Tear-Drop Catcher

by Hikari
 
 

Chapter Three
 

        “Why am I important to you?”

        “Because you know my story…”

        “Is that all?”

        “No… I also know yours…”

        There is a loud crash. A shatter. A breaking of glass. Everything around me crumbles. This evil world of my own collapses to the ground. It all vanishes. The ropes, which had tied me to the horse, disintegrate along with all others. I am free…

        “You can be a slave without chains…”

        “A slave to whom?”

        “To yourself.”

        My hair falls down, and now I am walking on the sky’s walkways once more. Perhaps free was the wrong choice of words. Then again, there are so many tortures out there beyond physical and emotional comprehension that it tries such a word. A bird set free with her wings clipped. I’ve flown into myself and came out with nothing of my goal. Now I wonder… Who set me free?

        “You are not the one…”

        Looking to the side- I spy a young man crouching at my mirror. He was so young. Fair skinned, with contrasting pitch-black hair. His irises fly up swiftly to catch my stare. They are wine-colored- deadly. In spite of this, I am not the least bit frightened. He is upside down. He is like me.

        “What do you mean?” I ask.

        Bitterly, he collects the glass fragments into his palms and clutched them so fervently it cuts his flesh. He doesn’t bleed. “A doll stole my heart. With it she stole my story- I have lost everything.”

        Inching closer, I crouch beside him. “A doll?”

        Emotionlessly, he nods- spiky hair bouncing weightlessly to his movements. “I saw you in the looking glass… I thought you were the one who had my heart, but I assume I am wrong.” Lashing his head in another direction- he continues. “What were you doing within your own mirror? Do you know that you would have perished?”

        Sadly, I delve into my clothing to expose my chest. “I have no heart… I am a doll…”

        “…That is impossible…”

        At this, my eyes widen.

        “A doll shouldn’t have a hole in her chest because a doll never has a heart to begin with. I am labeled an imp, for a boy with no heart is called as such… But like a doll, an imp never had a heart…”

        Cautiously, the young man gazes back at me. His pupils shimmered lively while foretold of sorrow. My chest hurts…

        “I should have known my heart was lost forever… I am a fool to think I could ever find it again…”

        “But there’s hope…” I impeded hastily. “Don’t give-up… You’ll find it…”

        Focus discerning into me, he probes my features. What is he looking for? Does he know something?

        “And you… are looking for your own heart?”

        A nod.

        “Little girl… Dear girl… Your heart has always been with you…”

        I blink. “…What…?”

        Touching the hole in my chest with one hand, his palm warms in temperature- until radiating a magnificent light. There is a sound… of beating…

        DUM DUM…

        DUM DUM…

        DUM DUM…

        “You’ve always had it… Your life must have been so unfairly cruel to you that it had frozen over time… Do you hear it? The sound of beating? That is your heart… It had iced and so became difficult to see… It’s there…”

        “All I need is to be caressed. Love will start the beating… That is an eternal rule…”

        “I’ve… Always had it?” I hold onto his hand. “You found it for me… All this time I couldn’t find it myself… Thank-you…”

        My ears catch the sound of his teeth grinding… Had I angered him?

        “You shouldn’t thank me… I tore down your world…”

        Bits of glass slip in between his other fingers- cascading like fairy dust. “You tore down a world with no light. I’m even more grateful for that…”

        It is now that I look into him- half expecting some sort of response. When he didn’t say a word- I moved on. “It’s horrible that a doll took your heart… Was she so jealous?”

        “It should come as no surprise… A doll has nothing in the inside, yet still exists. A doll is hollow, which is why she is breakable. If she can ruin another- maybe then she won’t feel so alone. But now… I am the one with no heart… I am the one who is empty. It’s because of that that I myself grew jealous and accused you of the one stealing what rightfully belonged to me… I’m sorry…”

        I’m at a loss as to what to say. I feel guilty. “Maybe I DID steal your heart…”

        He looks up.

        “I don’t know… All I have are bad memories... Some vague… Others distinct… I don’t know anything of myself… My story…”

        “There’s nothing wrong with that. You can choose to discard bad memories. If you forget them, those hurtful stories never had existed. Stories that are not remembered were never manifested… Your heart is blank- since this is true, you can fill it with a new story that you wish to keep as yours. It doesn’t matter whether or not your heart came with its story because the owner of the heart can fill it with what she wishes… You are lucky to have one… So please… Don’t despair…”

        He is so… kind to me. I shed happy tears. Tears worth shedding. As the pearls drop, he catches every one of them before they could reach the lands beneath.

        “You and I…” I say. “Are very much alike… The world holds us upside down to them.”

        Quietly, he opens my hands to set the pearls in. “They are not worthy to possess these… These belong to you…”

        Overjoyed, a smile breaks through the clouds about my face. “How can you say you have no heart? You care too much to not have one…”

        Putting my hand into my chest- I break my heart in half. “Take this… Half of my heart… It is yours because you are apart of it…”

        “I don’t deserve this…”

        “Yes you do…” I place the portion inside the puncture in his upper torso. “Our hearts will beat together… Like twins…”

        He in turn smiles. “Thank-you… But what of your world? And who told you you didn’t have a heart?”

        “The world doesn’t matter much to me. Not that world at least. The one who told me was an eyeless doll…”

        Thin eyebrows furrowing, his grip tightens around the glass pieces of my mirror. “A doll with no eyes is a broken doll… She envied you because she knew you had a heart while she didn’t… What’s more, she had no eyes to even see that she was a useless doll, while you could easily see her loss…”

        “So I became… HER doll?”

        “She played with you and did this…” Relieving his balled fits- the looking glass shone in shards. “I wouldn’t have don’t this if I hadn’t seen a doll-like figure within it…”

        Taken aback, I gaze out. “She made me blacken my world inside-out, while she tempted you to shatter it permanently… That doll had nothing. To feel better, she corrupted what I had… She knew I was a child… That I was confused… and she twisted this at her will…”

        My new friend brings his attention to my looking glass. “If I can be apart of your world… Would you allow me to hold it together?”

        “What do you mean?”

        “If I merge with you shattered world… I can make you a new mirror…”

        “You would do that for me?”

        “As you said… We are twins… Because of this… that makes us brother and sister… Since we have the same heart, I would do this for you because I love you…”

        “You… have just met me … You’re willing to sacrifice so much for my sake?”

        “You had already given me half of your heart… That’s all I need to live… Before finding you- I never had such loving words- or compassion… If I will be your brother… Will you be my sister?”

        Without hesitation. “Yes.”

        “Then let me do this for you… I don’t mind being your reflection because I can see you whenever I like… I’ll catch your smiles… I’ll catch your tears… I’ll be your shadow…”

        So much heart from only a half… “Why is this what you want?”

        “What more do I have if not this?”

        If you haven’t met someone- that someone isn’t there…”

        “I will know your story- while you know mine… That is our heart…”

        “You’re so eager to be my brother… Is this our true destiny?”

        The particles at his finger tips resonate- augmenting the spectrum of white light. He closes his eyes as a soft smile is drawn across his lips. “I’ll hold your world together… and I can see you as much as I like… That’s all I want, and this heart is telling me it’s all you want too…”

        “Wait! What is your name?”

        “…Hiei…”

        “If time means nothing to the heart- then we have all the time we need. I don’t have to have so many memories of you because we always make new ones everyday. I can love you as my sister or brother hardly knowing anything because there is no other good in this world… What have I to lose…?”

        “Little girl… I see you’ve found your heart… Would you like me to tell you a story?”

        I turn my back on her. “I have no use for a broken doll… You know nothing… My heart is overflowing with love… I’ve found my story, and it’s mine to keep forever… Between him and me is all that is important… I don’t need you to tell me the story because I am the one who has it. You are a fraud- a taker of joy and innocence. Who needs a broken doll like you?”

        “A heartless girl is a doll…

        A heartless boy is an imp…

        A heartless creature is either an insect or a monster…”
 
 
 

        “What is the story of your heart?”
 
 
 

Back to Chapter Two
Interpretation