The Undoing

“Maya, there isn’t time!” Hayes urged frantically, his eyes darting back and forth, scanning the road behind them. “Maya, you need to let it go!” Maya could hear the panic rising in his voice as Hayes choked out another desperate plea. “Please Maya.”

Maya stopped momentarily to look at Hayes, his back hunched over in the midday sun, trying his best to appear invisible. Only for a moment, she thought of the person he was… back then. Hayes Thomas Adams. Firstborn to Linda and Mark Adams. 6’3” tall, brown hair, brown eyes. Forever her protector, as big brothers tend to be. Successful lawyer, selfless father. Her confidant and friend.

Soon enough, it all came flooding back. The anger. The heartache. Maya began digging through the dirt below her feet again, despite Hayes’ increasingly urgent requests. She couldn’t blame Hayes for wanting to look out for her, but her persistence could not be stifled this time.

“For the love of all things good and holy, Hayes,” Maya gasped, pausing to spit the dirt out of her mouth as she continued digging. “If I can’t find it, then I might as well just turn myself over to the Tharin voluntarily!”

“You wouldn’t!” Hayes wailed as a wave of panic swelled in his strong, brown eyes.

Again, Maya stopped digging to look at Hayes. She pitied what had become of him. The fear never left his eyes anymore. Ever since the Undoing, Hayes was a different man. Joyless, gaunt, and panicked.

“Hayes, I’m sorry” she whispered tenderly as she outstretched her hand towards his. “I’m sorry, but you know that I have to do this.” She held his hand for a moment longer, her dirty knuckles turning white in his grasp.

For a moment, the pair locked eyes, sharing a sliver of peace.

Suddenly, they were jerked back to reality by the screeching of the bellow sirens. “Quickly Maya, they’re coming!” Hayes implored.

Maya dropped back down to her knees in the dirt, desperately searching. “How can it be this hard to find? I told Papa…” her voice trailed off as she shook her head.

The bellow sirens were growing louder, and Hayes could see the Tharin approaching on the horizon. “We need to go now!” he shouted. He grabbed Maya’s shoulders, and began dragging her off the road into a nearby ditch. “No not yet, I found it! I found it!” She screamed, as she clawed frantically at the dirt below.

Maya pulled as hard as she could on the small piece of silver she found in the dirt as Hayes dragged her over the edge. When she landed in the bottom of the ditch, Hayes pulled her close and covered her mouth with his hand. She had the right mind to bite him for it, as she would have done when they were kids, but instead she rubbed the chain in her hands, trying to remove as much of the dirt as she could.

Please be there... Please be there… please be there… Maya prayed.

Above them on the road, Hayes could hear the Tharin: the thundering of hooves, the snarling of their horses, their rallying battle cries. At that moment, Maya was glad that Hayes had so much practice trying to be invisible.

Maya looked down into her hands and felt a wave of relief. She traced over the long silver chain, and soon her fingers found solace in tracing the outline of the pendant. Ever since the Undoing, it had been almost like a compulsion for Maya: tracing her thumb in the heart-shaped pattern of the face of her locket. She held it close to her heart and waited in silence for the Tharin to pass.

When the last of the bellow sirens finally faded in the distance, Hayes eased up his grasp and Maya sank down in the grass.

“I told Papa I would never forget… Family is everything.” Maya uttered softly as she opened her locket.

Inside, her eyes swept over the faces of all the loved ones they had lost in the Undoing. Papa, Mama, Hayes’ dear wife, Kara. And then there were the little ones… Kara and Hayes’ twins, Ainsley and Axel, and even their youngest, Toby. She couldn’t fight the tears any longer, and Hayes pulled her in to a tight embrace.

“Family is everything.”