The Vespers

The day no longer shone of the brilliant sunlight as Danascha once remembered. That warmth that kissed her bright blue skin was nothing but a foggy dream. Her face now barely glimmered a dull gray before her in the smudged mirror with its rusted frame. Her kind hadn’t survived long since the Vespers came to their planet; draining the greens and reds of the forests to mere twigs and branches. Being a Clay-Genoan, Danascha was born to create and care for the beautiful nature and wildlife of Genoa.

“Is it morning already?” Leah’da rose from her cocoon of blankets and peeked out at Danascha.

“You’d never know it, but it’s actually afternoon, sleepyhead,” Danascha said as she coyly glanced over her shoulder pinning back a silvery braid to contain the mane of hair. Their sun had been dimming out ever since the Vespers had landed. No one understood their power, even though they’d had almost 4 years to study their ways. Every scientist left who ventured off into the night to capture them never returned.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You didn’t wake me up again?” Leah’da shook the mechanical brass clock on the tree stump of a bedside table.

“You know that thing hasn’t worked for 3 months, right?” Danascha watched Leah’da’s struggle in the reflection of the mirror. Her bedhead made her look like a mad woman who’d just had her life snatched away by a meager clock.

“A girl can dream… I’m taking this to Hayward today. Along with that busted coffee machine - see if we can barter.”

“He literally lives among stacks of trash, Leah.” Danascha furrowed her brow at the thought of visiting that rancid place.

“More like stacks of cash, Danni. He has all the goods we could ever need!” Leah’da pulled her robe on while juggling the little metal object in the crook of her elbow. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!” She shook the clock and an arm clattered onto the floor.

“I’m sure he won’t notice it’s always 3 minutes away til a now unknown hour.”

Leah’da picked up the arm and pressed it back on, “Now it’s any hour he wants it to be!” She spun the arm around circles as she danced out of their bedroom.

“I can’t let you go out there alone you know,” Danascha called out. She couldn’t help but think about the last attack on a River-Genoan that occurred in ‘broad daylight.’ The only good to come of it, was they knew vaguely of what their enemy looked like now. Though this was barely a comfort now if not a reason to fear the Vespers more. The few reports that returned were from shell-shocked survivors who kept singing the same melodic tune speaking of archaic birds coming to ‘silence the masses.’ They had already somehow taken their only way of growing food, the sun, and now were slowly picking away at the whole lot of them.

“I know! That’s why I’m giving you a nice 3 minute warning of when I’ll be leaving!” sShe said, holding a now bare pink arm out of the bathroom holding the clock.

***

The caves and cabins that most Genoan inhabited near Hayward’s were rank with the scent of garbage and decomposing flesh. Danascha and Leah’da chose to live as far as they could outside of the stench, but close enough to villagers for the slight reassurance of protection. But this did make their journey all the more dangerous since they were so out of the way.

Danascha always handled the transactions with Hayward as Leah’da couldn’t help herself but to trade knick knacks for doodads. At least Danascha would try and negotiate, but this man had no concept of value, so trades were either exorbitantly high or a complete steal.

Today, Leah’da could be seen digging around on her knees through a tower of ‘things colored brown,’ as the sign read.

Danascha watched carefully from a safe distance as she slowly plucked through a basket labeled: ‘useful.’ In it were loose keys, a bell, and a variety of colorful safety pins. Danascha let her gaze drift over to the nearby cluster of trees. She could envision the harmonic song so clearly. Her eyes darted over to a bush that quaked almost in tune to the rhythm playing in her head.

“Danni!” She jumped back, knocking all of the contents of the basket onto the ground as Leah’da had appeared next to her.

“What’re ya think you’re doin’ there!” Hayward stomped out from under his umbrella, smoking a pipe that was about an inch too short, billowing smoke directly up his nose.

“I’m sorry, Hayward! Don’t worry I’ll clean it up!” Leah’da called out, immediately taking the blame. She knew Hayward liked her more for her ‘whimsical interests’ as he once said after she traded a working doorbell for a music box. “Danni, I’m sorry, I thought you heard me.”

“No! You can’t just sneak up on me like that!” Danascha brushed off her drooping skirt and cupped a load of keys back into the basket.

“I called your name like four times...” Leah’da dropped her head sheepishly.

“It’s fine, Leah,” Danascha gently took Leah’da’s chin and raised it up to look into her eyes. “Now what was so important that you would give me a heart attack to tell me?” She batted her eyelashes obnoxiously.

Leah’da couldn’t help but smirk, “It’s nothing…” Danascha raised her brows gesturing to Leah’da’s dusty hand clasping something inside. “Okay fine, it’s not worth a coffee machine… or even my cranky clock, but…” She revealed something oblong attached to a cord. Definitely from the ‘brown’ stack.

“Oh wow! That’s a really cool, uh… Wwhat is it?” Danascha poked at it as it shed some crumbs of dirt.

“It’s a locket, stupid!” Leah’da playfully bopped her in the side of the head.

“Oh, of course it is! I mean how could I possibly not be able to see that through the shit caked exterior.” She picked it up by the string with one finger dangling it in front of Leah’da’s nose.

“Shut up you freak,” Leah’da snatched it back and dusted it off. “It’s just dirt! Nature! You should love this stuff. Oh, and speaking of love…” she said inspecting it, “It’s heart shaped!” she sang. “And don’t you love me enough to help me negotiate it down a bit!” She hugged Danascha’s rigid figure. But it wasn’t a joke anymore.

Danascha tightened the hug, grabbing Leah’da’s shoulders.

“Do you feel that?” Danascha whispered.

The ground gave off a slight tremble as Leah’da calmly placed a hand on the terrain next to her. She nodded. But the warning was too late.

A rhythmic quake pulsed through their bodies as they stared into each other’s eyes. Then they heard the tune they had heard not but a week before.

“I love you,” Danascha said as she reached quietly into her belt for her tonfas. With her other hand, she pet the dark brown waves of Leah’da’s hair.

“I-“ Leah’da’s face was now blinded by raven black feathers in an instant.

“THEY’RE HERE!” Hayward clanged the warning bell himself since they had no guards anymore who had survived the previous attacks. But as if it was an interruption to the Vesper’s song, they turned their attention to him as a swarm of them gnashed fangs instantly into his hands. He screeched out in pain as blood and flesh was ripped off and away from the bell.

A cacophony of screams and echoes of the bell were all that remained. They seemed to almost unite in the song as it filled Danascha’s ears.

“Leah’da!” She screamed out, looking for where she was dragged off to. There was no sight of her in her eye-line as she darted around underneath flapping wings while she kicked and clubbed away at the birds nearest to her. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO US! NOT AGAIN!” A beak suddenly clamped onto her shoulder, and between the piercing noise and pain, she could barely speak.

The nearly human sized birds did not speak or sing any words. But the message came across. ‘You disturb our slumber with all of your noise.’

She crumpled down at the base of one of the tallest towers of trash and slowly looked to her left. Hayward lay there. Still and silent. His arm was bent in an inhuman way, but it was pointing upwards.

Danascha followed the gaze of the blank stare of his eyes as she raised her head to the top of the pile. She could just barely see something hanging off of the stack, swinging from side to side... It was the locket. And attached to it was a familiar, delicate hand grasping it.

She climbed as quickly as she could, swinging at anything that got in her way with her now barely functional arm.

Finally, she reached a point where she could safely throw her body weight on top without sending the stack into an avalanche of crud. And there she saw Leah’da’s gentle, pale face.

“Leah’da, no,” Danascha pulled her up to help her breathe if she still could, and gingerly pulled Leah’da’s arms together as she wept into her hair.

“Hey, I’m not dead yet,” that glorious voice meekly whispered out.

“Leah’da,” Danascha whispered.

“I don’t think Hayward will be needing this anymore,” Leah’da raised up the locket as she tried to latch it around Danascha’s neck.

Danascha hushed her, “I can do that, Leah.” She carefully thread it through the latch as her eyes stung again.

“You look beautiful,” Leah’da choked out, her own eyes welling up. She glanced down at her side trying to distract herself, then regretting that she had. She looked at where the Vesper must have attached its giant beak around her waist. “Can't believe they could carry hefty old me all the way up here.” She winced at the pain as Danascha tried to place pressure over the wound.

“Shut up you freak.”

“Never thought I’d die in a dumpster.”

“You’re not going to die,” Danascha clenched her teeth.

“I mean, my life is a dumpster fire, so I should’ve seen it coming I guess.” Leah’da tried to jest, but her chuckle seemed to only make her rib crush her insides even further. “I just wish…” Leah’da glanced out at the battlefield below them, where fellow Genoan were clamoring to defend their land, “I just wish we could see the sun one more time.”

“We will, Leah’da. I promise.” Danascha held her stare on Leah’da, knowing this could be the last time she would hear her laugh again. To see her eyes glimmer with life. The last time she would love again.

“You know, the afterlife the Genoans tell stories of?”

“Don’t talk like that, Leah’da,” she said quickly, trying to use her scarf to soak up some of the blood.

“How it’s a forest filled with waterfalls and stupid squirrels and colorful birds filling the trees?” Leah’da said, not able to look at Danascha. But finally she met her gaze, “I never want to see a bird again.” Danascha tried to laugh through her tears. “I hope it’s a landfill with all the treasure I could possibly find you, like this one.” She tapped at the locket, “And I pray that you are there beside me one day.”

The chiming of the Vesper’s song droned ever closer, as Leah’da’s eyes began to close with a teary smile on her face. “I’ll see you there.” Danascha said as she gripped her tonfas and steadied herself on the hill, waiting as the dark shadows closed in.