Mariah

Mariah glanced over at Leland. He looked like a dark shadow, looming just outside the circle of light that the warm fire had created. She could scarcely see his black form against the immensely dark wall of the midnight sky.

Mariah quietly stood up and stared at Leland’s black, outlined figure, which was standing motionless, though his hair and tunic quivered slightly in the feeble breeze. Walking slowly over towards him, Mariah prayed that maybe she would be able to say the right words to Leland so that she could comfort him. As she stepped from the light, she let the darkness engulf her body, feeling the warmth drain and a chill run down her body. She stepped next to Leland and studied his blank expression as he stared at the ground wordlessly. Mariah had just formed the right words in her mind when Leland spoke up.

“I understand if you feel uncomfortable around me now. Grimwell was the only person who was ever willing to give me a second chance at becoming a better person. No one else believed I could do it.” Moments slipped by as the fire crackled and hissed behind them, trying to call them back into the warmth.

Leland then looked over at Mariah but was surprised to see that she was smiling at him. Whispering gently, she tucked her long, fluttering hair behind her ear. “Leland, I’m willing to give you more than just one chance.” As Mariah beamed at him, Leland couldn’t help but smile. Mariah turned her head out towards the darkness beyond the firelight’s reach, smiling. Leland tore his eyes from her grinning face, looking out across the grass-matted plains, following her gaze. Leland saw a very thin line that separated the black, star-sprinkled sky from the dark, thick grasslands. Looking at it, he realized it was so very much like life. Just like the thin line between the sky and the plains, there’s always an extremely fine line between the good world and the evil world. Though they are different worlds, they live side by side, on the same planet, always and forever coping and sneaking and fighting and killing, as ancient rivals for the rest of all eternity.

Leland knew that Mariah was far above the ground, soaring from star to star in the good world above, almost oblivious to the evil one below her. But himself? No. He was lying on the very thin line in between, still trying desperately to climb into the sky, despite the tempting pull of gravity. But right now he could be nowhere else except for with Mariah, soaring high in between the stars of the beautiful night sky.