Amidst a foggy dawn and a perimeter of disarray, lay a boy. The blend of a whimper and howling had successfully pulled him back to the living. With hazy eyes and a state of confusion, he swiveled his head from side to side. He observed his surrounding with the help of his sight.

Two women, wearing the same set of clothes were just a few inches in front of him. The two were still tied to their seats, their body dangling from above, crimson liquid dripped from the tip of their heads down to the ground.

A poor animal, that he had only just seen that very same day was impelled and trapped next to him. A dog, which he did not yet know the name of, was thrashing in pain. Out of pity, he caressed its head. Soon it whined down, a moment of calmness before it met death.

When the confused boy got up, his body ached. Yet he ignored it. His mind was occupied by one thing he felt only matter.

"Charis," he called weakly.

He looked around to find her. He continued to call, up until his voice couldn't come out anymore. But she still didn't appear.

"I find Charis," he spoke under his breath.

It took him some time to crawl out of the car through the broken window. His elbows and knees scraped over the broken glass, leaving a trail of wound. Although oblivious of the meaning of hurt, his body responded accordingly; tears were forcing its way out of his eyes from the pain.

"Charis," he mumbled again.

For a moment he looked towards the wrecked vehicle that he didn't even remember how he got in. It was upside down. Vines were entangled on the wheel's rim.

Then he pushed himself up and hobbled towards the trees. One goal in his mind was his Charis. At the moment his fingers made contact with the bark, his hazel iris turned to green.

Suddenly, something appeared in his mind. It was an indistinct mash of reed forming a beacon. Along with it was hushed whispers he couldn't make out any meaning.

The last time it happened, it had brought him back to her. So he dearly followed the little map without knowing where it would take him.

After what felt to him a thousand steps, a massive house appeared in the distance. The soil slowly turned to gravel under his feet as he got near. When he saw a big yellow moving thing, he quickly hid behind a tree. The machinery was a bus, unknown to his understanding.

The first thing he perceived was a girl, she looked familiar. From the little memory he had, he thought she could bring him back to Charis. So there he went, his frail legs rushed towards her.

At the sight of him coming from the woods, the girl was frightened. He saw her dashing to the door, so his pace quickened. However, his energy was another thing he couldn't control. The moment he stepped on the cement pavement, his world started spinning.

Gathering his last energy, he breathed out the name that he yearned. "Charis." Then his knees buckled, he fell flat to the ground.

The girl turned around to him, slow steps before she started running. "Oh my god, you are Alfie. How did you get here?"

At the last word she spoke, Alfie's world finally faded.

When he regained his consciousness, he was in a foreign place. He blinked, scanning the four walls painted in light pink. His shoulder was patched up and his wounds were already dried. An IV was stuck in his hand, and with it he thought Charis was the one who did it again.

But walked in a girl, her hair was brick red, she smiled at the sight of him sitting on the bed. "Oh, thank goodness you are up. You have been out for a week. I'm beginning to think you won't make it," she tenderly said.

Everything the girl had uttered didn't matter to Alfie. He gazed to the door, hoping his Charis would walk in and be united with him once more.

"What's wrong? You can't talk? My name is Amy by the way," Amy insisted to make conversation.

***

The ignorance from Alfie's behalf went on for a year. He wanted only Charis, because he could still feel her.

Amy and her mother had been teaching him a lot of things. He learnt so much about his own kind. It was easy for them since they have everything; movies, clothes, and many more from their discovery about the past.

Before the span of the year ended, he accidentally eavesdropped on Amy's conversation with her mother.

"I've lost the pregnancy. It's the last viable embryo."

Yet at the time he didn't understand much of the words. It wasn't part of what they had taught to him, nor he so far had self learned.

Following the days after, she was distraught. Weeping and crying through the night was a routine to hear. The cheerful Amy who he came to befriend with was gone.

She fell victim to postpartum depression.

One day she came into his room, her eyes were puffy and her voice was sore. She sat on his bed, her fingers ran gently on his head. "She's gone Alfie, Charis's dead," she claimed.

With it, Alfie believed the news was the caused of Amy's sadness. She wrapped him in her arms as he started sagging.

The universe roared with thunder flashing on the sea of sky, coursing with a year of his longing. "Charis!" He desperately cried.

Hundreds of miles away, a girl who lay inside a closed room was jolted from her sleep. She felt something gone in her heart; the bond was broken apart.

Consequence to the nights Alfie spent with grief, Amy came again to his room. She stripped her clothes in front of him, thus the innocence in him was robbed.

***

It was the first day of what Alfie had learned to be the luteal phase in a female's cycle. To be frank, it was the ovulation phase of a certain female he knew. And as predicted, Amy would visit him. For years, this relationship was becoming toxic, but he stayed thinking he had nothing left to live.

"So do you miss me?" she started.

She never ceased to amaze him on how her attitude easily changed. The simper on her face was so credible, it looked almost genuine. As if she hadn't been lashing and tying him on the bed the last time they met.

"Yes," he said, plastering a smile that turned to disgust instantly the second she shifted her eyes elsewhere.

When she started touching his biceps, he wanted no more than to push her hands away. But her high tech automaton was standing just a few feet from them, and a single strain sign would activate it.

The automaton was discovered from her mother's excavation a year ago. She had remodelled and made it recharge with solar energy.

"Really now?" Amy asked again.

He knew one thing that would convince her more than words. He grabbed her ass and pulled her to him. She landed with a giggle on his lap, clearly amused by the move.

Instantaneously, the automaton turned towards them, it was initiated from the aggression. But Amy quickly raised her hand and it shifted back to its guarding position.

He then kissed her lips, making sure it was on a par with her demand. The act was bitter, too bitter, but he couldn't risk her getting upset.

Frankly, he despised her, and hatred was apart of what he felt for her now. But he had to play along, or anything she thought didn't measure up to her liking, he would be bondage for days.

There were times in the past, he did believe that Amy had loved him. But the woman turned out to keep a lot of secrets.

A female whom she claimed as just a friend had spent several different nights in the house. However, the obvious intimacy between them said otherwise. He had grown so much to understand it now.

Not to mention when he finally knew what he was to her; just a 'thing' she used to have a child. Which until now she never managed to, and probably that was the only reason she still kept him.

And the last straw hit him a few months back when he overheard her talking on the phone.

Do everything in your power to keep Charis in prison. I'll pay you double! Triple! Anything it takes.

His heart was torn to pieces. Sadly, he loved Amy. How could he not after believing Charis was dead and years spent together? But the love was slowly devoured by hatred.

Simply walking out the door wasn't an option after discovering how despicable Amy really was. So he took the alternative way; working out physically and planning his escape for months.

That night, he commenced his mission for freedom. He fled the home he thought had saved him. And after a long 5 years he set foot into the forest again. Every step was accompanied by Charis's beautiful song.

When he touched one of the vines, the universe was opened up to him. The same way he found her before, it became his guide once more.

"Charis, I'm coming for you."

***

You may wonder why this is revealed here instead of a story telling interaction between Charis and Alfie. Well let's say this isn't the full story behind it.

I hope you enjoy.