Skyedive - Chapter 30, Back to the Cliffside
In today’s episode we read the chapter 30 – Back to the Cliffside – in which Faralla travels back to a pivotal point in her life.
This week's podcast partner is Murder Roadtrip: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/shannon-quinn6
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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Things with Wings Productions presents: Chapter 30 of The Skylark Bell, Skyedive. I am your host, Melissa Oliveri.
In last week’s episode we learned that Farfalla was the voice inside the Ancient Oak, which also left her transformed into Dealan-dè.
In today’s episode we read the chapter 30 – Back to the Cliffside – in which Faralla travels back to a pivotal point in her life.
Today’s podcast partner is Murder Roadtrip, also members of the Boopod Network of paranormal and true crime podcasts. This podcast takes listeners on a weekly roadtrip across the US to discuss true crime and the occasional spooks through each of the 50 States. Check the show notes for a link to the Murder Roadtrip podcast.
Now, it’s time to settle in… grab a blanket, and a warm drink… and let’s get started.
I am trapped in a tree.
How did I go from a blissful childhood of running through fields, to living with half of me eternally trapped in a tree? It sounds completely preposterous when I spell it out like this.
They all knew. They all knew this would be my fate, and none of them stopped it.
Did you know too?
I wandered aimlessly after that encounter with Cailleach. Finally, I picked up the bell, and laid a hand on the Ancient Oak. My prison. The process of travelling to a different time is much faster and easier than before, perhaps because it is only my consciousness that is travelling now. However, this also means I cannot live, love, and interact with people the way I did when I was a complete person. I came to this heart-wrenching realisation when I, at long last, managed to peek in on Elisabeth. I only did so one time. She was sitting in a rocking chair in Paloma’s old apartment in the city, which she presumably inherited. She was holding the tiniest baby, a girl. I heard her speak softly and lovingly to her baby, Lilian. My heart broke over and over watching them, knowing I couldn’t speak to her, or hold her, or meet my grandchild. I suffered through a few hours of wistful observation, the made my private, silent goodbyes before leaving them.
I stand here now with the arch above my head, struggling to understand. Am I still inside the wood from which it is built? I didn’t see my body when the trunk of the tree split. Where am I? Have I died? Am I a ghost? I don’t understand. Perhaps I am not meant to. I have these amazing, superhuman abilities now, I can control the elements, travel through time, speak to plants and animals. But I have paid dearly for these gifts. I have lost everything I ever loved, I have been betrayed time and time and time again. Betrayed by people, betrayed by time itself. And if I have understood correctly, this will happen to me again, and again, in a cruel, endless loop.
The Ouroboros.
Someone has to pay.
~~~~~~
Farfalla takes a moment to adjust to the darkness of her surroundings. Is it night already? She wonders. She looks around. The Ancient Oak is gone, in its place she sees the gateway arching over her head. The clearing is also gone, and she is standing on a narrow path deep in the forest. Of course! The acorns she planted have grown into trees, they look like they are hundreds of years old. The canopy formed by their leaves filters out most of the daylight.
Farfalla tentatively steps out from under the arch, unsure which direction to go. The sound of cracking twigs nearby causes her to spin around quickly. “Ru!” she gushes as the deer steps out from under the arch and walks up to her. “I’m so happy to see you,” she whispers. Farfalla throws her arms around its neck and leans her head on it. “I don’t recognize the forest anymore,” she whispers into its soft fur.
“I can show you the way,” Ru’s words echo in her mind. Farfalla leans back and nods, thankful to have a friend in this strange time. Ru walks in front of her, and Farfalla follows. The path winds and twists through the forest and they walk for what feels like hours before finally stepping into the light of day. Farfalla gasps as she recognizes the scene before her. Stretching as far as the eye can see are fields, and in the distance, the outline of Carnifex House. To her right is the large rock that separates Carnifex land from the neighbouring farm. “This is where I leave you,” Ru’s voice shaking her out of her shock, “but you may call on me any time,” he adds. Farfalla lays a grateful hand on the animal’s cheek, then steps back as it turns and gracefully runs back into the forest.
“Hullo,” says a small, familiar voice.
Farfalla turns to see the small boy with the large blue eyes peeking from behind the rock. “Hello, Ash,” she says.
The little boy’s eyes widen in shock. “How do you know my name?!” he asks.
“I heard your father call you at the cliffside,” she says. Farfalla takes the boy’s furrowed brow and look of confusion to mean this is the first time he has met her. “I am…” Farfalla considers which name she should provide, but decides on her most recent one, “Dealan-dè”.
“Pleasure to meet you,” says the boy, a slightly nervous edge to his voice. He’s a sweet boy. How such a sweet boy could come from such a horrible man as his father I will never know, thinks Farfalla.
“Well, I must be on my way now,” says Farfalla, smiling. “We’ll meet again,” she adds, turning to look over her shoulder before wandering back into the forest.
“You shouldn’t go in the forest,” says the boy.
“Whyever not?” asks Farfalla, slightly amused.
“Because of the vanishings,” he says, “people go in there and never come out,” he adds.
“Do they now?” she says, “well, I know for a fact that I will return. You’ll see,” she lets the words trail behind her as she walks into the shadows cast by the trees. Behind her she hears the boy’s footsteps as he races through the tall grass as fast as his little legs will take him.
The fear in the boy’s voice sparked something in her. Fear. She has felt it so many times now. In the water when the boat fell to pieces. As she was being thrown off the cliff. As the Ancient Oak was being lit on fire. As the tree regrew around her, keeping her trapped inside. It is time for other people to feel fear. If they fear the vanishings, then she will make them happen.
Now Farfalla knows what she must do. Now she has a plan. She will go to the cliffside.
Everything looks essentially the same when Farfalla opens her eyes and steps out from under the arch. She expertly navigates the path Ru showed her just yesterday, somehow having mapped it in her mind. She steps out of the forest and, sure enough, she sees the crowd gathered up ahead. She quickly steps behind the large rock so as not to be seen.
“Alright, then the accused is found guilty. Take her to the cliffside!” she hears Mayor Sandpiper shout triumphantly. She watches as lifts Ash into his arms. The boy looks in her direction, then nods to someone in the crowd. Farfalla scans the crowd and sees herself, her younger self, hands tied behind her back with a gag tied around her head, and she feels equal parts sadness and rage. Her younger self turns to look, and they make eye contact. Farfalla quickly disappears into the forest to compose herself. This is harder than she thought it would be.
“I need to go to the cliffside,” she whispers to herself.
“I will walk with you,” she hears Ru’s voice enter her mind. A sigh of relief escapes her lips as Ru appears by her side. They walk together, just inside the limits of the forest. Farfalla can hear the sound of the crowd as she and Ru approach the cliff.
“Any last words, Siren?” She hears Mayor Sandpiper’s arrogant question and recalls the joy on his face in that moment. She remembers her final words to him, telling him to hold his son close that night, and how she had struck him where it hurt.
Farfalla steps out of the forest then, and stands just under the jutting branch of an oak tree. Her younger self makes eye contact, and Farfalla nods. “It will be okay,” she whispers. There is no way the softly spoken words can reach the ears of her younger self over this distance, but she remembers somehow hearing them nonetheless, and the words had brought her comfort.
“Sink the siren!” comes a shout from the crowd. Farfalla looks on, the most comforting smile she can muster spread across her face. The chant from the crowd grows louder, and she hears the mayor instruct the men to do it. She watches as they push her younger self off the edge of the cliff and her breath catches in her throat. It takes everything in her power not to shout. She remembers the freefall, and looking up at the mayor’s gleeful face, and speaking his son’s name. The last word off her lips. Ash.
Farfalla steps back into the woods where Ru is patiently waiting. “Let’s take a walk,” she says, her heart heavy. They wander aimlessly until nightfall. Then, Farfalla walks in the darkness to the caretaker’s cottage. She lets herself in and prepares some food. She wanders around the space that had been hers all those years ago, the space form which she was ungraciously pulled and tossed away. In the bedroom, she finds her chain, the one Paloma had given her, with the tree charm on it. The feather ring and key from Marius are both still looped onto it as well. Farfalla picks it up and clips it around her neck. “This is mine,” she says out loud, asserting herself. These are the last remnants of her old life, her real life. The only items that have survived this inexplicable cycle of endings and beginnings.
Thank you so much for listening. Join me next week for Chapter 31 – Skipping Stones – in which Farfalla begins to devise a plan for revenge.
The Skylark Bell is brought to you by Phaeton Starling Publishing and features original music by Cannelle. If you are enjoying this story, please consider leaving a rating or a review, they are both greatly appreciated. You can also support my work by subscribing to Patreon or Ko-Fi, where you get early access to episodes as well as MP3 downloads of the music, artwork, behind the scenes videos and more! You can also find The Skylark Bell exclusive merch on my website, www.theskylarkbell.com. Just check the show notes for all necessary links.
Once again, thank you for listening – I’m Melissa Oliveri, writer, host and producer of The Skylark Bell Podcast.
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