The Beautiful Entrapment

Jude

“You did it.”

My jaw drops open with shock. A bead of sweat is gathered on my hairline, slowly making its way to my bushy eyebrows. I can feel my pulse getting slower and slower with relief. My hands are beginning to regain feeling. After all this time, I was starting to lose hope.

Jumbling for words, I bombard her with questions, “How? How did you make it? What took you so long? What happened to your cheek? Are you okay?”

Her cheek had an open slash with blood smeared over the top of her freckles. And yet, I almost didn’t notice because I was gazing into her deep green eyes, forehead to forehead.

She was too out of breath and too speechless to answer my questions. I knew the words would come later. But right now, I can hold her. After so long, I can wrap her in my arms.

As we hug, I feel her heart-shaped locket pressed into my collar bone. I have no idea what she holds inside the necklace. She’s always kept it a secret from me. But I know its importance. And that it must have given her the strength she needed to get through the battle, to get through to me.

I had sort of a good luck charm too. Though I probably didn’t go through nearly as much as Ida, it helped me make it here. To not turn back. My good luck charm is her. Nothing tangible, but nothing else would have gotten me here. The hope of being together in peace has helped me survive these six months of travel and pain.

***

Ida

Squinting through my tear-stained eyes, I make out a figure that resembles Jude. No, not resembles. I know it’s her. I would know it even thirty years from now. Though my eyes can’t see it yet, my gut tells me so.

That we made it...both of us.

The overwhelming feeling of relief makes me breathless. I no longer have control of my body. My muscles and bones immediately wrap me in her arms. A part of me collapses. She holds me up. Just like she always has. I feel the sweat on her brow bone. I feel her exhale into my slicked hair and the calloused skin of her fingers in my hand. My heart-shaped locket absorbs her heat as it presses to her chest. The other half is no longer cold.

In a flurry, Jude begins to ask me questions like what happened to my cheek and what took so long. Instead of beginning to answer her, I am immediately transported through these past six months. She has no idea what I have been through.

That I was captured and trying to find a way out every night. That a group of us had planned a coup, taking months to perfect. If there was even the slightest error, I wouldn’t have made it.

She doesn’t know that I almost didn’t make it. A few days ago at the border, I was spotted by the outcasts and brought in for an interrogation. They only let me out because of what was inside my heart-shaped locket.

She doesn't know what’s in it.

But I don’t know what Jude’s been through either.

As she continues rambling, my mind jumps to what she’s been through. I hope that she didn’t go through what I have. It will take weeks to share my story, but I worry that she had it worse than me.

I shake this thought out of my head. Instead, I think that she made it here quickly. She’s been safe for months and returned to our spot daily to wait for me.

Thank God she waited for me.

She brings me back into the present as she dabs her cotton cloth to my wounded cheek.

Her eyes meet my gaze again. I am suddenly and wholly entrapped. The wondrous gold streaks in a sea of deep darkness pull me in.

Finally, a beautiful entrapment.