Duality: Harmony

Part 3

The two girls moved from one setting to the next as realities bled into one another. Where places had once been compartmentalized, they formed a Frankenstein construction where settings became rooms that adjoined distant places.

Harmony’s finger tapped incessantly against her bicep as she stood with her arms crossed. She replayed thoughts of Grace’s feigned ignorance as they both listened to the sound of Daniel’s assigned ringtone filtering in through a hole in the wall.

Grace bent over and looked through as the two stood in a darkened tunnel. The ambiance beyond was tinted fall’s orange and spilled onto Grace’s green iris. “It’s just some girl on a swing,” Grace said.

Harmony’s finger stopped. The repeated act had been misqueming, but this last remark was a crescendo. “Just some random girl?” she asked.

“Yep,” Grace replied. “She’s on a hilltop swing. And the sun is setting.”

Harmony raised her fists, then slammed them down to her sides as she thrust her foot forward, her kick driving into the back of Grace, whose face parted the wall like a breakaway banner.

With pinwheeling arms and a tumbling form, Grace boldly declared that she wasn’t named after falling. She careened across the grass, rolled to a stop, then pointed her aggrieved expression in the wrong direction. Her scowl evaporated when she turned and found Harmony stomping towards her.

“Just a random girl?” Harmony asked, her fist shaking at her sides. “Wearing your painted sweatshirt and leggings? Holding a phone that your fiancée is calling? Just a random girl?”

Grace raised her forearm as a guard from attacks and a barrier to keep their eyes from meeting.

The wordless space filled with the sound of Harmony’s flaring nostrils and the ringing phone held by a girl in the nearby tree-swing. Orange and yellow leaves broke away from the branches and tumbled past as Harmony’s eyes attempted to set Grace on fire.

“I’m sorry,” Grace managed. “I just---I don’t know what you want.”

Harmony raised her clinched fist, then snapped it out in a gesture to the swing. “How long are you going to keep pretending this elephant doesn’t exist? Damn you, Grace! Not looking doesn’t make it go away. It doesn’t stop. It never stops.”

Grace’s gaze started a cold war, her fear shifting into resistance as she locked eyes with Harmony. It had to come to an end though, and they both knew it. Grief seeped in when her resistance cracked.

She turned to the swing, then became the girl looking at her phone. Her reflection fled as the phone lit and rang anew. The caller ID displayed an image of Daniel hugging Grace where their smiles shone brightly.

“Hey, Danny,” she greeted, sorrow in her voice.

Harmony exhaled. I know it sucks, but you can’t grow while avoiding this. Her shoulders sagged as she moved and sat on the opposite side of the tree. She looked to the sunset and listened while the call ran its course.

“What’s got you so upset?” Daniel asked.

“It’s nothing,” Grace sobbed. “I don’t want you worried.”

“And you crying without explanation isn’t a cause for worry? Tell me what happened. I won’t let it distract me.”

“You promise?” Grace asked.

“I promise,” he replied.

“I had some tests done. They told me. They said... it’s in my stomach and progressed too far.”

“What has?”

“...cancer.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Daniel.”

“You lose me?”

“Yeah... what will happen to us?”

You know I’m no good at these things. But I think I’ll be on the right.”

“What?”

“The groom. Aren’t we on the right?”

“But didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Yes? But unless it means we switch sides, those things aren’t related.”

She sobs. “Why are you like this?”

“Again, I’m not the best here, but I think it goes ‘in sickness and in health.’”

“But that doesn’t count yet.”

“Sure it does. We’re just in the Grace-period.”

“...”

“It’s fine, Grace. This doesn’t change anything between us, and I’ll return as soon as this tour’s up.”

“I wish I was stronger... like you.”

Harmony’s attention shifted as a leaf fell into her lap. It’s a lie, Grace. You’re the only one capable of strength here. You both know you’re already on the train there’s no getting off of. You still have a task left undone which is something you should have been working ages ago.

Once you disappear beyond the horizon, his compass goes too so leave him something to find his way. Be strong. Build a lighthouse out of that strength, then mount it atop this train so that it can be seen above the horizon. Because without it, his only course will be to crash into the rock used in the gravestone you leave behind.

Save him, Grace.

WC: 800

I welcome any and all feedback! There's likely some tense shifting in here somewhere, so feel free to point that out! Thank you!

Previously on Duality: Harmony

Part 2

Part 1