The Altars of Forbidden Love

"I'm not sure what I've done to deserve this, but it sure as hell feels like a punishment."

Ayeden's head was down and his footsteps were heavy as he trudged down the deserted street. With a heavy sigh, he looked around and realized that there was no one around to hear him. He didn't even know why he said it out loud, but talking to himself had become a habit of his since Ari left town. He grimaced, though he couldn't blame her for leaving. She had tried to talk to him about everything, but Ayeden was too panicked to listen. He remembered how his heart raced in panic when she told him about how she loved him. He just wanted to run away from her, but instead he ran into the woods behind his house and didn't return until after dark.

The moonlight cast eerie shadows on the trees as he approached his familiar home. The house was dark and all of the windows were shut, but Ayeden could hear faint sounds of someone inside moving around. His heart leapt into his throat as fear gripped him and tears welled up in his eyes. He slowly walked up to the front door and took a deep breath before knocking quietly on the door. After a few moments, his father opened the door with a surprised look on his face when he saw Ayeden standing there shivering in the cold night air.

"Ayeden, what are you doing here?" His father whispered nervously as he pulled him inside. "Your mother's going to be so angry if she sees you."

"I-I don't care," Ayeden said through clenched teeth as he tried to control his emotions and stop himself from crying in front of his father. "What have you done with Ari? Where is she?"

His father looked bewildered for a moment before answering with an equally puzzled look on his face, "Ari? Who are you talking about?"

"My girlfriend," Ayeden answered quickly with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "You didn't hurt her did you?"

His father gave him a strange look before laughing softly at Ayeden's question. "Your girlfriend? You're kidding right?"

"No, I'm not!" Ayeden snapped back quickly before taking a deep breath and calming himself down again. "Why would I joke about something like that?"

"We never found your girlfriend," his father said with growing concern in his voice as realization set in on what was going on with Ayeden. "We've been looking everywhere for that girl." He paused before continuing with worry in his voice, "Ayeden, what's wrong with you? Have you gone crazy or something?"

"I can't explain it," Ayeden mumbled while looking down at his feet because he couldn't meet his father's eyes anymore after realizing that Ari wasn't in Hola anymore. "She left me this morning before I woke up." There were tears running down Ayeden's face now and he wiped them away angrily with both hands before getting back to business and looking up at his father again. "Do you know where she went?"

His father sighed deeply before responding with sorrowful eyes, "No son, we don't know anything about her. All we know is that she isn't from around here." He put both hands on Ayeden's shoulders and looked directly into his eyes when saying loudly enough for everyone else in the house to hear, "That girl wasn't safe around us anyway! We're lucky that she left us alone!" After taking a calming breath of air, he continued more quietly so only they could hear each other now, "Did you have some kind of fight? Did you do something to make that girl leave?"

Ayeden shook his head sadly while wiping away more tears streaming down his face before whispering quietly while staring off into space blankly, "I don't think so..."

**

A few days later...

The sun had set long ago and most people had gone home for dinner by now so there weren’t many cars out tonight which meant it would be easy for Ayeden to sneak out without being noticed by anyone who mattered... His head was still down as he walked away from the house but then he felt someone pull on the sleeve of shirt causing him to turn around quickly. When he turned around he saw a boy standing behind him who looked like he was about twelve years old standing there looking nervous yet determined at the same time... The boy grabbed onto Ayeden’s arm tightly as if afraid that Ayeden would run off without listening to what he had to say...