Page 91 of Us Defiant Few

Takeshi didn’t speak as he pondered her words, like an entire sea of questions lived in his eyes.

Things he wanted to say. Others he didn’t want to acknowledge.

Khalani let him have his silence.

They continued marching and stopped for a short water break. After a few gulps, she went to stand, but Takeshi grabbed her bag strap and pulled her back down.

“You need more rest, Kanes.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, ignoring the aches and pains in her body, but Takeshi wouldn’t take no for an answer. He firmly tugged her strap, and she quickly realized he wasn’t letting her go anywhere.

She tapped her fingers incessantly against the sand, feeling antsy, wanting to get back on the road, but Takeshi leisurely drank, content to sit for a while.

She reached into her bag, pulling out her notebook and pen, flipping through old passages until an empty page revealed itself.

Khalani hesitated with Takeshi’s dangerous presence only a foot away. She’d always written in solitude. But the words soared and banged along the walls of her mind, waiting for her to release them.

I searched for you everywhere

In the darkest places that called to me

In pretty words sailing across the page

In the sky when I first gazed upon it

You must’ve seen the pain in my smile

Heard the screams I never dared shout

Watched me cry when no one was around.

I searched for you everywhere

When the well within me dried up

And my fingers gripped the walls

Looking for some type of reason

For why I was the testament of misery

To what ends faith shall remain

When I’m filled with nothing but doubt.

But there came a day when I turned around

and witnessed the battles in my wake

I thought I’d died a million deaths

But the truth was far more divine

I’d learned to live a million ways

Danced in a garden of hate

Cried when all I felt was love