Erik turned and glanced up at his father, his cheeks now damp with tears.
“I miss her, Papa.”
“Well then you’re lucky.” Harald reached out to tap Erik at the shoulder. “You have something to remember her.”
“If only… if only…” Erik burbled. “She didn’t insist on going to Skaftaffel. That frozen lake – it wouldn’t…”
“Ssh!” soothed Harald. “She’s rested now, Erik.”
* * *
Harald and Erik spent the rest of the evening watching the movie in silence. And the night had grown old when Harald bent over to check on his son, to find later how Erik had dozed off. Harald smiled a little. He rose, enfolding Erik with a blanket piled up nearby and scooping the sleeping boy up to put him in his room. The film had yet to be over. Aragorn was still fighting against a band of uruk hais. Frodo was fleeing under their very noce after an unexpected assault from Boromir. But they did all those in quietude for Harald had turned the television into a silence mode.
And in no time, as Harald returned after tucking Erik in the comfort of the bed, he booted the TV out, turned off the lamp, and closed the door behind him slowly as he headed to his own room.
A deserted room. A lonesomeness. A perfect analogy of Erik’s forlorn heart after the passing of Krista. Kristjana, his beloved aunt. The only person used to be able to make up for the absence of a mother, someone Erik never got the chance to know.
A deserted room. Even a firefly that had been snoozing on the other side of the bare, wooden-framed window suddenly snapped awake and withdrew, leaving behind the windowpane, the room, the house, the back and front yard. It flew up and up to join the twinkling stars in the sky, just to jerk back in surprise as it cracked open to reveal…
A boundless savannah with grass always green and dewy. Where the sun always shone but never too brightly. Where the breeze always blew as gently as a soothing hush. Where rain always fell when you were not there.
A paradise.
Where eternity had its true meaning. Where you would never age. Where you would never grieve nor suffer. Where you would always love and be loved in return.
And there was one shady tree for each loving brace where they could sit under its canopy. Relishing a moment of being alone together. Infinitely.
* * *