1 Chapter 1 Page 1 - Akilah

"Life is unfair," Akilah said to herself as she walked through the woods. Her eyes and cheeks gushing red, hair filled with dirt, clothes disheveled and filthy.

'What did she do to deserve this. That bastard! If only I was stronger, she would not have to...She would not have had to suffer like this.' Akilah thought. Her bare feet were filled with bruises and cuts, but she did not care. 'What's the point? What is the point of caring when the only thing I held precious to me is gone' She thought.

"Those evil bastards...I hate them, all of them, especially HIM, the bastard responsible for everything, he ruined everything! If only he had not shown up if only…If only he had not laid his eyes on her...Then maybe she would still be alive!"

Akilah was exhausted. Physically she was a wreck but emotionally she had not truly processed everything. Therefore, she had not allowed herself to feel anything other than rage. Because she is afraid that if she let it all out, she would not have been able to complete this final task for her dear friend.

Suddenly her foot hit something hard, she looked down and saw that a sharp rock had cut the side of her foot. She felt a sharp pain from where the rock had cut her.

"What a bother…" Akilah said nonchalantly and bent down. She ripped the bottom of her shirt and wrapped it around her bleeding foot.

"I cannot stop now!" Akilah said out loud "I have to get this done."

After a bit more walking Akilah had finally reached her destination.

"There you guys are" Akilah announced as she reached the meadow of forget-me-not flowers.

"So beautiful," she exclaimed as she looked around and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Akilah bent down to pick up a handful of flowers. She had always loved these special types of forget-me-nots because they reminded her of Adara. Akilah and Adara were childhood friends that grew up as neighbors. They lived simple and honest lives as lone daughters of farmers. Since neither had any other siblings and there were no other neighborhood kids in the area, they became close friends. Although they had a three-year age gap, they had grown close to each other over the years. Their bond became even more closer when both their parents passed away in an unfortunate carriage accident on their way to sell their crops in the market.

After their parent's deaths Akilah and Adara moved away from their neighborhood to live with Akilah's Grandma Imara, far away into the woods. However, misfortune struck again when their grandma passed away due to old age, leaving Akilah and Adara alone yet again.

However, luckily for them their old neighbor Mrs Freya and her husband Cal, had a guest house that they gave them in exchange for help around their farm, since they had both grown quite old and their bodies just could not handle farming labor.

Although Adara and Akilah were only friends, they had some similar features that were considered uncommon in the land that they lived in. Everyone here had various bright colored hair with brown eyes. Whilst Adara and Akilah on the other hand had pitch black hair. However, Akilah and Adara's looks varied greatly when it came to their eye color. Akilah has dark colored eyes while Adara had a unique eye color, a dark blue center blending into a soft white color at the edges. Just like myosotidium hortensia, a rare breed of forget-me-not flowers, which also made them Adara's favorite flowers.

While Akilah was picking flowers a ladybug flying around had landed on one of the flower petals. She waited to see if it would fly away but it did not, almost as if it were keeping her company. Weirdly enough that thought made her feel less lonely 'at least now I have a companion' she thought and looked down at the ladybug with a sad smile on her face.

"They are beautiful flowers, right? Yeah, the type of beauty that just attracts attention...Even a monster's attention"

Akilah sighed, got up and to her surprise the ladybug didn't fly away because of the sudden movement.

"So you are going to stay, huh? Well suit yourself if I talk your ears off," Akilah tilted her head to the side

"Do ladybugs even have ears?" She asked while looking down at the ladybug with confusion. "Oh not much of a talker well that is okay, I'll talk enough for the both of us," she said as she walked back the same path she just came from.

---

"We've finally arrived!" Akilah said to the ladybug still nestled on the flower. She slowly put down the flowers along with the ladybug on the freshly dug soil, as she looked up at the makeshift gravestone.

"I brought you your favorite flowers and look," Akilah said while she pointed at the ladybug "I even made a new friend, now you do not need to worry about me being alone..."

Akilah paused; she could feel the emotions that she had suppressed coming up.

"I just…" she said as a small teardrop trickled down her cheek.

"I-I'm Sorry...I could not protect you. I could not be there for you...I was never there for you first when they took you. And now when they k-killed...I should have tried harder. I-I should have worked harder to get you out of there...I..I.."

Akilah couldn't finish her sentence; she had gotten choked up and was trying her hardest to contain everything. But ultimately, she could not keep it together anymore.

"I'M SO SORRY!!!"

Akilah bawled as she kept hitting her chest as if to ease the pain in her heart, as if the physical pain could suppress and overshadow the emotional pain. But it did not.

Akilah sat there crying and pleading for forgiveness even after she had no tears left to cry, and even after her voice was too hoarse to hear. With Adara's grave finally finished; Akilah could now, for the first time since Adara's passing, truly allow herself to feel everything she had suppressed. Everything burst out all at ones.

Even after the sun had set, Akilah did not move, and by midnight she had completely tired herself out. Akilah was overwhelmed, tired and sleepy. The night had fallen, she could feel the chilly wind against her body. Exhausted both body and mind, she laid there next to Adara's grave and slept through the night.

---

Akilah woke up with the sun shining against her face. Her body ached and her head was throbbing. She attempted to stand up, but her legs failed her. Akilah looked down at her feet and that is when the pain from her wounded feet hit her. The blood had dried but the bruises from walking around barefoot, were now visible. But that did not stop her, she had already wasted a lot of time by falling asleep last night. She could not waste anymore. She had something she was determined to do and nothing was going to stop her, not even if her legs turn into stumps. She forced herself to get up and withstand the pain.

"Adara I promise you; I will never forget and I will never forgive"