Finding Atlas

Nox cawed “fly” and flew off Aurora's shoulder. Startled she tripped over her hastily tied bootlace and fell straight forward into the wet grass, the acorns she was holding flying in all directions. She landed on her stomach and arms, now completely drenched. “Shit.” As she pushed herself up she spotted something white down on the beach, only barely over the tree line. Aurora had been walking down the pathway heading back to her village from wandering in the forest. She'd intended to bring the nuts back home to roast, plans for another day now. There were trees blocking her view but she could just see the tip of a white sail.

“That's strange,” she thought, “I don't remember there being any water expeditions setting off today.” Aurora knew that if she told her father, rather than investigate herself, he wouldn't allow her to go back to the beach with the elders to see, so she brushed herself off and started the long walk down the weathered stone pathway.

Nimbly jumping down the steps, she was careful not to make too much noise. The thicket through the trees was dense, it took Aurora several minutes to get through. Fallen trees covered with slippery moss blocked her path, their skeleton trunks reaching towards her. Aurora had always had a feeling of being watched in this forest near the ocean. The trees felt as if they stared at her in silent screams. Shaking off her own dark thoughts she finally reached the edge of the forest; staying within the shadows, she peeked over one of the rocks on the tree line of the beach.

What she saw took her breath away. The sails she saw from a distance were attached to a severely damaged and beautiful ocean vessel. It was a piece of artwork. The wooden bow was carved into geometric shapes and flowers and beautiful deities, the wood was dark but practically glowed. She surmised it could carry a crew of twenty. The sail had been torn and re-patched several times, on its last legs of whatever journey it had taken. Aurora had never seen anything like this, excited and nervous she pulled her machete out of the harness and discreetly stepped out of the foliage. On her way towards the boat she took in the crash of the waves, they were a deafening roar today – a storm was rolling in. As she crossed the beach she took her eyes from the hypnotic artwork of the boat and was distracted by the near blackness of the clouds growing on the horizon. The clouds flexed, they were daring her to turn back and run from the glorious wooden ship. Maybe to lead her away from the nightmares that had chased it to her beach. This realization stopped Aurora briefly,

“Nightmares,” she licked her lips but realized her mouth had gone dry. Her mind began to race, “Ma always said listen to your gut.” Aurora paused to breath in the stormy sea air. Something stirred in the pit of her bowels. “No matter how beautiful, something evil has encroached upon this vessel.” She weighed the options briefly then decided to move on, knowing that whatever it was she didn't think the vessel had brought the evil, but had escaped it. Catching her dark thoughts again she shook her head.

As she approached the boat she stopped to admire the woodcarvings close up; intricate, precise, beautiful swirling patterns and twisting knots. Aurora paused again at the bow and looked up at the deity carved there, wearing a crown of a geometric pattern that she often saw in Dr. Conrad's ancient books, she couldn't place the symbol but would make a note to look once she visited him again. The deity stared down at Aurora with a silent, knowing smile, the goddess was completely nude wrapped in intricate wooden foliage and animals all merging with her as she merged into them. She raised her hand and ran her fingers along the carvings. Aurora froze when from the depths of the boat she heard a terrible gargling. Hesitating on moving forward or running, she listened as the gargling turned into a coughing then a pained moan. Jumping quickly, she climbed up the side lowest to the ground and began scanning the wreckage trying to find the subject of the eerie sound. The deck of the ship was a mess of debris, chunks of the boat appeared as if they were bitten off and strewn about. Aurora noted how strange of a wreckage it was.

“Hello? Show yourself, I can help you!” She attempted to move debris when out of the corner of her eye a hand poked out from under a piece of the torn sail. Rushing over she moved the ruins to find the most tragic man she had ever seen. He looked about her age, with thick auburn hair that was matted from the sea water, his dark olive skin dry and cracked from sun exposure, his lips scabbed with blood. He looked gaunt and thin, making his chiseled features more pronounced. Aurora pulled her canteen off of her belt and rushed to him placing her hand under his head to guide onto her lap. Carefully she used a clothe to wash off his face and tipped the canteen to his lips. He was stirring but not quite awake. Aurora knew it was unlikely he'd be able to make the climb up the steep path to town. She knew he was too large for her to carry herself, and she didn't want to leave him in the boat with the storm coming in. At that very thought she heard the growl of distant thunder. Immediately she was frantic. She regretted letting Nox fly off, she could have her get the message to Pops. The wind was starting to pick up, the waves crashed as the tide rolled in.

“If the tide rolls in deeper it'll pull us back into the ocean,” Aurora thought. When she had walked up to the boat she hadn’t made note of any anchor. The sailor wasn’t coherent, she presumed that he had been washed to shore, pushed in by the pending storm. Lucky, given the state of the man she now had in her arms. Taking in the wreckage again she couldn’t fathom how the boat had made it to shore in the state it was in.

“Looks like the universe has some work for you, no one else comes into the forest on this day,” she whispered to herself. “I'm the only person that goes into the forest on this day.” Looking around her shoulder, she saw the first crack of lightening on the horizon. The thunder was distant, but the storm was moving fast now. Placing the stranger's head down onto the cloth she stood back up and began scanning anywhere for movement in hopes someone from the town could see. “What am I kidding, if anyone else had seen the boat I wouldn't be the only person here, and I guarantee they can see there's a storm coming in. Of course I'd be the only dingbat in town to go roaming in the forest when its rain season.” This last thought caused a nervous laugh to escape her mouth, reminding her more of Pierre the cat trying to pass a hairball. Though she didn’t actually find this situation exceptionally comical.

She jumped when she heard the flutter of wings to her left, whipping around to meet Nox sitting on a broken trunk staring at her with her head cocked and raven feathers flickering in the wind.

“Nox! Please get someone from the village, we need help! Quick! the storm is coming and I can't carry him on my own!” Nox hopped around, jumped onto the man's chest then looked from him to Aurora, ruffling her feathers, she made her normal coo of goodbye and flew off; with one last sweep she looped around again and flashed by Aurora. Slightly relieved Aurora sat back down and placed the man's head back on her lap. Holding his head between her hands she began to hum a familiar tune, staring at him, she was still a little in shock. No one from outside the islands has come since Dr. Conrad arrived when Aurora was six, almost 14 springs ago. Aurora knew there had to be other people left on Earth, but there was almost no contact with her village being so remote. She only knew from the stories from the elders, of their own travels and of the ancestors. Of course there was also the stories in Dr. Conrad's books that everyone in town adored so much. Aurora, still humming, lost herself in these thoughts.

The man began to stir in Aurora's lap, she froze as his eyes fluttered open. At first he just stared at her, his eyes a dark green or brown, almost black. Aurora placed the cool cloth on his forehead,

“Don't worry help is coming, you're safe.” The man's eyes were not focused, just blinking, staring at her – actually, through her. This continued, his staring and her humming, the wind howling endlessly. She was searching his eyes, blank and distant, to see a flicker of understanding. He began to blink and try to look around. Quite abruptly his eyes filled with tears as a pained moan escaped his throat.

“Have I finally died?” The stranger’s raspy voice was hardly above a whisper. Aurora felt that sense of dread building up, starting just above her navel and going all the way up her esophagus to linger on the very edge of her tongue at the back of her throat, gagging her. Meeting his gaze she slowly shook her head. She licked her lips again and remembered she needed water. But before she could act on this need her attention was drawn back to the shipwrecked sailor, he was sobbing now and growing more hysterical by the second. Alarmed Aurora moved to console him but he frantically moved out of her embrace, sat up, and let out an animalistic scream that made Aurora's blood run cold. She jumped up as he turned towards her, still kneeling he grabbed at her as he continued screaming that horrible scream. He pulled at her jacket, causing Aurora to lose balance and when she faltered he reached for the neck of her coat. Pulling her face close to his, “THEY”RE ALL GONE!,” he cried sobbing and clinging to Aurora. It was raining now, Aurora couldn't move from the man's grip, he was hysterical and terrified. She felt sick when she gazed into his eyes, like he wasn't seeing her but some unimaginable horror, she felt the hairs on her arms and neck raising. “GONE GONE GONE!” The electricity in the air was buzzing, tingling through her body. His eyes were wild, searching but not focusing. He was grabbing at her with his one hand and reaching blindly with the other, sobbing and shrieking. With a violent lurch and another piercing wail he let go of her coat leaving her to wiggle free, as she moved out of his reach she raised the machete up in her defense. The wind whipped Aurora's hair, bewildered and terrified, she backed away from him. She never had to defend herself from someone before, but a carnal knowledge was oozing into her consciousness and she felt her heart quicken and body tense. Lightening flashed illuminating his haunted face, with the crack of thunder their eyes met, and as suddenly as the screaming started it stopped. She looked down at the stranger, who had remained kneeling, staring at her. Aurora could tell what had overcome him had passed, watching his eyes gain focus. They stood this way, eyes locked, for what felt like an eternity. Aurora still holding her machete ready, but not with much commitment, she didn't think she needed to.

After several moments of silence Aurora knelt down to level with the stranger and moved her hands out in front of her, open, “I'm Aurora,” she held her hand out tentatively towards his. Although he spoke her language he carried a different inflection than she, and she wondered if he fully understood her. The man stared at Aurora's outreached hands but he didn't take them. When she started to falter and shift her hand away he turned his intense gaze to Aurora's eyes, his still full of tears, he whispered in a cracked gravelly voice “I'm Atlas.” Aurora realized how tired and defeated he sounded, she handed him her canteen of water which he took wearily and slowly started to drink from.

“NOX!” Shreiked Nox as she landed on Aurora's shoulder. This surprised her only mildly; Atlas on the other hand lurched and he flung himself backwards away from Aurora and Nox. Pointing at Nox, Atlas began to shake and cry “D-dd-dd-...” he stammered with his eyes locked on Nox, who only stared back with indifference.

“Atlas its okay its just Nox, she's here to help!” Aurora called to Atlas but it was no use as he began to sob, “W-Who are you? Is this where I come to die?” Frantically, Atlas attempted to stand but his weak legs gave out and he fell down screaming and crawling to the edge of the boat. The tide had risen enough that the boat started to rock with the waves, Aurora knew if he tried to jump out he'd hurt himself more, or even get pulled out into the deeper waters. She leapt after him, Nox flew from her shoulder and cawed loudly “Over here.” Trying to hold onto Atlas and calm him wasn't an easy task, he was convinced she and Nox were death come to take him. Atlas couldn't stop staring at Nox in horror, tears streaming down his face. Again, Aurora felt hopeless. She was overwhelmed to witness the fear and sadness emanating from Atlas as he cried in horror. The rain had finally started, cold and heavy, both she and Atlas were already soaked from head to toe. A shiver wracked Aurora's body when --

“Aurora!” Her father's booming voice called out from the distance. Aurora felt a flash of relief,

“Pa! On the boat help us!” Aurora hadn't even finished her sentence when she saw her father and two of the other elders of the town, Julian Miles and Ezra McWittaker, jump onto the boat. This only terrified Atlas more, who's blood curdling screams were endless. Atlas wailed “Please stop I don't want to do this anymore please leave me alone!' Burying his head in his cracked and bleeding hands he doubled over onto the floor again. Hyperventilating, his dark eyes searched between everyone, gazing through each of them but not understanding what he was seeing. Atlas's lips were now bleeding, they had cracked back open when he had began to scream, blood was streaming down his chin, the thick drops staining his torn shirt. Aurora watched the blood spread, frozen, mesmerized by the strange beauty and horror of the man before her. Pa and the elders moved towards him slowly, surrounding Atlas, speaking calming words.

Pa knelt next to Atlas and reached both his hands, palms up, for him to take,

“Son, we aren't here to hurt you. Whatever nightmares you've endured have come to an end. We can help, let us take you to the village where you can rest and eat.” Atlas stilled, but still flinched from any sudden movement in his peripherals; His eyes darting between the rescue party, Aurora, and Nox. He looked back at Pa mistrusting. Pa spoke in his typical even voice, “My name is Victor, my daughter Aurora is who found you. Let us help you.” Atlas wiped his face, still shaking, Atlas's gaze turned back to Aurora, searching for something she didn't know. He nodded, Pa and Julian helped Atlas up to his feet and carried him off the boat. Aurora and Ezra carried the trunk. With Nox leading the way they all headed back towards the village, drenched, confused, and with a dark cloud overhead that had nothing to do with the weather. Aurora couldn't get the wild, dreadful, look of Atlas's eyes out of her mind. What had happened to Atlas? Where is he from? What terrified him so?