Chapter One: Timeless by Rosaline Saul
“I
choose you.”
As the words whisper over my lips, Kieran looks at me in
shock. He murmurs disbelievingly, “Say it again.”
I feel the dark shadows, which always push and prod into me whenever I am with Kieran lean closer, invading my space, as I say it again. “I choose you, Kieran. I love you.”
He smiles. The smile lights up his face even here in the
darkness where we are huddled close to each other against the cold November
wind.
From somewhere behind me, I hear Jayden grunt unhappily and
close by a crow squawks, the sudden sound loud.
I feel Kieran stiffen under the palms of my hands. Quickly
he reaches for my hand. Gripping my fingers tightly in his, he insists, “Run.
We must run.”
Bewildered, I step back from him. I have just told him that
I choose him. For months, I have battled with my indecision. I love both Jayden
and Kieran, but I knew I had to make the choice between them and now that I
did, this momentous moment in my life is shattered.
A crow swoops down low over my head. I can feel the wind
from its wildly flapping wings brush against my cheek. I look up and I see the
moon glint off its black feathers in a rainbow of colours.
Jayden yells, “Run!”
I feel Kieran pull me along with him. I stumble over my own
two feet and Kieran clutches my arm in a steel grip to pull me up again. We run
toward the cliff. If we are supposed to be running away from danger, why are we
running directly toward a dead-end, I wonder panicked.
I feel the crow clutch its claws into my hair, and I feel
strands of it yanked out of my scalp. I scream in pain, but Kieran pulls me
faster toward the cliff.
We reach the cliff and while we are still running, Kieran
scoops me into his arms in one smooth action. He urges, “Close your eyes.”
Petrified I close my eyes tightly and then terrified, I am
aware of him running over the edge of the cliff. I feel the nothingness beneath
us, and for a moment, it feels as if we are just hanging there, suspended in
mid-air. Then I feel an upward current of air lift my hair up and away from my
face. It does not feel like we are falling, it feels more like floating, maybe
we already collided with the ground, and I am dead. Probably the only
explanation for the feeling of weightlessness I am experiencing.
Scared I open my eyes. A very small part of me is relieved I
am not yet dead. The cliff face is passing by me, going upward, as if in slow
motion. I can see every protrusion reflected in the sharp glare of the moon and
I see Kieran’s black coat tails flap up in the wind in front of my face.
I close my eyes again, waiting with bated breath for the
impact.
After moments, which seem like decades, I feel him
miraculously land his feet onto the ground softly.
He puts me down and my legs feel weak. I stumble backward
and Kieran lunges toward me, wrapping his arm around my waist to steady me.
Looking up at the incredibly high cliff, I turn back to look
at Kieran. I feel the disbelief of falling down this incredibly high cliff and
standing here unscathed, press down on me. He looks away and avoids looking
back at me.
As I open my mouth to ask the question burning on my tongue,
Jayden calls from in front of us, somewhere in the darkness of the night. “Come
on, Kieran! We must leave.”
I see dark shadows dance across the cliff face menacingly,
like the shadow puppets against the walls in our cottage. Shadow puppets Clara
and I make when we are snuggled closely together in bed and before we blow out
the candle. When we let our fingers stretch out against the knobbly wood and we
tell each other scary stories.
Kieran pulls on my hand and shocked I turn away from the
shadows moving down the cliff like a slow, pulsating waterfall.
I am running again.
As we get to the horse and cart, Kieran lets my hand drop
and he makes a running jump onto the back of the empty farm cart.
Jayden clutches me by my elbow, and he hurries me toward the
front of the rickety wagon.
The horse, which is still tethered to the front of the cart,
eats lazily from the bits of grass on the verge of the muddy road.
Kieran clambers over the wooden backrest of the cart and
then sit down hurriedly. He leans forward to undo the reigns twirled around the
front guard.
Jayden places his hands on my hips, and he looks down into
my eyes pensively. He smiles sadly and then as he lifts me and I am face to
face with him, he says softly, “I will always love you.”
I frown and immediately I feel remorseful for him. I know he
heard me tell Kieran I choose him. Is Jayden still trying to convince me I
should have chosen him?
Kieran yells, “Hurry up. They are coming.”
Jayden sets me down on the seat and then he swings himself
effortlessly onto the back of the wagon as Kieran lashes the whip onto the
horse.
The horse whinnies and then with a jerking motion the cart
starts to move. Kieran prompts the horse to go faster by yelling at it and
lashing the whip over its back.
Loudly I ask appalled, “Why are you doing this, Kieran?”
He glances toward me anxiously and whips the horse again. I do not recognize the look on his face.
