Infinite 01 - Infinite Sacrifice

was half-dead, the look on his face as they beat him to death still keeps me from sleeping.”
    Simon rests his hand on Daniel’s slumped shoulder. “Though you have been tried and tested, the sins rest on those committing such acts.”
    Daniel’s shoulders still hang low, and judging by the constant circles under his eyes from then on, I would say he slept no better.
    ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
    I stand before a wall of fire; the heat makes it hard for me to open my eyes. I feel the weight of two hands. I look down to Rowan’s and Oliver’s sweet faces.
    Simon appears next to us and cries, “How strongly do you believe, Elizabeth?” then leaps and disappears into the flames.
    I pull them back from the fire, but I hear, “Oliver! Rowan!” from behind us.
    Rowan and Oliver rip themselves from my grip and run into the arms of their father.
    I cry out, “They are mine now! You left them!”
    But he smiles and leads them into the fire.
    I wake up and clutch for the warm, floppy bodies beside me, only startling Mousie nestled into the space between the boys and me. He crawls up farther onto Rowan’s neck and curls his plumed tail around him out of my reach. Rowan’s sweet face shines serenely in the moonlight, and Oliver stretches but quickly settles back into his peaceful dreams. I let their slow and rhythmic breathing lull me back to sleep.

Chapter 8
    Autumn gives way into winter but grants one last sunny crisp day in celebration of harvest’s end. The sunset has left a red haze across the sky. I take Oliver and Rowan outside at dusk to run around and they bring their little kitten out with them. The abbey is an island in a sea of wheat, left standing with no one to reap it. You can see the direction of the wind by watching the ebb and flow of the grain tides. Everything is gilded: the grain, the grass, and the trees in the distance. I’m taking in the beauty of the moment, tracing my gaze along the maze of stone walls separating various crops, when I feel the familiar tug on my braid. Simon stands behind me, grinning.
    “Your braid is as thick as a mare’s tail!”
    I run my hands along it, checking its girth as we walk the winding cart’s path through the crops.
    “I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” he says with a laugh.
    I turn back to watch the children running in circles with long sticks, which the kitten’s chasing wildly.
    He looks on as well and says, “Amazing how children surrounded with the threat of death ignore it in their quest for life.”
    He steps into the wheat and lies on his back, gazing up at the sky. I decide to lie down next to him. We seem hidden from the world under the thick tops of grain—our own secret place. He plucks a long stalk and twists it into two joined circles. He holds it out against the blue, then lets it pop out of his hands and fall to the ground next to him.
    He brings his hands up under his head, causing his elbow to rest slightly on my shoulder, and sighs. “I, on the other hand, feel like I am waiting for death among the dead.”
    His heaviness feels palpable as we watch the thin clouds drift by. I turn to study his face as he moves his hands nervously to his flat stomach, then leans over me and looks directly into my eyes for the first time. My stomach twists as I watch him reach out and pick up my braid. He runs his fingers up and down the entwined rope of hair. My heart begins to rise in my throat. He lifts the braid up to his nose and breathes it in. Then, just as quickly, he smiles, drops my braid, and falls back noisily to the ground. My heart slams back down to the pit of my stomach. I stare up at the waving wheat tops in silence, thinking of the strange event that occurred, surprised I was disappointed he didn’t try what I’d hoped he was going to. He pulls a shiny red apple from his robe and begins carving it with his folding knife. He offers me the first piece, and I take it, happy for the distraction.
    He begins again after a thick silence, “Do you believe in pledging yourself to something of extraordinary importance?”
    He slips a slice in his mouth on the blade of his knife.
    “Yes, I do.” I think of how I feel about Rowan and Oliver.
    “Do you believe that no matter what temptation might test you, one must stay true to a promise?” He hands me another slice, which I hold on to for the children. He is back to averting his eyes.
    I pause a moment, trying to come up with an honest answer. ”I believe everyone has a