Opalina (prime)/Vignette: Echoes of Redemption
Title: Echoes of Redemption
Author: Opalina Jalcon
Echoes of Redemption
Under an auroral sky, Opalina stood in the pasture, tracing an old scar on her thumb as her thoughts wandered to the past, each memory leaving a weight on her shoulders. The voices of unseen figures echoed around her, relentless and accusing. “Do you really think helping will absolve you?” they whispered, the words brushing her like a chill breeze. A shadow of doubt flickered, but she dismissed it with a quiet murmur, her gaze drifting to the rusty steel trough nearby. “Even if it doesn’t help fully,” she said, her voice a soft vow, “I have to try.”
But the spirits remained unyielding, their whispers like a dozen voices hissing in unison. “It won’t bring us back!” they taunted, their bitterness lingering in the air like fog rolling in from the nearby forest.
Opalina’s gaze fell to the crystalline stream as if hoping to find solace in its quiet flow. She knew the truth of their words; no action could undo what had happened. “No, it won’t,” she agreed in a soft breath, acknowledging their grief as much as her own.
Then, like phantoms caught on the edge of her vision, two ghostly heads flitted by, drifting out of reach before she could truly see them. She turned her head quickly, seeking them out, but they danced just beyond her sight. “He said I was saving you,” she whispered, trying to reassure both them and herself, her eyes following the restless shadows darting at the edges of her view.
As the voices faded, a small pearl-white lizard bobbed its head at her, sensing something beyond the physical world. She absently patted it, her mind still clouded with unanswered questions and a resolve to bring some measure of peace to the restless spirits. Finally, she sighed, the weight of the past heavy on her shoulders, but her determination unwavering.