Coming Soon

Title: Aquarian

Author: Mandie Shaffer

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The Beginning
There was a time when life made sense,
when living was more than another day,
where a life was more than a second glance, a
taste more than a flavour, a sound more than
a whisper. There was a time my eyes could
effortlessly open to a morning where everyone

I ever cared about, ever loved and lived with,

laughed and cried with was there when I opened

my eyes.

That life was gone, leaving me alone in a
cold dark world filled with the blood of my family.
A scar would remain on my heart; a tear would
permanently stain my cheek.
To forget, how could I when all that had
mattered to me had burned from beneath me.
A title wave of lava burning my body and mind,
chaining me down to the grounds beneath me I
struggled to break free. Why
Why would I try to break free when I wanted
nothing more than to die, nothing more than to
join my family, to join my kind, but how could I.

I could not die I was immortal. I could not

run away from the truth that was before me, I
was weak and helpless. I was dream deprived,

I was lost and alone in a big world filled with
nothingness but the sound of my own heart
beating, my breath rapidly exhaling and inhaling,
the over whelming smell of fresh blood all around
me.
With every step forward, I could hear the
sticks and debris beneath my feet crunch and
crackle. I could feel the breeze on my face trying
to phase out the overwhelming stench.
With my arms crossed tightly over my brown
jacket I made my way through the Aquarians

drowning in blood all around me, stepping over
arms and legs, still bodies that once were, but
will never again, be with me. Their warmth had
gone, their souls had passed on, and I could feel
the wind carry away all signs of life from them.
The meaning of my life was jaded and I
was taken aback while gazing into the blinding
sunlight. My body ached although my body
does not feel pain, my head pounded. My knees
knocked together with every step closer to my
home. A broken wooden house, debris scattered

across the residence. A tear rolled down my
cheek staring at the home of my fathers. The
home he built with his own hands.
I glanced down at the remains of the home
scattered about seeing the leg of a man buried
beneath the rubble. As I got closer, I could make
out the brown shoe that my father had worn. My
heart pounded compressing the thoughts that my

father may be the man beneath the rubble. I was
frozen afraid to find out when I heard a silent cry
from the pile of debris.
“Ava . . .” the cry became louder.
“Father . . .” I cried, running towards the pile
crashing down onto the ground grabbing at the
pieces of glass and wood throwing them behind
me, uncovering my father who lay beneath the
rubble bloody and bruised.

“Father . . .” I uncovered his body, slipping my
arm beneath him, around his back and shoulder.
I held him up hearing the sound of his heart
beginning to slow ever so quickly.

“Ava . . .” he lifted his large hand covered in
fresh blood stained of black oil. He placed his
hand to my cheek staring up at me; I could see
the pain in his eyes.

“You mustn’t be here . . . you must go
immediately before I . . .” he struggled to
continue letting out a deep dry cough.

“I won’t leave you.” I cried wrapping my arms
around him tightly soaking my clothes in his
blood.

“Have you forgotten the stars . . . have
you forgotten?” he breathed trying to help me
remember.

“Let them fall and crush me.” I roared. “Let
them take me as they have taken all of you.”

I shouted to the sky above staring at the two
moons in the distance. “Let night come and
take me with you. I will not live as one. I won’t
remain.”

“You mustn’t be angry my daughter. You must
go to the underworld until life above has settled.”
“I won’t.” I growled. “I refuse to leave you.”
His heart faded as he took his last breath. I
screamed feeling his body go limp.

“Father!” I screamed, “no! Father!” I cried,
rocking his body slowly. The sky became angry,
the sun fell, and darkness crept over the land
quickly. I rose from my father’s body staring
up at the stars forming in the sky above. Tears
streaming down my face I glared.
“You said you’d always be here!” I held my
hands in tight fists, “You promised!”
The sky roared and the stars shook in the
sky, “go ahead!” I shouted loudly.

The stars shook in anger; I could feel my
knees knocking together in fear.
“Go on and take me.”
A star fell from the sky and shot down onto
the ground in an explosion. The earth cracked
forming a wall of fire and debris flying at me. The
pressure of the explosion shot me up into the air
covering me in dirt, feeling boulders strike me.
The earth was angry with me, the stars were in

pain watching as my body was tossed in the air
smacking into bricks and boulders cutting up
my skin. Fire blaring around me, I could feel the
heat.

I landed on the dirt two thousand feet from
my home smack down on the ground. I struggled
to get to my feet. I stood up snakingly, my face
and body covered in dirt and mud, my clothes
torn up and covered in my father’s blood. I glared
up at the stars furious.

“Is that all you’ve got!” I shouted.
I opened my arms to the stars, provoking
them to kill me.
“You will not be harmed.” A kind
understanding voice spoke from the sky above
me. I shook my head believing I was already
dead and I was in heaven until I looked around
me realising heaven had not been where I was.
“Your father spared your life.”

“I wish to die.” I pleaded.
“Death . . .” the voice paused in sadness.
“Death will not be granted.”
I picked up a boulder throwing it against a
building. “I said kill me!” I shouted loudly in rage.
“Do it.”
There was no answer.
“Do it?” I screamed, “Now”

The wind gently blew through my thick black
curls and I knew the stars had refused to take
me. They had spared my life as my father had,
they were angry with me though understanding
to my rage. They would not let my anger towards
them cause them to make an irrational decision
that my father would disagree upon.

My father was a lord of great respect to
our people and the universe; they would never
disrespect his honour. I should have been
grateful, but I was angry at the world, I was
angry with my father, but most of all I was angry
with myself. I wish I was stronger, I wish I could
have stopped the war; I wish I could have done
something to prevent the bloodshed.

Nothing could have prevented, such a
traumatic outcome, there was nothing, anyone
could have done, my father tried to stop Renown
from bringing war to our people, but he refused
to reason. He refused to come to a truce;
instead, he wanted an end to our kind, to his own
kind then to have us continue with life.

Renown was an Oiler, a mystical being
far greater than an Aquarian. Oilers were
killers amongst the world. They were oil to
water and were the beings who posed a great
threat to us. Renown did not reason, he had
no understanding for our people. He had
no remorse or mercy; he wanted death and
welcomed it openly.

I sometimes wondered if there would come
more of them to destroy a new world, but I had
not to worry. Years passed by and still no life
above me on land. I was doomed to walk the
world in silence and it frightened me, I spent
most days keeping busy underwater building
onto my underwater world my father and I had
built together.

I missed my father very much, his strength,
his heart, the way he laughed, his respect and
understanding for life. He was a man I looked up
to greatly and only hoped that there would come
a time when I could be see him again.