HELENTIA - ACT I - Part Four: Confrontations

The warm sunrays shrouded Helentia’s vision as he stood silent in the cave's precipice. He stepped out of the entrance and the dark forest evaporated into a lush living garden.

---

Helentia wandered aimlessly through the wooded labyrinth. He stopped when a foul stench wafted past his nose. The hot, stinky, waves distorted the air. He followed the smell of death like a dog, gagging with each step. Over a small hill he found a small lake with a small inlet surrounded by large trees. The smell was unbearable. He dipped his mud crusted toes into the cool glassy lake and watched the dirt particles as they dispersed. A fish leapt out of the water. The sun reflected a rainbow off its elegant scales before it vanished without a splash. Helentia smiled.

“Oh lovely, it’s you.”

Helentia turned his head and saw the two headed wolf from before. The wolf stood in the water looking at him, and then down at the water, and then back at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Excuse you, I live in this forest.” It looked down again.

Helentia stared at the dead head’s eye hanging from the tissue and jerking around with each subtle movement. “Are you going to cut that off?”

The wolf’s nose crinkled. “I was waiting for it to fall off... naturally.”

Helentia continued to stare at it.

“Quit staring... I said quit staring!”

Helentia plugged his nose. “It stinks.”

The wolf looked back at the water’s surface. “I know. It reeks. I haven’t been able to catch a single thing all day. All thanks to you.”

Helentia shook his head in agreement. “That makes sense.”

“Alright boy, what are you doing?”

Helentia shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“No luck finding your brother?”

“I foun-.”

The wolf dived face first into the water and pulled up a mouth full of soggy sticks and stones. “Psh… sorry, you were saying?”

“I found him.”

“And?”

“Fought him... said some things I can’t take back. Now I don’t know what to do. I feel rotten inside... Oh, sorry I didn’t mean it lik-.”

“Hey kid, no need to apologize, okay? I get it. I don’t blame you. I fought with my brother every day. We were connected at birth, forced to be together. I hated him. We used to scour the world searching for a witch with a magic spell to separate us. He used to beg at night when he thought I was asleep that I’d wake up dead, and I’d do the same in the mornings. I was a fool back then. I can’t picture a world without him now... And yet there’s no world with him. Don’t let this little mistake you made turn into two. Go back to your brother and set things right.”

Helentia sighed. “It’s too late.”

“Please... swallow your pride and apologize, I’m sure the little guy won’t hold it against you.”

Helentia grinded his teeth. “You don’t get it; I put my hands on him... again.”

“You killed my twin... Whatever you did to your brother, don’t make it the last time.”

---

Helentia and the wolf stepped out of the lake and sat down at the water’s edge. Both admired the view in silence.

“Do you have a name?”

The wolf snickered. “My brother used to call me stupid.”

“How about Wolfie?”

“You’re joking.”

Wolfie’s ears twitched at the sound of rustling behind one of many large weeping oaks fencing them in. They both jumped up and turned to face the noise. Helentia held his breath. All of a sudden... a small bunny hopped out of the bushes. Helentia approached the fuzzy bunny and bent down to pet it. “You scared me, little guy.”

“Hello, my son.”

Helentia screamed at the top of his lungs. Kieran was standing right behind him. Helentia swung at his father, but Kieran caught his wrist. “Calm thyself.”

The wolf darted off into the woods.

“Let go!”

Kieran raised a hand over his son like he was giving a blessing. “Relax.”

Helentia could feel his heartbeat recess.

“I will not harm you, I promise.”

Helentia pulled his arm out of Kieran’s grasp. “Leave me alone.”

“Please, Helentia, there is much to speak about.”

“No, I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

“Listen!”

Helentia was silent and still. He could not blink, and his ears dripped wax.

“Listen son, I am sorry our reunion couldn’t be under better circumstances. I am sorry for the loss of your mother. You must forgive me. Sometimes, actions are taken without resolve, bystanders can be killed in the pursui-”

“Bystanders?... Murdered! That was Mom, in case you forgot to look down as you were stepping over her mutilated corpse.”

“I have not forgotten!” A great wind circled the two; it joined the surrounding logs and created a dangerous barrier; it grew more aggressive parodying Kieran’s emotion. “...Nor will I... I cared for her deeply... Much deeper than she cared for you.”

Helentia pointed directly at his father. “You let your lackey smear mother’s blood all over our house.”

“Enough!” All the small rocks and twigs, dead leaves and moss-covered sticks; and even a few worms began to rise off the ground as Kieran inhaled. As he breathed out, they rested again, and the storm settled. “All that has conspired today has been ordained as such. Did you love the woman?”

“I accepted the love I was shown. She was there for us when Michael and I were sick, or hungry.”

“You loved her?”

“I tried to... I really did. I could touch her. I could feel her warm smile when she showed it. I felt every slap on my hand, every smack on my head. Every well-deserved belt to my ass and every unwarranted one. She wasn’t pretty with how she loved, but she loved, at least in her own way. I was content. I stopped praying that you’d come back to me. Stopped hoping... stopped wishing you’d come back with all the right reasons for leaving. I grew up... And now. You do come back. But you don’t bring love. You don’t... bring answers. You bring misery. You had robbed me of a real childhood; you left us with nothing. Now you take my nothing too.”

Kieran lowered his head. “I’m sorry I gave you a mother like that. What you lack in affection surely is outweighed in resilience. If you’re asking me to beat you though, I will respectfully decline.”

“How dare you. Now you try to defame her. She wasn’t perfect; she was available. She didn’t deserve death.”

“Death comes for us all, my boy. While we may hope to die old in our beds, the grand scheme plucks us all eventually. Your mother wasn’t long for this world. I am simply here to collect my son before some monster, or some sickness, does.”

“You’re the monster... And you’re sick.”

“You know not of the horrors that plague this world. Now come along; I am not to be trifled with.”

“I will not go with you.”

“Would you prefer a leash like your dog friend?”

“I prefer you die.”

“SILENCE!... Clearly, your mother didn’t teach you respect. Know this, I would sooner gut my wife again than lay a hand on you boy, and my hand twitches with every word from your mouth. Choose your words carefully and I might let you exercise speech.”

Helentia nodded.

“Good... Follow me, we are going.”