beast, her presence on its back unnoticed, her pain unfelt.

Her shoes had been cast aside in a fit of madness and her feet were exposed to the raw, cool surface of rock and its smattering's of tree-matter; crushed remains of chestnut shells and crisp brown leaves, bit's of bark and twig, nibbled here and there by squirrels and such.

But she, like Kit, took no pleasure in the forest and view around her; tonight the aching in her heart seemed so bad she felt like she'd been blinded by it. And so suddenly it had struck her, she thought...it seemed like such a short time - barely weeks, perhaps months -- had passed since she'd looked into his smiling eyes and felt, for the first time, that deep, longing need in her heart; that need to be completed, that need to love this man more deeply than she'd ever loved a single being before, and to never be parted from him again. Her whole world had collapsed under the knowledge that it couldn't be so; that he would never hold her in the same light as she held him.

The tears on her cheeks had long since gone cold and Lena hadn't a thought to wipe them away; what was the point in hiding? And yet, she thought, I do. All day, every day, I hide away, inside myself. She didn't need words to deceive; every time his finger reached to touch and she pulled away as if she didn't want it, she was lying; every time he asked her questions, like 'you okay?' or 'what are you thinking?' or 'what did you dream?' she lied in her answers; every time she smiled or laughed she felt like she was lying! She felt mad with it!

And then there was Matt; dear, irritating, blunt-edged Matt. He always picked the best of times to goad her, didn't he? And she, of course, had let him get to her and blurted all that stuff about not going to college putting it in such a way as to really get Matt provoked. She'd succeeded too. She'd been so childish about it; being stubborn, not listening to him and laughing derisively every time he'd tried to be reasonable. WHY?! Why had she done it? She didn't want to make Matt angry! She didn't want to tell him about college, not until the right time! So why had she? Was she really going crazy?

Oh hell, I even threw my shoes at him, didn't I? She groaned to herself. I'm insane...I must be.

Lena knew it was getting late and that she should head home, but the silent beauty of the moonlit forest enthralled her like a spell. She could sit for hours up on the watch tower, just watching the breeze. The stars glittered above her in a breathtaking display of beauty and solitude, indifferent to the world below. Lena felt rather like a star, though perhaps a dying one, she thought; the loneliness, the endless space, the silence.

But there wasn't silence.

A faint sound of footsteps was drawing closer from somewhere to her right. Someone was coming down the forest path and Lena had no desire to meet whoever it was, whether friend or foe.

She quickly abandoned the idea of finding her shoes and climbed down the smooth, steep slope of the watch tower, making barely a sound.

When she reached the path, Lena knew she couldn't follow the normal route back to the farm, for that's where the footstep's approached from. She thought about trying cut through the trees, but knew she'd most likely get lost and that wasn't something you wanted to do late at night. She decided there was only one route she could take; she'd cut round the back of the forest and rejoin the main path about half a mile from home, right next to Oak Hill and the stream.

Darting into the deep forest shadows and away from view, Lena began her long and barefooted trip home, wondering once again if she was losing her mind.

*

Kit heard not a sound and reached the slope which led up to the watchtower's peak. He barely had to climb twenty feet when he realised Lena wasn't there. He could see every inch of the rock's high, smooth surface and no inch of his foster-sister's beloved form.

He was puzzled. He'd felt so certain that she'd be here, watching over their world like the angel he knew she was. But she was not, it appeared, anywhere here. Kit wondered where else she could possibly be at this time of night; no stores were open, the forest was too dark to negotiate and all her friends lived miles away from here.

The only other thing he could think was that she was lurking around the farm somewhere - hiding in the stables with Archie perhaps -- and that he hadn't met her en-route because she'd taken the longer path home...or maybe she was currently taking the long path home and she'd be arriving at the farm sometime shortly. Kit wasn't sure what to do for the best.

He climbed up to the top of the watchtower and stood looking out over the dark, night-blacked forest and the distant town, the moonlight breathing its white mist across his view. It was a cool, peaceful night, the sort that makes you feel non-existent against the sheer magnitude of its silence. On a night like this, Kit could almost feel the Otherside beside him, like a human presence. He could feel it within, that great whispering caress at the back of his conscious, a reminder of his duty to the Otherside and his promise to his mother.

As if drawn by his thoughts, the whisper in his head began to increase in volume and at that same moment, little sparks of light began to gather and dance in the air beside him. Kit watched them distantly, barely noting their slightly blue-ish tinge before returning his gaze to the forest.

The figure materialised slowly beside him, taking longer than Matt or another earth-bound-spirit would, for this particular ghost wasn't coming from some place on earth; he was coming from a much greater distance by far and was struggling a little, due to the dark thoughts in Kit's mind.

A minute passed before he finally managed to gather form and look at Kit with slight exasperation. "Thanks for the help," Jonathon grumbled sarcastically in his long, smooth voice.

Kit gave the familiar, black-eyed face a weary half-grin and turned away. Jonathon stood beside him, arms crossed lightly behind his back, eyes staring out into the distance with Kit's, his hazel-grey hair blowing lightly.

"Troubled mind?" he asked.

"Hmm...you could say that..." Kit replied in a mutter.

"Well, never mind...you can think about that later..." Jonathon said bracingly. "I've got some work for you to do."

"A little girl in a yellow dress?" Kit asked, his voice hinting at resentment.

"I'm afraid so...she died earlier this evening...she's been drifting round her home in Kent ever since and she's very distressed." Jonathon told him with a sigh. "I'm sorry Kristopher..." he added sincerely. "I know how hard all this is for you."

"I know you do Jon." Kit said with an appreciative smile. "It hard to understand sometimes, that's all...I mean, why did that little girl die tonight? Why did matt die and Lena's parents? I understand that people have to die sometime, but...its never that easy...it always seems so unfair..."

"I'm afraid that idea will never leave you as long as you still have the power of thought. It's the curse of loving, Kit...when you stop aching for the dead, you have become them; you are dead, not bodily, but heart and soul. It is good to feel pain Kit...don't resent it."

"It's not my pain I resent. It's that of those who die and those who are left behind wishing." Kit replied softly.

A moments silence passed before Jonathon spoke; "You really are your mother's son." He said tenderly. Then he held his hands open, palms up, in a gesture of welcome and said soberly; "Come now Kristopher. We have a little girl in need of our guidance..."

***