Vanished

Marisse is gone. We went in search of her, even braved the darkness, but to no avail. We searched for two days and two nights. But her going missing - that is not the worst of it. Not at all. It was what I found on my return. When I returned, I immediately went to Marisse's bedroom to see if she had returned - and found flowers scattered about the bed, the same grave flowers that have swallowed our village. The flowers… they are so bright when they lie in the earth, violet by day, yet blood red at dusk – and they die so quickly when cut from earth's embrace. We have seen the life this isle brings… we have not seen the death it brings, in all its shapes and kinds. I fear to say it, but this village is no longer ours. It belongs to all those who have gone missing. And soon we will lie like the petals about the bed in this village, each home now their home. Elias