Ennui. XVII

He was a knight. She was the apple loving lady. He was well-built, tall, charismatic and above all, a rising knight. He had served the king directly in an expedition which is the second highest honor, the first being dying for the king.

The apple loving lady was plump, and blushed constantly throughout the day. She looked almost like an apple. She did not live in the village, rather she lived deep into the woods where only the brave can brave.

He had met her in an expedition once and instantly fell in love like she was a hidden pit. He'd come back weekly to meet her and tell her all about his week, his fights, his accomplishments, and his dreams of owning an animal farm.

No one listened to him like she did, mainly because they'd immediately dismissed his dreams of becoming a farmer.

"You can serve the king! They always say that. But I don't want too, you know?"

"Well you can definitely serve the king, a most honorable accomplishment. Why not?" she enquired.

"It's mostly because… I'm tired of serving others. Even the king."

Had anyone else, or God forbid, the King himself, heard him utter those words treason would be induced and the last thing he'd hear is the scraping of metal against polished wood.

"Well then be a farmer then. In the end, no matter what they say or threaten you with, they cannot force you otherwise. Even a king won't bother himself with one of his many other elite knights."

It's the little things that often go unnoticed in a soul mate that you only start to realize when they're no longer here. How they listen, how they give advice, how they care as much as you about your own things.

And for someone who'd only experienced it once a week, he'd really appreciate her ears.

One day, a storm appeared. It raged in the sky like a dragon whose sleep is disturbed. It rained down forcefully and the ground soon became a wet mosh that was unwalkable. Lightning stroke each house as if it purposefully targeted the village.

"Get out! Come here!"

The knight escorted each villager from their houses into the village hall – the safest building in the village. He carried women and children as his feet trudged tirelessly through the mud. Each step had gotten more and more excruciating to take.

Only when an hour had passed did he and his knightmates had gotten everyone into the village hall.

"Shit!"

The knight had forgotten about the apple loving lady in the woods. He hadn't registered her as a member in the village and did not think about saving her as well.

He burst through the gigantic doors, much to everyone's surprise, and forced his legs through the deep and thick mud once again, this time with more vigor. Each step he took seeped away at his meagre amounts of energy left, but his journey was mostly fueled by his desire to see his apple loving lady.

He pushed away the flora blocking his path and wiped away the rain inimical to his sight with his muddy hands. The knight darted his eyes hoping to catch even the slightest glimpse, the smallest clue as to where his apple loving lady is.

'Where the fuck are you?'

Frustrated, the knight had almost wanted to give up, until he saw the legs of a lady laying down, protruding out of a bush. Careening towards the bush, his face gradually formed a smile. Finally he had found her, and finally when the storm seemed to be reaching its peak in severity.

He scurried away the leaves and dug his hands in to pull the lady out.

The rain, it stopped.

The lightning and thunder, it stopped.

The sounds, it stopped.

Everything, it seemed to stop.

It seemed to stop when the knight peered through the eyes of his apple loving lady. The white sclera had covered the whole of her eyes. Her hair, it had lost the glowing flair. It did not seem to exude the cheerfulness that she usually had.

Rather, it seemed unmoving, lifeless. A still log in the forest. A prey, still, in fear of the predator in front of them.

His tears began to show. Violently.

If a tree falls down, but no one is around to hear it, does it make noise?

He carried her in his arms and his legs began to wobble back to the village hall.

His mind empty like the houses he passed by.

He pushed the door with his shoulder and entered the village hall where everyone was surprised to see him carry nothing.

It's great to cry in the rain. No one can distinguish the difference between the downpour of the Earth and of man.