Apologies And A New Delivery

She called you an animal. She thinks you're an animal. She's disappointed in you. She is going to hate you forever for trying to kill her. She now sees you as a murderer. Avril is going to leave you forever!!!!

“SHUT UP!!!!” Dakar screamed and overturned the table. Everything went crashing down and since they were mostly clay, they shattered.

“Don't you dare!!! Don't you dare speak to me again!!!” he yelled and snarled his teeth. He had been trying to keep his cool even after what Avril said. Of course, he felt bad. Even worst than he had felt when he clawed her. But he didn't need someone else—something else to repeat it to him.

“Your time is running out! You won't keep me in forever. You won't escape this” the shrill voice rang in his head again.

“Shut up!” Dakar snarled again.

“You don't even know how she is going to break the curse. Pathetic of you. Pathetic” the voice sounded and faded away.

Dakar sat on the floor, breathing loudly. His fur was still standing from all that rage and bitterness against himself, Avril and the voice. The voice that had been haunting him for fifty three years. The guilt he felt few days ago had tripled up and he couldn't help but cower at its influence on him. For the first time in years, he wanted to crouch down by a corner and cry.

***

Avril was sitting on the beach, hugging her legs while the cool waves brushed her feet. Her face was wet with tears and her hair was filled with white sand. She had been crying for long and couldn't go back to the mountain house. She realized what she said was very stupid. Dakar did not deserve that. If it was her who was trapped on an island, alone, for decades; she'd have done anything to be set free. And Dakar had tried to take that risk even though she got hurt in the process. Avril realized that she was supposed to be more supportive to him.

“Hey!”, she heard a voice that was not Dakar's. She raised her head and signed when she saw Knarki, one of their mer-friends.

“Hey”, she said and wiped her tears.

“You have never come to the beach alone. Why are you here?”, he asked. She sighed softly and rubbed her legs.

“I—I just needed some alone time”.

“All right. Give this to Dakar for me”, he stretched forth a polythene bag and Avril collected it.

“He ordered something? What is it?”.

“It's confidential so don't open it. Just hand it to him”.

“Oh...uhm, okay. I will”.

“And, I will like you to know that he cares about you. He wouldn't want to be hurt by someone he cares about.”

“I don't understand”.

“I read minds”.

Avril stared at him silently for some seconds then nodded.

“Thank you”.

Knarki dived back into the ocean and Avril got to her feet. She held the bag tightly and hurried towards the forest. In thirty minutes, she had reached the waterfall. She stood and stared at it, remembering the first time she saw it. She had been so scared that day, thinking Dakar would hurt her. But it was already three months and almost four, but he never hurt her deliberately.

“He would never hurt me willingly”, muttered. Taking further steps, she passed the waterfall and the gardens. It was the season for bananas and the trees were full of yellow and green bananas. She yanked two bunches off one of the trees and carried them homes. When she reached the mountain house, she ran inside and almost fell over all the rubble Dakar created. In fact, she stepped on a sharp broken plate and it injured her.

“Dakar!”, she called out. There was no sign of him and everything was quite still. She walked over the debris gently and got to the other side.

“Dakar! Come out!!!”, she yelled and picked one leg of the already broken table. She began to hit it on the walls and yell his name.

“I know you can hear me! Where are you?”, she screamed but they was still no sign of him. However, Avril knew how to draw him out. She walked to the broken table and plates then sighed. She grabbed a broken piece, closed her eyes and dragged the sharp edge over her shoulder. She screamed in pain and dropped the piece of hard clay immediately. Blood seeped out of her new wound and she immediately regretted piercing herself. She sat on the floor, held her arm and was screaming in sincere pain.

Dakar snuck out from his room after hearing her scream and perceiving lots of blood. He saw her on the floor screaming and sighed.

“I know that wasn't an Accident, Avril. Why did you hurt yourself?”, he asked.

“Because I know you won't stay put when you know I got hurt”.

“You already have an injury that got you sick, and you're still giving yourself another? On that same hand?”.

“If you had just come out, I wouldn't have hurt myself”.

Dakar sighed and walked to her side.

“Let me see that”, he said and lowered his head to look at her shoulder.

“It's not deep. I can fix that”, he stated and turned to go to his room.

“Dakar, what happened here?”, Avril asked and he stopped walking. He looked around and purred.

“I'm sorry. I lost a little bit of control and overturned the table”, he answered without looking back at her.

“I'm sorry”, Avril mumbled. He turned and raised a brow at her.

“For what?”, he asked. “Because of the mess I made?”, he added.

“That is a part of it. You would not have done that if I hadn't hurt you”.

“Hurt me? No, Avril. You're the one who was hurt.”

“No. I overreacted. I'm sorry about what I said. You're not an animal, Dakar. You might be trapped in that body but you're not it. You're not a monster. I'm sorry for making you feel guilty. I'm—”, she sniffed as sobs choked her voice. “I'm really—I'm really sorry, Dakar. I'm so ungrateful. You housed me and cared for me like no one has ever done and yet I criticize you over a little mistake. I'm such an ingrate!”, she spilled and broke down in tears. She knelt on the floor and cried. Dakar didn't move, but he felt something clawing against his chest, struggling to break free. He braced himself up and called her name. He couldn't go close to her for reasons best known to him.

“Avril”.

She sniffed and looked at him. He grinned at her. “I deserved what you told me, okay. But since you're sorry, I guess you might want to prove that”.

“How can I prove it?”, she asked and got on her feet.

“By helping me to husk and shred cocunuts, so we can make —”.

“Ahhh! My arm! Ouch, it's stinging me! I think I got germs on it”, she sat on a rock sofa and clutched her arm, blowing air on her shoulder.

Dakar rolled his eyes and walked to her, “Why do I suspect that this germs arrived immediately I talked about husking cocunuts?”, he asked her.

“You cannot prove that I don't want to work”, she glared.

“But, I didn't even say you didn't want to work”.

Avril turned pink and looked away from him.

“Guilty conscience”. They laughed.

“I will go and get something to treat your shoulder”. He left for his room. That was when Avril remembered the package Knarki delivered. When Dakar came back, she pointed it to him and he took it aside. After treating and covering her wound with a bandaid, he made her eat some of the bananas she brought while he got rid of the broken table and pieces of plates and cups.

Avril peeped in at the bag to see what it was Dakar had ordered. She saw a long and narrow box with some other boxes, smaller but wider. Dakar arrived at the moment and she looked up at him.

“What's the package?”, she asked with furrowed brows.

“Oh, there are a little something for you. Not your regular kind of presents, though”.

Avril crouched down by the bag and pulled out all the boxes. She laid them on the floor and stared at them.

”Open them. Come on”, Dakar cheered and she picked up the narrow box first. She tore the tape and opened it. The light in the room reflected against a shiny metal and when she pulled it open completely, she was surprised to see two swords.

“Swords?”, she asked.

“Open up the rest”.

She opened all the other boxes and each contained a weapon. Not modern day weapons like guns but medieval times.

“What in the world are these?”, Avril asked.

“Weapons”, Dakar answered.

“I know they're weapons, Dakar. I mean, why get me them?”.

“Because, as soon as you get better; I'll be teaching you to fight like an Amazonian warrior.”

“Why? Is there some sort of war coming?”.

“You never know”.