Innocent Tears from Him

The details of the nightmare were no longer vivid in Alexa's memory. They became vague, and so were Alexa's thoughts concerning them. So then, it was in the afternoon the next day that she no longer thought about the murder, the victim, and the stiletto. She had gotten a new assignment from her Introduction to College Writing I class, and she was in a good enough mood to start working on her paper immediately.

~*~

The 'clink' of coins in the hat notified Seth that he and his violin were doing well. Seth was pleased. He remembered the time when he had gotten his violin and violin lessons from a friendly neighbor. He marveled at how motherly the wife was to him, always giving him something to eat as he left their house. And his teacher, who had gotten a new violin, saw the young Seth adoring the violin, and allowed him his old one. Seth was thrilled, and fell immediately in love with the instrument the first time he drew the bow across the strings. He remembered how delicious the brownies or cookies were after lessons, and the tutoring lessons the wife gave him when he needed help with his homework.

Speaking of being helped with homework, whatever happened to his mother, who should have been the one tutoring him instead? Seth couldn't remember. He paused the bow and lifted it from the strings and tried to concentrate on remembering who his mother was. But the more he tried, the more of a headache he got.

In the midst of his headache Seth decided to take his hat, filled with change, and his violin, both of which he headed home with. But the more he tried to remember what became of his mother, the more his head hurt and the slower he walked. He remembered his mother caring for him, if not a bit stiffly. But all of his memories were vague. And finally, the ache in his head became too much.

He then decided that it wasn't worth wanting to remember that badly in order to attain such a headache. It's about the future, right? Seth asked into the darkness that he found only behind his closed eyes. But no matter how he tried to forget about trying to remember, the pain continued to increase and multiply itself in his head like a virus that spreads despite efforts to contain it. The ache became blindingly painful and, without realizing it, Seth lost his mind. Literally. Another mind had pushed his out of the way.

And it was right then that his eyes changed color. He stood for a moment and looked around, as if he were lost. "...Mommy?" he asked in a small, tiny and fearful voice. "Where are you?..."

Seeing no sight of his mother, the man-turned-boy began to frantically look around. "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy!" He cried out.

The seeming child whirled around and around, trying to take in the environment all at once and hoping for any chance of spotting his mother, but to no avail. The "boy" suddenly began to panic, and took off in a direction, any direction, to find his mother. Where's my mommy! the boy was literally screaming in his head. Tears began welling up in his innocent blue-gray eyes and started pouring, a sight to see in the open public. No self-respecting man would cry so profusely as he. At least not for a man who appeared to be in his early twenties. But to the boy inside, he was not twenty three years old. He was much, much younger. This boy, who liked to call himself Apheteon but constantly mispronounced it, did not remember ever going through college, or high school, or even middle school. To the boy, he was still in second grade. Apheteon, that is.

Apheteon continued running in the same direction, hoping that if he ran long enough he would be able to intercept his mother somehow. But soon enough his body sent him signals that it was tired--like any body would if one sprinted for too long without a break with oxygen, hence the term 'anaerobic exercise.' Apheteon, being as childish as characteristic of a seven year old (as he thought himself to be, anyhow), ignored the signals and continued running at the same pace. To Apheteon, the more he ran and the more ground he covered, the more he knew about where his mother was and how much closer she became at the sound of his own footsteps. Unfortunately for Apheteon, Seth's body had its limits as well. But Apheteon was not aware of anything as he continued on in his desperate search for the lost mom.

Luckily, he was heading someplace familiar.

~*~

Alexa took a break from researching and writing her paper, deciding to take a breath of fresh air before continuing. She looked out the window. The sky was a deep cerulean blue, the clouds were floating by in their achievement of antigravitational technology, and the sun was shining brightly. The emerald green of the grass brought a certain serenity and harmony with the sky; the autumnal trees, likewise. The trees appeared to have conspired in their plot to paint a wondrous collage full of rustic reds, oranges, and golds, complimented with a dry hot chocolate brown. What delicious colors. The whole ambience was so inviting to her. So Alexa rushed outside. She felt the cool breeze against her cheeks and the crisp wind caressing her long hair, a solid that made fluid-like properties as it flew in the breeze and floated above the ground. Alexa stretched out her arms and opened herself to the blowing of the season and the raining of the leaves around her as she stood beneath the maple tree. Alexa enveloped herself in the crisp temperature, her hair still flying freely, her lips still pursed against the invisible element. She felt happy and refreshed. She felt that she could simply lift her feet off the ground and float like a bubble, or maybe even soar into the endless sky as freely and majestically as the bird of prey with the illustrious feathers.

Until she heard a faint sobbing. She could faintly hear the sound of crying, but reasoned that it was simply a figment of her imagination. It wasn't until Alexa heard the sob again that she decided that someone really was crying at the time.

Alexa came back from her reverie and tentatively walked in the direction that she heard and thought the crying was coming from. She stopped, and looked around. She saw nothing but buildings and trees. She turned slowly, scanning the area. She had nearly scanned approximately two hundred ninety degrees before she noticed something black was sticking out behind a wide tree, which was tall, broad and sturdy. Alexa took a few steps, then thought that it might be rude to intrude on a stranger's crying session. But then again, she realized, it was a boy that was crying. Perhaps the boy is lost? she wondered. Well, there was only one way to find out. Alexa willfully went to the tree.

And when she reached the tree, she was surprised that not a boy, but a full grown man was sitting there, crying. And he had messy hair, too. The man sensed that Alexa was there and looked up. Alexa yelped. "Seth!" But it couldn't have been Seth. He had gray eyes, didn't he? Well, there was a hint of blue...Indeed, Alexa was not looking at a pair of blue or gray eyes, but his eyes could considerably be called blue-gray, despite the ambiguity of his eye color.

The man gave a sigh, even while his body was still shaking. But no matter how un-Sethlike this man was, he still reminded her of Seth. So she tried his name again. "Seth?"

The man sighed again. "I don't want to be called Seth. I like 'Aferton' better."

"Aferton?"

"I read somewhere," the man said in a childishly important tone,"that it was a Greek word."

Then it dawned on Alexa. "Ohhh...you mean 'apheteon'?"

"Yes." The man with reddened eyes placed his head down and proceeded to cry again.

Alexa speeded up her next words. "Wait a moment...why are you crying?"

Apheteon, between sobs, said, "I can't find my mommy anywhere."

Alexa was surprised. "But you look to be in the early twenties! Why would you look for your mother now?"

Apheteon replied with a straight face. "I want to say 'hi' to her again."

"Again? What do you mean by 'again'?"

The boy-in-a-man cried again after responding. "Because Mommy's buried underneath lots of dirt and a stone, but I can't find her!"

Alexa stared. "Your mother died?"

Apheteon nodded. "We took her to the cemetary and left her there, but she never came back. So I want to see her again." Two seconds passed before Apheteon spoke again. "You know, you look just like my mother," Apheteon commented. Alexa stared even more. Then Alexa had an idea.

"What if I drove you to the cemetary?"

Apheteon brightened considerably. "Could you really do that for me?" She nodded. "Oh, thank you very much, ma'am!"

"Just call me Alexa."

"Okay...Alexa."

It was then that Alexa noticed that Apheteon, or Seth, also carried a violin and bow behind the emigrating back. She decided to hold them until they got to the graveyard.

And boy, what a fun time she and Apheteon (or Seth, as otherwise named) had in the cemetary.

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