—
"l o v i n g t h e w r o n g p e r s o n
w i l l s t e a l y o u r t i m e
a n d r o b y o u of y o u r y o u t h."
~ r . h . s i n
—

I am trapped in dark silence.

There's a pain rushing through me, from the heart to my head. There's pressure in my chest. I feel pain that is sharp and jagged, like an animal sinking its way into my soul with pointed teeth.
I look down and touch my chest.
All I see is an outline of an arrow, blood trickling from where it had apparently impaled me. It'd gone right through me, without me even noticing,
and I am suddenly numb.

There was an "A" engraved at the end of it.
Archer.
How fitting for the person who shot an arrow into my heart.

My heartbeat steadied as my eyes rove about the black. There was no sign of Archer's emerald eyes anywhere.
With a heavy sob, tears trickled down my cheeks. I pressed my palms to my eyes and cried harshly, internally screaming for my dear Archer.

"Darling," called a familiar voice.
It wasn't harsh or deep like the one I was longing for. It was calm and soft. Taking in a deep breath, I lifted my head and pushed back my hair, staring into familiar hazel eyes.

"Momma?"

She smiled kindly at me, kneeling beside me in the dark. I felt her warm fingers on my cheeks, brushing away the staining tears. I was then embraced by her, and I could smell cherry blossoms in her dark curls.

I cried harder, the arrow throbbing in my chest.

"Help me, Momma," I whispered.

My mother pulled back to see my face, and she kissed my forehead tenderly. "I'm sorry my love," she said softly. "But it's time you saved yourself."

I had no response to that. I wasn't understanding.

I was beginning to see her face as the darkness lifted. I was no longer alone, and the black had faded into a dark gray.
My mother sighed heavily.
"Deidra," my mother whispered. "It breaks my heart seeing you in so much pain. And over what? A boy who doesn't love you?"

I sniffed, wiping my face. "Momma, he does. He's just mad at me. He wants me to leave him only because he thinks he's a bad person. But I love him and I'd never do that."

My mother had tears in her eyes now, and she was doing all she could to hold them back. Closing her eyes, she whispered, "Oh, no, no... Where did I go wrong, dear God?" She shook her head slightly, then looked back at me. She forced a smile.

"Baby girl, you need to understand. You're being destroyed by him. Look at what he's done to you."
She gestured to the arrow.

My mother ran her fingers through my hair and maintained eye contact, showing me she was serious. "Let me ask you something," she said. "If I hit you, if I made you feel awful about yourself, would you love me?"

I thought about it a moment. "No, Momma. Of course not. That'd be cruel."

Momma smiled and watched me with kind eyes. "Then why have you let yourself love someone who does just that?" She shook her head. "That's not love, baby girl. When someone loves you, they do all they can to make you happy and safe. They show you your value, not try to lessen it."

I allowed her words to penetrate me. I felt something click in my mind, and suddenly the tears stopped flowing. The pain in my chest was still there, but the blood had clotted.

"It's time you did what was right. For you. Nobody else."

I nodded at my mother and blinked.
When I opened my eyes, she was gone, and I was back in that field where I had watched the sunset. The pressure in my chest was gone, but my heart was hurting.

The sky was dark and full of beaming stars. The moon was full, shining on the grass under my feet. Looking around, I could see a figure of a man close to the trees, watching the sky.

We made eye contact, and his emerald eyes softened. He walked over to me, and that was when I began to notice the arrow in his right hand.

"Stay back," I said.

Archer smiled but kept walking.

"I mean it!"

"Relax, princess," he said in a smooth tone.
He stopped a foot in front of me.
"It's for you."
With that, he reached his hand out, giving me the arrow. Confused, I took it, and gripped it tight.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"You'll find out." He ran a hand through his wild black hair and crossed his arms. "You're stronger than I thought," he said. "I thought I killed you."

"Nearly," I said harshly. "Why did you try to kill me?"

Archer chuckled. "I already told you. It's just what I do. I'm glad you're finally starting to realize."

"But you said you loved me."

The boy shrugged. "I say a lot of things. Doesn't mean I mean them."

Anger suddenly flared through me. "You're an idiot for giving me this arrow, you know." I gripped it tighter. "What makes you think I won't kill you?"

Archer smiled wider. "Who says I don't expect that?"

I was confused for a moment, until I realized what Archer was doing. He gave me the arrow he had hurt me with, and he was waiting to see if I'd stoop to his level and do what he had done to me.
It was a tempting offer,
but was I prepared to have this guilt on my hands? The guilt of
hurting him,
destroying him
like he did me?

No.

Because Archer would one day feel the guilt.
The guilt of killing those only wanting to love him.
I was confident about that.
I refused to be a participant in this game. So I took the arrow in both hands, and split it in two. The snap was startling in the silence between us.

Tossing it to Archer's feet, I said, "This game you play will get you killed eventually. But not by me. One day you'll destroy the wrong person. And then you'll be the one with an arrow in your heart."

Archer was silent, a blank expression on his face.
And as I closed my eyes to take a deep breath, I felt a peace settle with me, within my heart and mind.

Because I'd finally let go.

And once I opened my eyes,

Archer was gone.

[End of short story.]
Please leave lessons learned or theories on what this was about below.