Not the Same Sky
She was flat on her back, staring at the vast expanse of blue above her. As she bobbed up and down on the waves, she ran her hands through the jade water beneath her. It was calm and beautiful, and a feeling of tranquility settled over her. A smile spread across her face as she slowly turned her head and gazed at the mighty Alborz.
A slight wave arose and fell over her lightly and she closed her eyes, letting it push her around gently. Another wave, this one decidedly bigger, ascended, and dropped, pushing her into the sea for a moment. Then came another. And another. Each one was larger and more forceful than the one before. Her eyes flew open, just in time to see that the sky was no longer a soft, light blue, but a harsh, ugly shade of cobalt. There was a flash of light in the dark, and the downpour started as the sky cracked open and let out a bellow of frustration. The peace and tranquility were long gone, and all she was left with was a feeling of distress, a nagging sensation in the pit of her stomach telling her that something was terribly wrong.
“Ava. Wake up.”
She looked around frantically, her head whipping back and forth, but she could not see him.
“Ava! Ava, get up!”
She wanted to shout back, to reach for Kian, to tell him that she was trying but her efforts were futile. She was choking, the currents pulling her under the surface. The water around her was turning black, and she couldn’t breathe.
“AVALEIGH!”
Her eyes opened slowly, as she fought off her nightmare. Her brother was leaning over her, an urgent, concerned look on his face. He let out a sigh of relief as she blinked a few times, trying to rid herself of the heaviness of deep sleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. The nightmare was over, but that nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach was still alive, gnawing at the edge of her consciousness. She pushed it away as she turned to Kian.
“Why are you shouting? We’re going to get caught if you keep this up.”
“That’s precisely why I’m shouting. They’ve received intelligence about people hiding out in the mountains. It won’t be long until they reach the foot of Mount Damavand,” said Kian, with a worried look on his face.
The Byzantine-Sassanian conflict persisted for twenty-six years, almost completely demolishing the Neo-Persian Empire in the process. As a result, the Persians did not have the resources or the manpower to fight off the Arabs when they invaded the country. The atrocities that had been inflicted on them left them with no other alternative than to flee the motherland. Avaleigh had been born into a war-torn country, but she had never imagined that she would be forced to leave the only home she had ever known.
She looked up at her brother, trepidation taking over her features. The fear and the pain of the past few days washed over her, just like the wild waves in her dream. She felt it in her bones, to the very core of her being. Every time she shut her eyes, the whole scene would play itself out in front of her, tantalizingly close, but still just a memory. As much as she wanted to reach into it and change it, she could not.
She couldn’t remember how long they had been in hiding. She knew that Kian was keeping track of the days and timing their journey in accordance with the departure of the boats that were scheduled to leave for India. She did not want to know though. She did not want to know how long it had been since her life had been completely snatched away from her. She hadn’t had time to process it all, let alone grieve for what she had lost.
Time was a funny thing. It wasn’t hours made up of minutes, made up of seconds. It was a web of memories, an ever-changing series of events.
“I am going down to Polur. We need to restock on food.”
She snapped back to the present at her brother’s words. “Why? We will be boarding the boats soon, won’t we?”
“Yes, but the number of people who want to leave is steadily increasing. There aren’t enough supplies on board for everyone.”
Something inside her stirred as she looked at her brother and said in an unsteady voice, “Let me come with you.”
Kian shook his head immediately. “No. You will stay here.”
On seeing the terrified look on her face, he said in a gentler voice, “It is much safer for you here, and besides, you will not be alone for very long. Polur is only a day’s walk from here. I will be back by tomorrow night, and then the next morning we will be on the boats. Far away from Persia, where the Arabs will never find us. I promise. You have been so brave, Ava. Be brave for just a little longer.”
He smiled down at her, and she felt herself smiling back, through the pain and the fear.
As she bid her brother a safe journey, she clung to him just a bit longer. She had always looked up to her brother, but now that he was all she had left, she could not even comprehend what it would be like to live in a world without him in it. She had never known her father, who had died fighting a war for King Yazdegerd III in a foreign land, the name of which she could not even pronounce. Her mother and Kian were all the family she had ever known, and she would never see Maman again. She had died fighting the two Arab soldiers who had broken down their front door. The last memory she had of her mother was of her making Kian promise to take Ava to safety.
As she watched her brother walk out of the cave she was currently occupying along with two hundred other natives, she hoped with all her heart that he would return unscathed. Because that was all she could do. Hope.
Later that afternoon, the man standing guard at the mouth of the cave let out a cry of joy and all two hundred heads turned toward him.
“They’re here! The boats! They’ve arrived. The weather must have been clearer than they anticipated.”
Everyone around Avaleigh started cheering as they picked up their babies and hugged their loved ones, knowing at long last, that their transport to freedom had arrived.
Someone behind her shouted, “Well, what is it we’re waiting for? We must leave immediately!” The rest of the cave hollered their agreement and picked up their meager luggage; most had left their houses with nothing but a blanket.
As her fellow Persians rushed to the entrance, eager to leave the dingy cave they had called home this past week, Ava stayed rooted to the spot, her face pale. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and as she looked up to face the owner of the hand, she saw that it belonged to a pretty, young woman, who looked to be a few years older than Kian. She smiled at Ava kindly as she said, “What are you doing, standing here? Come along now, we all need to leave.”
“B-but, my brother… he… you don’t understand! I must wait for him. He left for Polur this morning. I can’t leave without him.” She looked up at the woman, tears pooling in her iridescent eyes as she willed her to understand what she was going through. Realization dawned on the woman’s face, and she said in a gentle voice, “What is your name, child?”
“Avaleigh.”
“Listen to me, Avaleigh. There is no way your brother will be back before tomorrow evening, and by that time it is likely that the Arabs will have reached the mountains. We must leave now for the boats will not wait for a few people when there are so many more lives at stake. You cannot stay here, and you cannot be sure that even if you do, your brother will return.”
“No. No, no. No, my brother promised. He promised that he wouldn’t leave me alone,” she cried. “And I cannot abandon him now. Please, you don’t understand, he’s the only family I have left.”
The woman looked at her woefully and said, “If you don’t leave now, there is a good chance you will never leave Persia. You know what that means. They will do terrible things, make you their slave. We cannot afford to wait a whole day for the team that has gone to Polur. The presence of the boats will make the Arab chiefs suspicious, and none of us will be able to escape.” The last of the crowd was leaving the cave. “I must go now.”
She started walking away from her, and Ava’s breath caught in her throat. She thought of Kian, and knew that he would want her to go, would want her to honor their mother’s sacrifice. She took a deep breath and followed the woman as she made her way down Mount Damavand. It was dark by the time they reached the foot of the mountain and approached the grassy banks where the boats were docked. Ava’s throat was parched, and the skin under her eyes was raw from rubbing it constantly to stop the waterfall of tears that threatened to cascade down her face. Nearly everyone was settled in already and it was a tight fit, considering the small number of boats, but they managed. As she stepped onto the boat she was told to board, she glanced back over her shoulder, hoping desperately that somehow she would see her brother running toward them, ready to jump into the boat with her. Even though she had been expecting it, she let out a gut-wrenching sob when he didn’t appear and she stumbled into the boat, vision blurred and heart beating out of her chest. The boats took off and the other refugees occupying Ava’s boat let her be alone on the stern, knowing as they themselves had experienced, that the grief was her own to deal with.
After a few hours, when she had run out of tears to cry, she looked out at the ocean, lost in her thoughts. As the wild waves carried her towards freedom and a new life, she prayed that she would find him one day, and that when she did, he would forgive her.