I could just let it slip through my fingers and the fast moving stream would carry it away. Hours passed while I held my coin over the water. All I had to do was spread my fingers and it would have just fallen away. My troubles would have been over after that.
Sal and Henrick tried to steal the coin from me while I slept. Apparently, even in my sleep I’ve become accustomed to holding the coin and when my fingers found my pocket empty I woke with a jolt. And there they were trying to sneak off into the night. At first I was so confused. I called for Sal. Henrick turned, laughed at me and he shouted “see you on the other side!” I ran after them and grabbed onto Sal. He turned and shoved me onto the ground with such force I’m surprised I didn’t break anything. I asked him what he was doing and he just held up the coin in front of me and asked if I knew how much something like it was worth.
“But I’ll die without it.” I had never actually said it before and the words felt so heavy on my tongue. Sal, the man I loved, sanding over me in the moonlight had completely changed. His eyes were sharp and his face distorted with disgust. Then he kicked me hard in the ribs, knocking the wind out of me. I heard him say not to follow him as he walked away.
And there I was, lying on the dirt, barely able to breath from the pain in my ribs and the sobbing as the wind started to pick up. Somehow, I managed to crawl to my knees and then pull myself up to my feet. The wind was starting to tear at the tree branches around me and I could hear the voices screaming. I ran after Sal. I could see the two of them not to far ahead, just walking away. I used the wind to throw my voice in front of them (the way Eve had once taught me), and that made them stop. I continued to run towards them and call to them from all directions. The wind had caught up to them too. The whole earth around us was moving. With all the force I had I slammed into Sal, my fingers were instantly in his clothes searching for the coin as we both fell to the ground.
What happened next happened so fast I almost think I dreamt it. It was like we were in the center of a hurricane, where we were calm but leaves and branches flew around us. He was struggling to get back to his feet as my hand found the coin. He was still half bent over when I laid back down and planted one kick as hard as I could in his stomach. He stumbled back. Again it all happened so fast but it was almost like something reached out and grabbed him, sucking him back into the whirling world. I heard his cries and screams of pain and then the world just went silent. Henrick was gone too, however I don’t know if he ran away or was also taken.
I went to the stream, I’m not sure why but I think I wanted to wash the dirt from my hands. I ended up just holding the coin over the water thinking of how easy it would be to let go.