Chapter Text
Some time ago, a young girl, all by her lonesome, wearing a pink dress, wandered through the forest. Her single, blonde-haired braid that stopped just slightly inches away from the middle of her back swayed with each direction she moved her head- left, then right, searching her surroundings. The forest stretched, omnipresent trees looming over her person, creating foliage of shade that blocked the burning sun from her body, a slightly chilly breeze wafting through the air. Deeper into the forest, she went, a destination in mind; the forest, ever so familiar as she pressed on without a care.
The sounds of birds chirping met her ears, accompanied by the blockage of Alocasia leaves that were silken to the touch against her fingertips as she pushed them aside. She listens to the birds chirping overhead, their sound a mere symphony- a beautiful orchestra of coordinated sounds that guide her to the destination she seeks. The birds continue to sing, and she continues to follow, the hard ground beneath her covered feet, of her pink sandals, begins to turn soft, much more like soil.
Faintly, as she delves even deeper into the forest, the lingering sound of the birds singing their heavenly sounds decreases in volume, the wind picks up ever so slightly, brushing against the skin on her body, eliciting goosebumps, but above all else, there’s a sound of rushing water.
Turning onto her right foot, she heads North-East toward the sound, which grows louder with every step she takes. The forest grows thinner, the trees less menacing overhead, the wind more prominent, the bright light of the sun shining through the cracks amidst the trees. She pushes through shrubbery, through bushes thin and thick, with flowers that have freshly bloomed and soak up the sunlight beaming over the horizon.
She stands on the grassy field, blades of grass swaying in the wind, seemingly dancing with the way they move with the wind. She breathes in deeply, the fresh air wondrously filling her lungs, holding it in before she breathes out, expelling Carbon Dioxide. The water steadily flowing down the river is clear as she remembers, from the looks of it. She takes a step forward, then another, steadily making her way toward the river.
However, she stops once she took her fourth step, standing completely still, rigid, as she spots another figure by the river bed.
The figure is a young boy, his short shaggy blond hair swaying gently with the wind- much in the same way the grass blades do. She notices his somber posture, knees drawn as close as possible to his chest, arms hugging his legs as, from what she assumes, considering she’s looking at his back, his chin rests atop his knees. His white as a cloud sneakers rest next to him on his left, black socks stuck lazily into the shoe.
She stares, unknowing of what to do now that someone other than her is taking residence in her favorite spot. She thinks back to what her mother had told her once about boys. “Be careful of boys, Elizabeth. They’re always up to no good- always causing nothing but trouble. Steer clear of them.” Yet, as she continues to loiter just a distance away from him, she can’t help but notice the atmosphere around him seemingly feels… Sad.
She could run, backpedal, retrace her steps until she’s once again in the shelter of her home, lying in her bed and hoping that this unknown boy won’t return tomorrow. She could stand here- like a deer caught in headlights-, pondering as to what might be the cause of his sudden appearance. Pondering, how did he discover this place?
She puts her right foot forward first, then steps forward with her left, repeats the same action with her right until she’s trudging forward precariously toward the river, making sure to take light steps as to not startle the boy. Her footsteps falter as she gets closer, unsure of whether she’s making the right choice, doubt planted into her stomach like a seed, waiting to grow. However, she steels her resolve and presses forward the last few inches, stopping only when she’s standing right next to him.
She stares forward, listening to the sounds of the steady, gentle flow of water that rushes down the canal of the river bed. The boy has yet to look at her, she realizes. She takes a seat next to him, keeping a respectable distance from him, approximately six feet from him. It’s as she sits down, crossing her legs, that she catches the quick glimpse of him looking at her in his peripheral, but he says nothing, simply returning his eyes once more to the front, staring at the river.
The two individuals sit there, time slowly passing by before them, a ghostly clock ticking away, counting the seconds, and the minutes. They bathe in each other’s silence, neither making the means to start a conversation, too enamored by the beauty that is the water passing before their eyes, glossing over the colorful rocks underneath the clear water.
“Hi,” the girl speaks, deciding that there was enough silence festering between them. Turning her head, she once again catches the boy looking at her through his peripheral; his left eye, in that brilliant baby blue hue, stares right back into her light brown eyes that are speckled with splotches of dark chocolate flecks. “I’m Elizabeth. Elizabeth Winters.” Her voice is soft and light as a feather, sweet like honey, with a kind smile plastered onto her child-like face.
The boy says nothing, for a moment. Yet, Elizabeth waits patiently, all the while, noticing that just from the baby blue eye she’s staring at, there’s a deep trail of sadness floating through his iris, just around the edges of his pupil.
“Jason,” he replies with his voice seemingly on the cusps of both soft in an average pitch, yet with an underlying low tone. He had to be no more than twelve or thirteen, at least, in the early stages of puberty, one or two years older than Elizabeth, who was merely eleven. “Jason King.”
“That’s a nice name. I like it.”
“Thanks. I like yours, too.”
Silence delves between them again, but more comfortable this time around. Jason gives a quick little smile in return, one that only makes Elizabeth smile evolve into a toothy grin- an almost perfect grin, shown by the few molars near that back of her mouth, and the two front teeth, one of top and one on the bottom near her canines, that are regrowing from when they had come loose. Jason couldn’t help but laugh a little, albeit, quietly.
“What brings you here?” She questions simply.
“Oh. It was just a nice place I had stumbled upon recently. I thought it’d be a nice place to-”
“You seem sad.” He grows quiet, and Elizabeth quickly backpedals on her words. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to say that! It’s just… Well, I figured something was bothering you. I picked up on it when I saw you here. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but… Just know I’ll listen, if you do.”
A caring proposition, one that makes the boy think, ponder, considering whether or not he wanted to tell Elizabeth, a girl he had just met only a few minutes ago. Of course, the option to keep it to himself is strong, almost correct, in his opinion. Yet, her kind smile and her gentle eyes make him cave. “I am sad…”
“Why?” She scoots closer to him, only an inch.
“I got yelled at by my parents. I didn’t even do anything bad, I just-!” He sighs dejectedly, then looks forward. “This boy was getting bullied by someone older than him, pushing him around, knocking him onto the ground. He was defenseless and I just… Couldn’t stand there and let that happen. So, I stood up for him and got into a fight. I did a good thing, but my parents said it was a rash and idiotic thing for me to do.”
“Well, I don’t see why?” Truly, she couldn’t. “You did a good thing. They should be proud!” It’s when Jason turns his head does she gasp slightly, seemingly understanding why his parents might have been more on the disapproving side.
His right eye is bruised. A purple, bluish tinge that constitutes the term, “Black Eye.” His lip is split, busted, close to the right corner of his mouth. He then lets go of his legs, showing her the status of his hands. Both hands are worse for wear; knuckles red, raw, dried blood caked between some of his fingers, the bone underneath the surface of his skin showing on both pointer fingers, if he hadn’t told her that he had been defending someone, she might’ve thought that he had gotten beat up. That didn’t take away from the sadness she felt brewing within her.
“They weren’t mad that I defended someone, they were seemingly okay with that. They just didn’t like that I had gotten into a fight in the first place. They told me I should’ve gone to get an adult, but who knows what that fucking asshole could’ve done in that time!” His mouth is a little foul, but it’s not an issue for Elizabeth, who only continues to remain silent. “I just… I wanted to help him, and I did. I wanted to make a difference, and I did. Who gives a shit if I got hurt, or if it could hurt my academic standings. Being a good person to others comes before being a good person to yourself, at least for me- huh?”
Warm, soft hands caressed his own. Two thumbs, one on each hand, brushed over the bruised skin, eliciting a hiss of pain from him. He didn’t pull back, nor did Elizabeth cease her gentle caress over his wounds. “You did a good thing, Jason,” she says, looking up from his hands and smiling at him gently.
“Oh-! Uh-,” he coughs to the side, not quite expecting a positive statement, even though she had already stated this before, “thanks. At least someone sees that I did a good thing.”
“My mom always said that boys were trouble, to steer clear of them. But… You’re anything but that. You’re a good person!” Her smile was genuine, and Jason couldn’t help but let that same type of smile grace his boyish features.
“Thank you, Elizabeth. You seem like a wonderful person, too.”
She giggles at the compliment. “Oh!”
“Hmm?”
“Well, I was gonna ask you how you found this place, but after hearing your story, I assume you simply wandered through the forest far enough to hear the birds chirping and the rushing of water.” A nod of his head confirms her assumption. “Since you know of this place now, how about we make a pinkie promise?”
“What kind of pinkie promise?”
The girl tilts her head, puffing out her right cheek, thinking, before she brightens up and speaks once more. “How about, we promise to meet here often? I’d like to get to know more about you. You’d be a cool friend!” She retracts her hands from his, then holds out her right pinkie in the space between them.
The boy stares at the extended finger, mulling over the simple promise to meet each other, and become acquainted. It was simple, easy to execute, and Jason had no reason as to deny her. “It’s a promise,” he nods, lacing his pinkie with hers.
Elizabeth laughs, the wind carrying her voice, while Jason smiles, the sunlight accentuating the genuineness within the action. They stay there, enjoying the peacefulness of their location they had decided to occupy together and bask in the newfound friendship silently.
****
As years pass, the friendship blossoms into so much more.
The two kept their promise, meeting up at their secret spot near the riverbank, telling tales of their day, stories their parent’s once told them growing up, secrets that the other has kept to themselves, furthering their friendship through each day that passes, nurturing it like a baby, catering to it like a flower in a garden, waiting until the very day that it blossoms and shows off its beauty.
As the years pass, and they grow older, they learn more about each other, bit by bit.
Elizabeth learns that Jason has a heart unlike any other. He thrives in helping people, wanting to make sure others are safe. He cares for those who cannot defend themselves, helps feed those who have no way to do so themselves, invites Elizabeth to come watch him and, sometimes, even help him to feed hungry mouths at the food drive. Along the way, there’s a yearning she had never felt before toward Jason- a yearning that beckons her to take it a step further, to know the more intimate intricacies of Jason. Perhaps, it’s affection she feels for him.
Jason learns that Elizabeth is adventurous, an energetic soul unlike any other. During the time of their teenage years, where he is sixteen, and her, fifteen, she takes him exploring deeper parts of the forest. For years, she’s always talked about what lies beyond the river bed, what secrets the forest could hold, what’s possibly out there in the world? He’s learned fast that, as she’s grown up, she’s more carefree, wilder, more courageous. She pushes through the forest sometimes, throwing caution to the wind, him following behind her. Every time, Jason stares at her in awe as she countlessly runs through the forest as if it’s simply her playground, familiar land that she knows every direction to and fro. Jason admires that woman she’s blossoming into, and he supports that she wants to be an archeologist, telling her that it suits her character. Day by day, Jason grows an attraction toward Elizabeth.
****
More years go by, and they’re no longer teenagers; adults by the ages of twenty-five- Jason-, and twenty-three- Elizabeth. The friendship they once had, that buddying relationship as children, that persisted even when they were teenagers growing into early adulthood, vanished. Instead, the friendship blossomed, transformed into an even greater being- one that has both individuals now sharing their life as a whole, rather than two separate individuals.
It was Elizabeth who had made the first move, under the moonlight, under the stars that twinkled above their heads as they sat yet again, after all these countless years, by the river bed. She was the one who had confessed her growing affection toward Jason, who had gone silent and wide-eyed. She confessed her feelings verbally, but it was Jason who had confessed non-verbally.
His silent and wide-eyed expression had aroused panic within Elizabeth, who started to ramble and apologize as quickly as she could, wanting to take back her words, wanting to fix their friendship she thought she had broken. A kiss on her lips, courtesy of Jason, silenced her worries, and she relished the way his soft lips moved with hers, the way he held her by the small of her back, lacing his fingers with hers as they kissed with the moon and the stars mere witnesses to their love, a celestial audience that would forever remember this moment.
Their love blossomed from that fateful day into a beautiful, healthy bond, a symbol of this being their firstborn within the months that came.
Eric Edmund King, a healthy baby boy that took on the last name of his father, with both parents who loved him dearly. Just shortly before Eric was born, the couple had already moved into a new house, away from the city, and more so toward the outskirts, where most of the company they would have would be the beauty of nature, and the animals inhabiting the woods. It was a peaceful atmosphere for the couple, one where they could raise their baby boy without too many distractions, without too much noise or pollution that had plagued their city after some time.
Thankfully, if they needed to return to the city, their house was close enough to civilization, in the event, they needed anything for them or, their baby.
They showered Eric with attention and affection, with love and care, showing each day to littlebaby Eric that his parents loved him, and were so happy to have him. The baby grew up in a loving home, his laughter radiating warmth throughout the house, throughout Jason and Elizabeth’s lives, Eric’s smile always lighting up their days if, good or bad, and throughout the months that passed, everything was normal.
It was when Eric had turned two, did things start to change.
Ethan Jason Winters, the second son of Jason and Elizabeth, was born. Another healthy baby boy, Eric’s baby brother, was welcomed into their home, the same love and affection are given to him that was shown to Eric. It was a perfect, healthy family of four- two sons, and a mother and father- not yet married, for there were still personal things emerging in their life that blocked them from such a thing-, it felt perfect. The family was like a freshly bloomed Rose in the mid-spring, petals beautifully vibrant, standing tall, proud, absorbing the sunlight, and continuing to grow.
However, love, just like a flower, wilts after time.
Each petal falls, slowly, one by one, until nothing remains but the pistil remains. In a relationship, the emotions fall, they wilt, they grow weak, slowly, one by one, and sometimes all together, till nothing but memories remain. It’s a price to pay for such beautiful things, as there’s a price to all beauty, none of it free, most of the time.
It had become clear to Jason that Elizabeth was rather restless in her adventure to explore the unknown. Sometimes, he would be waiting up all night until she came back home from her adventures, needing to know that she was okay, that the mother of his children wasn’t deceased somewhere, that something bad had happened to her and he had no clue. Of course, they had talked, and Elizabeth had tried to stop going out so much in the early morning, or late at night, but she had an honest talk with Jason, saying that it was hard for her to do that. Jason, respecting that, had thought that perhaps, he didn’t want to be the person to hold her back from doing what she loved. So, he had opted to let her go, to be her own person again, to give her the freedom she had before they had become parents- before they had become a couple.
Of course, it wasn’t Elizabeth’s fault, no. They had another talk prior as well- just right after they had put Ethan down for bed in his crib. Jason had wanted to help people, wanted to help those in need, who needed protection. He had signed up for the military and was to be shipped out to basic training within the coming month. So, of course, Elizabeth had wanted to explore while she could, understanding that their time was limited. However, Jason wanted to spend time as a family, and they both understood that. They had both tried, but things fell apart.
One day, the mother had come home, slightly different, the father holding Ethan in his arms, patting his back, having freshly fed him. He asked, “What’s wrong?” But the Mother did not reply, not with a clear answer. He asked again, but she had only shaken her head, his worry growing.
“Can I… Can I please hold Ethan?” She had asked, desperately. The father had never heard his love ask to hold their child before, and his worry seemingly increased more and more, but he did not deny her, he handed their child over, and the mother held him in a loving embrace, pressing soft kisses on her child's head.
The father wanted to know what was wrong, but the mother’s teary eyes stopped him. He did not press for answers, did not make her speak, nor force answers out of her, quelling his hungry curiosity. Instead, he stood there, listening to how she asked if she could take Ethan with her to Texas. He asked why, but yet again, she provided him with no answer. She just kept asking and asking, and the father looked toward his firstborn, who was in the living room playing with a toy truck they had gotten for him.
He thought for a moment, pondering if this was the right thing to do. He felt a tear forming somewhere in his chest- perhaps, his heart, from how badly it hurt- from simply thinking about doing this to their family, for doing this to his son’s. Yet, he found himself nodding.
The mother was thankful for it, and showered her lover in affection- a simple kiss to his lips, and a hug, holding their newborn between them.
It was the last time either of them had given the other affection, the last time either of them had a semblance of a domestic life full of simplicity. It was the last time the father got to hold his newborn, got to hold his wife, watching as the plane took off with both of them on board, Eric suspended in the air, the father’s arm’s wrapped around him. It was the last time Eric and Ethan had ever been within the same room as one another.
The family was divided.
The simplicity was broken.
The domesticity was lost.
The perfection was destroyed.
The lovers never saw each other again, and the two brothers?
Their stories are told separately, one different from the other. A simple tale of two lives, yet to intertwine.