Another Force

by D. J. Rockland

  The tree branches caught on the tear and slowly made it worse. Whereas before the tree was helping to support Jacob and gave his fingers some relief, the branches now worked against him. The tearing created a tendency for the tree to flick outward as it righted itself upward, and it pushed Jacob away from the rock ledge. Soon it would be impossible to hang on, due not to strength but to angle.

  Joniver, Beetle, and Dunston all saw it as well. “Hang on!” was the chorus heard from the three above. They slowly pushed the limb over the edge. The idea was to rest its wide base on the rock ledge, while hanging onto the large branch above. They decided they could provide enough stability at top to enable Jacob to grab the limb and pull himself up to the ledge. Joniver planned to shimmy down the limb and pull Jacob up on the ledge if necessary. There was enough room for two.

  The limb came down. Jacob saw its ragged broken edge descending toward him like the teeth of a giant snake after its prey. The branch rested on the ledge as the small tree continued to rip the tear in his jacket. Jacob cursed under his breath at his foolishness in that fight. He had been so proud to have his brother with him. He was so proud of the way Joniver fought. He was proud he was able to give Joniver the kind of instruction that made him a fighter.

  Our work together made me a brother too, Jacob told himself.

  Things were all so clear now, and everything spread out before him. He heard from others how facing a life or death situation brought clarity to a man. He thought he had faced life or death situations; the building with Joniver, training accidents, but they paled in comparison to this.

  Jacob would have been happy to die before. But now, he wanted to live. He wanted to hug his brother’s neck and hug Emily’s neck. He wanted more than anything to live.

  The jacket tore again, and keeping his grip grew more and more difficult. The tree branch pushed him from safety, like a giant hand against his side and chest. Part of him wanted to panic, and he found it a strange and unwelcome sensation. He had always thought of panic as weakness, but now he understood it was normal, like fear.

  The question was what would he do with it. Giving in was not an option.

  They set the pine limb, and the group above held tightly.

  “Only three meters,” Jacob said.

  The positioning of the pine limb, however combined with the pressure of the tree in his side, prevented Jacob from grabbing the bottom branches of the limb. If he let go, the small tree would push him out, and he would not have enough time to get a grip on the limb. His jacket tore more and anxiety rose in him like mercury in a thermometer.

  “It’s not going to work!” he yelled, panting from exhaustion.

  “It will work!” shouted Joniver, as he grabbed the top of the pine branch and set his feet for the descent. Beetle and Dunston both grabbed for him, but he needed them to hang onto the pine limb.

  Another ripping sound came from below. The sweat beaded on Jacob’s face. He grimaced with the throbbing in his shoulders and forearms. He felt his fingers cramp and the tendons in his forearm burned like they were about to snap.

  “Joniver!” Jacob said. “Dude, I’m scared.”

  “Me too. I’m almost there!”

  “No, I’m not afraid to die.” Another small rip sound. “I’m afraid to miss out on being your brother."

  “You will always be my brother.” Joniver shouted back. “Nothing will ever change that.”

  Just as the words left his mouth the last of the jacket threads gave way and the tree sprang upright, pushing Jacob out from the cliff. His left hand came off, but as it did so he was able to use the momentum of the push and swing up, grabbing again for the ledge with his right hand.

  At the same time, the little tree that had been pushing Jacob out, pulled up from its roots a few inches, and caused the ground where the pine limb was resting to move. The limb slipped to the left. Beetle lost his grip and fell back, leaving Dunston alone at the top. Dunston hung on, but the shift caused Joniver to fall toward the ledge.

  Jacob saw the limb fall but he was not able to see Joniver from his angle. He shouted and attempted once more to swing up to help his brother. But his new handhold was less secure, and the small piece of ledge outcropping crumbled under his weight.

  Jacob fell.

  Joniver fell to the ledge on his stomach. He spun and jumped in one motion to the edge in an attempt to catch his falling brother. He heard Jacob scream as he fell, his cry echoing off the rock face walls of the canyon.

  “NO! NO! NO!” Joniver screamed. As he fell, Jacob moved out of view and into the water mist of the river rocks below. There was a slow motion of events, each brother reaching for the other - vainly, helplessly.

  “No…” Joniver choked out in a whisper. “No.” And he didn’t move.

  Time stopped and the world stopped. Joniver felt it again. He wanted it all to just stop.

  He didn’t want to die, but he didn’t want to live. He had seen horrific things in the last few weeks, but nothing compared to what he now witnessed.

  Please let it stop, was all he could think, please stop.

  Joniver hung there on the ledge, left arm reaching over, hoping to catch a brother who had been elusive all his life. At last he saw what was important, and now he saw it slip from him.

  A gentle breeze blew and pushed the dirt from the roots of the little tree into Joniver’s face. His eyes turned to look at the little tree.

  Above, Dunston bent over, hands on his knees, agonizing over what remained of a worst case scenario. This kind of thing was not supposed to happen. This kind of senseless death was what they were trying to prevent, wasn’t it?

  The Angriff arrived with a winch and two rope harnesses. They set up and lowered Dunston onto the ledge with Joniver. Dunston kicked several times at the tree until it fell from its perch. The pine limb lay motionless against the cliff face.

  “Come on,” Dunston said to Joniver. “I’ll help you get back up.”

  He wrapped the rope harness around Joniver’s shoulders and under his arms, fitting each of his legs into the designated loops. In slow and measured strokes, they heaved him upwards and away.

  Joniver hung limp like a dead man, his eyes fixed and unmoving, staring at the river below. His left hand continued to reach out and downward.

  The Angriff pulled Joniver to the top of the cliff and moved him away from the edge, leaning him in a sitting position against a small earth mound in front of a large rock formation. The medic looked him over and found nothing seriously wrong. He disinfected and bandaged a few cuts and scrapes. Joniver never moved. He sat motionless, his eyes stared forward.

  Suddenly Joniver’s head jerked up and to the right. He caught a familiar scent. Yes, he smelled lilacs! He looked to the right and left and back to the right again, then he saw her. There she was, the most wonderful sight he had ever seen or ever would see. As she ran toward him, he pushed up with his palms on the rock behind him and rose to his feet. Her hair was matted with dried blood and mud. Her arms and face were caked in dirt, her tears cutting out chaotic paths down her still soft, beautiful cheeks. She embraced him, and as soon as she did so, his sobs flowed uncontrollably.

  Joniver clutched her tightly with his left arm and pounded the rock behind him with his right fist. He sobbed and pounded harder and harder and harder, ignorant of the damage he was doing to his hand. The rock face cut the flesh of his hand so that it bled like raw meat, but he pounded anyway. Emily reached her left arm out and pulled his arm around her. They continued to weep, as the blood from Joniver’s hand dripped down the back of Emily’s khaki shirt and, finding her pants, bright red streams accentuated the contours of her pants and upper thighs.

  They remained in one another’s grasp for a long time.

  ***

  Emily and Joniver walked away from the cliff, arms wound among the other’s. An adjustment awaited them, and they looked forward to the start of a new life in a new world together.

  They remained hand in hand as they wa
lked.

  “I will always love you and I’ll never leave you again…ever.” Joniver gazed into Emily’s big, beautiful eyes. They were eyes he needed now more than ever.

  Emily beamed up at him, and she felt her heart might burst. “And I will always love you…”

  Her face is radiant, Joniver thought. Emily was so beautiful that her presence was like a waterfall rolling through him.

  “I love you more than life…”

  They kissed.

  ***

  Olinar limped up the hallway, unsure on his cane. His muscles had strengthened and he was adapting to a right leg rendered functionally useless. The effects of torture and the donor tank would last a lifetime - his lifetime. The left side of his face drooped with paralysis, and the doctors concluded there was little they could do, given the extent of the nerve damage.

  He looked up and saw her. He stopped, dropping his cane and trying to balance himself as he held both hands over his face. He wept uncontrollably.

  Genevieve caught sight of him. She was waiting - waiting for days, for weeks, for what seemed like years, and here he was. She sprinted toward him with her entire being, her strawberry blond hair flowing behind her like the mane of a wild horse, glinting red highlights as she ran. Her tears fell like rain drops from her eyes. Eyes that looked like emeralds in settings of porcelain against her skin.

  She rushed to the man she loved and would always love, no matter the circumstances. Genevieve determined to show Olinar that her love had no limits. She did not pity Olinar; she admired him.

  He forgave me! He pulled me from the pit that would have ended my life and loved me for no reason, Genevieve told herself as she ran.

  She had been cruel and heartless and callous, but he was kind. She had given up on herself, but he never did. She tried to walk away from life, but he showed her what it meant to live. Olinar forgave her. She was not sure what happened after someone died, but she knew she would not enjoy it if Olinar did not love her. Olinar saved me, she told herself.

  They embraced like the two long lost lovers they were, intent on not being parted again.

  “Can you…?” Olinar’s eyes asked Genevieve through his tears. “I’m so, so…”

  “Wonderful,” Genevieve pulled his head to her shoulder. “You’re so wonderful…” She put his face in her hands, and pulled him close, kissing his lips and face. “I love you! Thank you for loving me!”

  “I do - I do love you - always,” Olinar sputtered out. “Please forgive me for ev-”

  “Shh…Shh! Nothing to forgive. We will be home soon, and we are together, and that’s all that matters!”

  ‘“Yes, always be together…all that matters.”

  “We’ll always be together and raise our babies and grow old…”

  The End

  Epilogue

  I feel…

  I know you can’t ignore the pulse you feel inside,

  The wave of the world rolls over you like water in the tide.

  You’ll win and lose all along the way, like many gone before,

  You’ll know the truth when you are done - it’s all worth fighting for.

  I feel…

  Joniver

  Joniver picked up a box and emptied the contents by placing the books on various shelves around the room. Emily cleaned the learning stations and verified that the holographic interfaces responded properly. She pulled her hair back in the familiar ponytail.

  She always looked so beautiful, Joniver thought, interrupting his task. She glanced his way and recognized that look in his eye. She momentarily flashed a girlish grin at him then went back to work.

  Their six-year-old twins, Naomi and Jacob played school together on a virtual blackboard designed just for people their size. Joniver grinned at his two children. Naomi was four minutes and twenty-three seconds older than Jacob, and she was her mother made over, just smaller packaging. Naomi spoke to her brother, insisting that she was the teacher because she was older. Little Jacob was not happy about this, but he complied - this time.

  Just like her mother, Joniver thought.

  Jacob had facial features like his dad, but he was much fairer skinned, and he appeared destined to have his uncle’s build, who was his name’s sake. Young Jacob’s crystal blue eyes twinkled, and he had learned to use them to his advantage with his mother. Joniver shook his head and laughed softly.

  Joniver stopped and studied the kids playing and Emily working. He sat down in his desk chair and daydreamed out the window. A window that looked out over a newly rebuilt Centennial Park. Today was one of those beautifully sunny, picturesque days, the kind Joniver had rarely seen but often read about in his books. The sun hung unencumbered by clouds in a crystal blue sky. The scene looked like something out of a fairy tale, he thought.

  Emily glanced at him and recognized his mind drifting. That characteristically goofy smile was plastered all over his face. She knew he was going good places though, and she walked over to him. “You ok?” She ran her fingers gently through his hair and leaned her hip against his shoulder.

  “Yeah...sure.” He slipped his arm behind her.

  “You know,” he said, the far off look still in his eyes, “I would never had chosen my path, and I certainly would not wish the pain of it on anyone. But it is the path that brought me you. It brought me the children. I only did what had to be done, but it all unfolded in a way that gave me everything I really wanted…” He sighed.

  “Then it’s good,” Emily said. She kissed the top of his head.

  “It’s good,” he repeated. “Other forces at work, I guess."

  She smiled at him.

  He said, “If happiness is found in success, then I am a failure, but no one is happier than I am. You love me.”

  They had traveled a long and winding path, Joniver thought as he gazed at Emily. She still had the gorgeous smile and dark, knowing eyes into which he could, and often did, melt. She was loving and giving, and he honestly did not believe he was worthy to be loved by her, much less be her husband.

  Emily smiled, her eyes sparkling with emotion. “Thank you,” she said, hugging his neck. “I really do love you!” Her voice was lyrical. “You big dingle-doofus!” Her hand landed a playful slap on his chest.

  They both chuckled and kissed. Naomi and Jacob played, unconcerned about their surroundings or their parents.

  “We’ll have to tell them,” Emily said.

  “Yes, but not soon,” Joniver said. “They need a childhood. There will be time to tell them.”

  “Not soon, but we will have to.”

  “I know. You’re right, of course, I just wish they could stay kids. I wish we could all stay kids! That’s how the world was meant to be.”

  Emily stood up straight, wiped her eyes and surveyed the room. “I hope you are proud of the school. Everything turned out exactly as you always described it to me, and it is amazing. You’ve done wonderful work here.” She breathed in deeply and propped her hands on her hips. “Think of how the world can change!”

  Just then two young men stuck their heads in the door. They were worn out from what seemed to them an interminably long journey. They had gotten lost and went in the wrong building, and once they found the correct building, they went up four flights of stairs, then down two long hallways. They felt it had been something of an adventure just to get here.

  “Are you the teacher? Is your name Joniver?” the shorter one asked in an excited voice. He knew the answer to his question even before it was asked. His friend elbowed him. They were finally where they needed to be, and both stepped forward to shake their teacher’s hand.

  Joniver rose and walked to meet them. He extended his own hand. “I am, but please, call me Jon.”

 

 

 
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