Beauty Of The Deep

To Tell the Tale : 2

To Tell the Tale

Death was calling me. I could hear her voice.

"Arlo, you'll be staying with your Aunt Smith for awhile till we get back from our sail." Her glassy doe eyes that the young boy inherited from her-looked down upon him with a sad smile.

"I want to go with you mommy." Arlo pleaded with glossy eyes while pulling on her white, silky, trumpet sleeve. He felt a pang of pain from his chest but he managed to force in his urge to cry like a child. He wanted to show his dear mother that he can stay strong for her.

His mother chuckled at his precious, adorable behavior, picking him up at the very moment. "The seven seas' too dangerous for you." She confessed, poking his tiny nose. A woeful expression dawned on the young boys face before he was handed to his 'Aunt' that he just met today. Arlo hesitates to lift his face up where he knew any minute he would make eye contact with the grumpy looking lady.

"I'll be back before you know it!" She declares, hopping on her bewitching ship before pulling down to free the sails.

Little Arlo, now in his Aunt's arms, peered at his mother's ship before it drifts to great distance. Living nomadic ways, no one could predict that a terrible storm was coming for a visit.

Darkness swallowed up the earth the hour the moon set, and after that. A destructive storm.

The buildings, crushed. The crops, destroyed. The people, killed. The town, wiped out of the map. A few got blessed with another chance in life and it's up to them to tell the tale. Their town was no longer habitable since nature chose to take it as theirs and use it as a giant puddle. A puddle of corpse of everything they loved.

They journeyed a considerable distance, under the scorching sun and under the chilly moon until they reached a little town, not too big from their previous one but enough to accept some wandering survivors.

Gyeonggi Town, the sign read out. They were welcomed with care and hospitality, the few men and women adapted really well with their new environment despite the traumatic event that killed their loved ones. But they aimed to forget about the past and leave it to be a memory that will forever haunt their hearts. And so far, they did a well job doing that, except a certain boy who could not comprehend on the event that just happened.

Every night, he'd gaze at the sparkling water while all the other kids were fast asleep in their beds and wait for his mother to get him out of the orphanage.

The voices of the people that accompanied him during their search for civilization kept echoing in his mind like a cave.

"That savage, bandit excuse of a pirate is dead! No way she could've survived that storm." Scoffed the survivor.

Those words playing an endless loop inside his mind, kept him all night from sleeping. He just hoped that she would back for him and this time, allow him to sail with her across the seven seas.

"Mother Heather will catch you awake, you know that?"

Arlo was surprised to hear a sudden voice speak out to him, considering the hour of the night. The room was too dim to see who was awake, but the voice was close enough for him to know that the owner of it was just nearby.

"Up here." He says.

"Oh. Why are you still awake?" Arlo asks, his eyes looking at the unknown boy that's located at the third bunk bed, "Same as you." Arlo nodded at his response and diverted his gaze back to the ocean.

"I'm Seven, by the way." The toothless boy whistled his words, "That was my given name. Not my age." He added before frowning when he receives nothing but a nod from the emoting boy. He was expecting his name as a response instead he got ignored. "You must the the new guy." He continued, trying to keep the conversation alive.

From great observation, he managed to figure it out without his help, "Arlo Kase. right?" His frown grows deeper when the new boy nods again. Groaning loudly, he lays on his back and throws his arms in the air before dropping them on his sides.

The curious boy then lies on his tummy again with his arms under his chin, hopeful to receive a proper answer from him.

"How old are you?" He asks again, and examined the way Arlo lifts his fingers up to count his age.

"6." Arlo finally replies, holding up his palm towards the toothless boy. "We're not too different." The guppy boy cheered in a whisper. He's been longing for a kid around his age to be his friend, since he's been stuck there for who knows how long and the kids around there were either babies or toddlers abandoned by their guardians.

"Wanna be my friend?" Seven offered, eyes glowing with hope. Seven was the type of boy who wouldn't bail out of his main goal without a fight. And tonight he finally succeeded on earning himself a friend.

Arlo nodded, unfazed at the celebrating boy behind him whose kicking his legs in the air while chanting 'yes'.

"So whats your story?" Seven utter after his short party.

Confused at the sudden question, Arlo replied, "Story? Like a bedtime story mommy reads to me at night?"

Seven was quite taken aback by Arlo's reply, he changed his question, "You aren't an orphan?" Confusion decorated Arlo's face and he was not getting anything his New Friend was saying, and Seven could tell.

Seven takes it into consideration that Arlo might not be aware on why he ended up in the orphanage and just let it slip.

"Nevermind, its nothing important." Seven chuckled to ease the boy.

Maybe Mother Heather found him and took him in? He might be related to Mother Heather? Did he come from the group of those Storm survivors? These questions rushed through his head which turned to a headache that he decided to sleep off.