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Alex hadn’t noticed the blonde walk in, but he noticed the way Zahra looked at him. Eyebrows furrowed but her eyes, they looked like there was an unbearable sadness deep in them. His fingers stopped plucking at the strings of the old guitar his sister had given him. He turned his focus to the man, Alex was stunned. Even with wind whipped cheeks and shivering he was easily the most beautiful man Alex had ever seen. Before he knew it he was on his feet moving towards the stranger’s table.
“What do I need to do to make you mine?” Zahra scoffed and Alex shot her a look.
“Hmm? Are you talking to me?” Deep ocean eyes looked over him and he could feel his breath catch.
“Yeah. I’m Alex and what do I need to do for you to come home with me?” Alex had both his hands. The man’s face flashed many emotions before he felt a cold hand grab him by the collar.
“Alex behave. Just because your mother is a muse does not mean I won’t whoop your ass.” Zahra pulled him back from the table. Henry’s face was red, no longer from the cold.
“Is he always this straightforward?” The blonde had turned to Zahra.
“No,” She smacked the back of his head. “he’s not.”
“Well, I’m Henry.” He stuck his hand out and Alex shook it, their hands lingered together just a little too long before Alex pulled away letting a hand run through his curls.
“So what do you do?” He eyed the guitar on his back.
“I play the lyre.”
“So you’re a player and a liar too? I’ve known one too many men like you.”
“No, no, I’m not like that.”
“Trust me, he’s not like any man you have ever met?” Zahra pulled a chair and shoved it in Alex’s direction. “Tell her what you’ve been doing.”
“I’m going to bring back spring. I have too.”
“And how are you going to do that Alex?” Henry’s voice was patronizing but Alex was too stunned by the beauty of the man before him to care.
“I’m writing a song, it'll bring back spring. Even if it's the last thing I do. I must bring it back.” Henry let out a deep laugh.
“Oh so you’re crazy? Why would I marry you?” Henry’s words bit into him .
“Believe it or not, and I hate to say this, but he can make you believe in the world again.” Alex was always surprised when Zahra used such kind words to describe him, but something about Henry had her speaking much softer. It was scary if he was being honest.
“Make me believe in the world again? That’s a big promise, what else do you have Alex? Do tell me how we will keep ourselves alive when you are just a poet and I am just a man. Tell me who is going to buy the wedding bands?”
“When I sing my song, the rivers will flow and the banks will break for us, I’ll use their gold for your ring. Simple as that my love.” Alex was ready, he knew that the song would be capable of once he finished it. He knew that if he was willing, he’d do anything to make Henry his. He had to, there was a force pushing them together that he could not explain and he could tell Henry knew it to. Henry asked more questions and Alex gave more answers.
---
“So this song you say will bring back spring?” Henry looked up and down at Alex, he could tell that Alex truly wasn’t joking. If what Alex was promising would change the world, put it back into place. He needed to hear it.
“Yes, that has been what I’ve been saying this entire time Henry.”
“So sing your song. You want my hand, then sing it.” Alex began singing, his voice dripped gold and the melody felt like familiar warmth Henry couldn’t place. The world seemed to slow as he sang, Henry was pulled towards him like they were planets orbiting each other. The song ended and a flower appeared in his hand. Henry’s jaw dropped and by the look on Alex’s face he was equally surprised.
“A flower? In the dead of winter. Alex, you have to finish your song. You have to bring back spring.” Alex smiled at him, and tucked the flower behind his ear. Their eyes were locked, he was lost in warm brown eyes. Zahra slipped off the bar counter and stood over them.
“Where’d you hear that tune?” Her eyes were pointed but her body language feigned defense, she was just as surprised as they were. Or at least she seemed to be.
“I’m not sure. It came to me like I have known it my whole life.” Alex was still looking at him despite speaking to Zahra.
“Well you have, it’s a melody from before mortals walked the earth and it’ll be here long after you’re gone. It’s a song of love, but it’s been far too long since I’ve heard it.” That brought Alex’s full attention back to her. Henry reached for Alex’s hand and softly grasped it, Alex squeezed his and darted his eyes towards him. Something in Henry was soft and melty. “You know the story I told you about Alex? The one of Philip and Martha? Why don’t you tell it again.”
Alex gave his hand one last tight squeeze before getting up and strumming his guitar. He sang a song of love. An epic tale of a king of shadow and shade who fell in love with a woman who walked above him in the sun. She had agreed to be his wife and she moved six feet below to a land where the sun never shined. She loved the kingdom they shared, but without her nothing would grow. Begrudgingly Martha and Philip made a deal, she would spend half of the year up above their kingdom and the other half she’d return to him. This was the origin of the seasons. Yet for as long as Henry could remember there hasn’t been a spring or autumn.
Zahra interrupted Alex’s song. “But that was long ago. Before the road to hell, before the bitter winter and blazing summers, that’s no longer the case.” Her words hung in the air, silencing the room. Well until the telltale sound of a faint train whistle in which Zahra checked her watch and muttered “She’s not even here yet and she’s still late.”
The tension of the room grows in a nervous excitement. The voices of the other patrons seeped into Henry’s mind. Chatter of Martha always being late, chatter of winter finally ending. A strong kick came to the front door of the bar, the door swinging on its hinges straight into the wall. The sun was the brightest Henry had seen in a long time. After his eyes adjusted in the doorway stood a tall woman dressed in green, Lady Martha, Goddess of spring and the queen of the underworld.
“I’m home babes!” The bar erupted around Henry and he couldn’t help but join in the cheers. Alex jumped up from their table to help her with her coat and bag.
“And you’re late again.” She shot Zahra a sly grin before wrapping her up in a stiff hug. She pulled back her hands still resting on Zahra’s shoulders.
“Blame the king of the underworld love,” She turned to the rest of the bar before digging around in her purse. “But let's not talk about hard times,” she pulled two bottles out raising them high above her head. “Pour the wine it’s summertime!” The bar was loud in his ears but the excitement was contagious, Alex was back at his side handing him a cup of sweet plum wine.
Martha hopped on a table pouring cups and sharing the stories she did every year she returned to the top. Zahra returned to her spot against the wall now sipping from a cup of wine occasionally.
“Who makes the flowers bloom again? In spite of a man? Yeah I do. But you all know what my momma says you have to take what you can get and make the most of it. The Up Top is my home no matter what my husband says!” Henry looked around, the patrons dancing and drinking, maybe he could stay a while. Martha grabbed his hand and pulled him into dance, he turned a scared face back to Alex who just smiled and clapped along to the music.
“Follow my steps hon.” She took his hand and he did his best to follow where she stepped, her energy must’ve rubbed off on him because eventually he was dancing on his own with the others, he could hear Alex’s golden laugh.
The night wound down and there was a toast, the last words Alex had said stuck with him, To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now. He was in deep, he never thought that he’d fall so hard for a boy he had met a couple days ago.
“Henry!” he whipped his head around to find an out of breath Alex running up to him.
“What are you doing all the way out here? Shouldn’t you be back at the party?”
“I wanted to make sure you got home safe.” Fuck, Henry was fucked. They walked silently for a while. Henry didn’t have the heart to say that he didn’t know where he was going, that he didn’t have a home here, he didn’t have a home anywhere.
“I’ve been alone for so long that I never noticed that I was actually alone. I don’t have a home here Alex, I’ve been drifting from place to place for forever. I’ve walked with the wind, in the cold for so long that I no longer even notice the feeling chill in my hands.” Alex stopped them and pulled his hands into his and despite the warming weather brought his hands to his mouth and blew warm air on his hands. Henry was going to die here, out in the middle of the woods. After Alex lets go Henry takes his hands in his.
“All I’ve ever known is how to hold my own, but now I want to hold you too. When you hold me I feel filled with a light and a warmth that rivals the sun’s. I forget the dark and cold I’ve had to go through to get here. I don’t ever want to let you go Alex, I don’t ever want to leave your warmth.” Henry looks down into Alex’s eyes.
“What did I do to deserve you Henry? What did I do to get to hold you? When I first saw you something in me felt like I had known you all along.” He kissed Alex. In the dark of night under a canopy of trees, where stars peeked through the branches. Alex pulled back and cupped his face. “Suddenly, I’m holding the whole world in my hands”
Henry pulled Alex back into his shoulder, speaking directly into his hair. “Say that you’ll love me forever, say that the wind won’t change on us, say that we’ll stay with each other, and it will always be like this.” Alex pulled back and kissed Henry.
“I’m going to love you forever, the wind will never change on us. As long as we stay with each other, then it will always be like this.” Alex turned then around and took them home.
The summer came and went in a whirlwind of heat and here Henry laid with his head on Alex’s chest. The house was small and cramped now that there were two people living in a space that could barely fit one. It wasn’t until a whistle blew that the wind blew cold. The king of the mine had come to get his wife.
Henry and Alex sat at a table when Martha had kicked the door in angrily pushing bottles and tins into her purse and muttering to herself. Zahra sat against the wall, lurking at the edges of the pub. Zahra had explained what Philip and his kingdom six feet under were. She had said it was a city with blinding lights. It was a city where people went to slave away for little pay. It was a city where people went to die. He was snapped out of thought by Martha who was yelling.
“This bastard comes and picks me up early! Doesn’t he know I have a fucking life here! That his silver whistle doesn’t call for me! He can’t weigh my worth with his godsdamn scale! An eye for an eye this, a soul for sale this!” The door swung slowly on its creaky hinges, a man dressed in black pulled his sunglasses off his head, settling them in hair the color of gold coins.
“You’re early.” Martha’s words had the same feeling of someone spitting at you.
“I missed you dear.” Philip reached for her hand before she pulled it away completely walking away from him and back towards her things packed up to be taken with her during the winter. She grabbed her things and he held the door open for her and off they went with a cold breeze and a train whistle.
“Philip, he thinks of his wife when she’s away basking in the sun and that jealousy fuels him.” Henry held on to Alex’s hand like it was a lifeline as he spoke.
“Do you think he’s scared she won’t come back? She’ll just stay up here forever?”
“I don’t know love.”
---
Zahra watched over the boys as winter came all too soon. She had noticed Henry’s worry outgrow him, consuming him as a storm approached. Alex never headed his warnings, he sat inside working on his song to bring the spring back. Henry would ask and Alex wouldn’t answer submerged under the pressure to bring back spring. She wanted nothing more than to help them but she couldn’t, she couldn’t change the story even if she wanted to. It wasn’t until Alex said “I love you,” Henry was pushed off the edge, pulled like a riptide out into an ocean of fear and doubt.
Eventually watching Henry spiral became too much for her, guess it was time for her to move underground. She found her place against a wall in the shadows and got ready to watch Martha and Philip engage in their yearly coming home fight. It went about as well as two gods fighting could.
“Did you ever think that I didn’t want this?! The lights, the unimaginable heat?! Did you really think this,” She gestured out towards the city of workers, diligently building the river styx higher and higher as they laid each brick. “would impress me?!”
“Everything I do is for you Martha! I do it because I love you! Maybe I should just find someone who appreciates what I’ve built here, who doesn’t have to run away every time her mother calls!” With that he stormed out of the room, the door slamming behind him. This had been honestly one of the better fights she had witnessed between them. There wasn’t broken glass or a shattered vase older than humanity itself anywhere. Although Martha still had the same reaction every time one of these fights ended. She dug into her bag and pulled out a bottle. Zahra respected her enough to leave her to grieve privately.
---
Henry was out of breath from having ran all the way from the pub to the woods. What the fuck kind of answer to ‘I love you’ is just a nod and a nervous “I’ll be right back,” before bolting out the damn door?! He was fucked utterly fucked, he didn’t want to be here anymore. He felt so much for Alex but they were suffering, how were they going to get through the winter if it was only him collecting firewood and scavenging for the already sparse food. He was going to freeze or starve. Everything inside of him screamed ‘protect yourself’ loud enough it echoed inside his head. A branch snapped and he jumped turning quickly towards the noise.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” It was Philip?
“Aren’t you supposed to be running things six feet under? What are you doing out here in the woods?”
“I don’t have the time to answer that, I’m a busy man and I have places to be.” He paused and looked at Henry. “But, I can see you’re running from something? Or well someone.” Henry was taken aback.
“Alex and I are fine.” Henry pulled his coat closer to him pulling it tighter for a desperate attempt at keeping the harsh wind at bay.
“Then why are you out here and not with him?” Henry opened his mouth ready to fire something back but he didn’t have anything. He closed his mouth pressing it into a firm line. “Let me guess, this Alex is a penniless poet who promised to take care of you, but here you are out in the cold, all alone. Why don’t you fly south for the winter. Here’s a ticket if you decide on it.” And with that he was off, disappearing through the dark trees.
Henry held the ticket in his hand. He couldn’t leave Alex here alone. A voice spoke in his head, a voice that wasn’t his own. You must protect yourself. To hell with everyone else, in this world you can only trust yourself. Did you ever really think that people, even Alex, could be truly innocent? Wouldn’t leave you behind over the sake of a song? Henry’s hand gripped his ticket hard in his fist. He spoke out loud into the trees where they had first kissed.
“Alex, my heart is yours, it will be yours forever but, I can’t love you back. Choosing between a desire of the heart and the need to survive isn’t really a choice at all.” Tears silently ran down Henry’s face as he made his way towards the train station.
---
Alex regretted not following Henry right away after he all but fled. He now found himself running through the forest yelling out for him.
“Henry! Henry! Where are you! Look we can talk this through!” He looked and saw Zahra chilling out against a tree. “Zahra? What are you doing out here.”
“Why are you? Don’t you have a song to be writing?” Alex glared at her.
“Have you seen Henry at all?”
“Why do you care?” Zahra looked up from picking her nails.
“Zahra! I told him I loved him and he ran away!” His tone quieted a bit. “I’d follow him to hell and back, to the end of time.” Zahra let out a cold laugh.
“Well if you’d follow him to hell and back, you’d better get ready to start walking.”
“What? What the fuck does that mean?”
“He’s six feet below, he called your name before you left, but I guess you waited too long to go after him. So do you have a ticket Alex?”
“No?”
“Well there is another way to get there but it’s not easy, you’re not even supposed to know there’s another way but fuck, I guess I’ll tell you but if you die it’s not my fucking fault.”
His lantern let off a soft yellow glow, as he quietly stalked the tracks. Alex had taken in all of Zahra’s instructions. He was told to travel through the dark of night, follow the railroad track and the telephone pole. To keep on walking and don’t look back until you get there.
He had made it to the tunnel and he could see the city glow deeper down. The road became narrow with steep sloping sides. Alex hoped the train wouldn’t be coming anytime soon. He got closer to the river Styx which matched Zahra’s description to a T. Tall concrete walls and razor wire lined the top. He got towards the gate and saw the hound dogs, they hadn’t noticed him yet. But as he got closer a voice that wasn’t his own spoke into his head. Who do you think you are? To walk this road alone? Where do you think you’re going? Why do you think you can walk a road that no one ever walked before?
The dogs noticed him and chased him through the gates. He was running into the city, blinded by the light. He eventually loses the dog. Zahra’s words echoed in his head now. “Don’t stay longer than you have to Alex. The town will suck you dry, make you forget your own name. Stay and they’ll dress you in your sunday best and stuff your mouth with cotton.” his own song echoed in his head as he quietly slipped through the city, trying to go undetected.
---
Martha smiled as she watched her husband finish off his speech. It was a sly grin as Philip walked off towards his office. She looked towards the workers, she was back and had goodies for her babies. She swept herself through the city to find the one true home she had down here.
“Step in my office.” She walked down into a basement bar hidden in sight. She opened the door and quickly slipped in shutting it tight behind her. “Well I don’t know about you boys!” The worker behind the bar and the rest of the patrons whipped their heads up at the sound of her voice. “But if you’re like me then hanging around this old shitty city gets you down pretty easy. You go stir crazy from being trapped inside this cage. Philip gets under your skin every time he opens his damn mouth!” She slapped her heavy bag on the closest table.
“Well I got some fucking gifts for you!” She pulled out a jar of wind. “I got rain on tape at the bar and sunshine up on the shelf. Now what’s my name? My name is”
The bar answered, excited that she was back in town. “Our lady of the underground!”
“I couldn’t quite hear you, what was that? What’s my name?”
“Our lady of the upside down!” She smiled at them, pulling them into hugs and kissing cheeks.
“I’ll tell you my name. It’s Martha, your lady of ways and your lady of means.” She slid into the lap of a worker at a full table. “Okay now let me guess, it's the little things you miss. Spring flowers? Autumn leaves? Tell me brother and you shall receive.” She looked around the table. “Oh is that not strong enough? Now tell me when was the last time you saw the sky?” She wiped the tears off the face of the poor soul whose lap she occupied. She slipped off his lap and pulled him along to stand with her.
“I can see you’re blinded by the sadness of it all, but love, there’s a crack in the wall.” She smiled up at him as she spun through the bar pulling workers up to dance with her. “You want stars?!” The crowd erupted around her. “Well line up! Put a penny in the slot and you’ll get an eyeful.” The crowd rushed around her. “Tell my husband to take his time, what the boss won’t know, the boss won’t mind.”
---
“So you’ve officially signed.” Philip slid the paperwork into a filing cabinet while Henry twiddled his thumbs.
“What do you want me to do now?” Henry’s voice was a bit shaky, his body was wracked with guilt.
“Well Since you signed yourself away, I have control over you and I plan on just shutting you away to keep you in line Henry. I care about you and I want what’s best for you and Alex isn’t that. He’s just a distraction. I’ll put you in a mild bureaucratic position in which you’ll travel to work and after you’ll go straight back home.” Henry paled, this wasn’t what he wanted. “You can go now.”
Henry nodded silently and quietly left the room as a worker took him to an office space converted into a small dorm.
“This is where you'll stay, someone will come get you for work in the morning.” Their voice was emotionless and they walked slouched over and looked down. Henry walked through the doorway, he slumped down on the cot. He just wanted to fall asleep and disappear. He thought of the flower Alex had created, the soft touch of him tucking it behind his ear. He thought of the summer, walking in the sun barefoot in the fields, pants rolled up for wading in the streams. He thought of Alex by his side laughing and telling stories, of them laying out in the shade of a tree Alex quietly singing while strumming his guitar softly. Fuck, he missed him.
The next day a worker came to take him to his office building. It was a boring walk. It wasn’t until he’d noticed a familiar hand grab his wrist.
“Henry!” He turned at the voice in complete shock. It couldn’t be him.
“It’s you…” Henry had no words, his mind felt like static while also trying to rapidly process the entire possibility that Alex was down here.
“It’s me.” Alex smiled so brightly it put Philip’s neon lights to shame. The worker who had been babysitting him looked between the two confused, ultimately deciding to step back from them and wait. Henry quickly looked around and pulled Alex into an alley.
“Alexander.” He kissed him quickly before Alex pulled back.
“Henry.” This time Alex pulled him in and there they stood in a dim alley in a city of stone and iron. They were the most organic thing within the walls, the only ones truly living.
Henry pulled back from the kiss, his head finally clearing up. “Wait how’d you get here? You didn’t take the train did you?”
“No no, I walked a long way to get here, to bring the man I love home.” Henry smiled and wrapped him up tight in his arms. Henry led him back towards the towering building Philip’s office sat in. Maybe they could just sneak in and out. They were waiting in line for an elevator in the lobby of the sleek dark building.
The doors opened and Philip stepped out, Martha following besides him. Martha noticed Alex first but Philip was first to speak on his presence.
“I don’t believe we’ve met. You’re not from around here are you? I can tell from well, just about everything. But I don’t know who the hell you think you are but I know you don’t belong, you’re on the wrong side of the wall.” Martha physically bristled at this and Henry felt Alex’s hand squeeze his.
“Philip, I know him.” Martha reached to touch at his shoulder but he brushed her away.
“So he’s one of the unemployed?”
“His name is Alex..” He cut her off.
“Martha, stay out of this.” She turned to Alex.
“Alex, dear, you have to go.”
Alex was fuming but Henry could tell he was doing everything he could to hold that anger back. “No! I came to take him home!” Henry paled at Philip’s laughter.
“He couldn’t go anywhere even if he wanted to! You’re not from around here son, and if you were then you would know. Everything and everyone within the city limits I own.” He stepped closer into Alex’s space. “But I only buy what others choose to sell.” Alex’s head whipped to Henry’s.
“No.” He said, his eyes glossy, tears of anger and betrayal brimming from them. Henry’s eyes were filled with tears of guilt and sorrow.
“Oh! You didn’t know?” Philip stepped back taking Martha’s arm in his.
“I’m so sorry.” Henry’s eyes spilled over as he pulled an also crying Alex into his arms. They sat here in a lobby clinging to each other.
“Someone please take Alexander to holding, and another escort Henry back to his room. I want them separated.” Philip spoke to the room of workers and they quickly went about pulling them apart. Alex was fighting them but couldn’t take in four of them. Henry had given up, too flooded with emotion to fight back.
---
Alex was taken down many halls and around many corners until he was thrown outside a work yard, he slumped against the wall and looked through the chain link fence. It was crowded and dusty and at the far edge he saw lines of workers bent forward swinging pickaxes and lining bricks. They kept their heads low, not a single one even looked over to acknowledge Alex’s arrival. The voice from before returned, It’s no use fighting against Philip, the city has been like this long before you and will be like this long after you’re gone. Whatever you’re thinking, fighting Philip and taking Henry back up top, you’re bound to lose. Nothing changes here.
If there was one thing that pissed Alex off it was being told by authority figures he couldn’t do something. Spite was an excellent motivator. He stood up from where he was slumped against the building and pulled his guitar around to his front. Alex hugged it close to him and spoke to himself.
“If it's true what they say, that the boy I love is gone, that there is no way out of here. Is this how the world truly is? Being beaten and betrayed and then told that nothing will change, that it will always be like this. Then I guess I’ll be on my way.” The last words were sour in Alex’s mouth, he couldn’t give up like this, so easily, but he started walking the fence line.
“But who the fuck are they to tell us what the truth is!” he kicked the fence finally earning some looks from a few workers who quickly averted their eyes when they had noticed he saw. “The ones who lie are always the solmest to swear, and the ones who roll the dice always say the toss is fair.” One of the workers laid their things down and just stood there and looked to Alex. They were listening to him, “With a hand over their heart, as we play the games they fix!” Alex was stopped in front of the fence as more workers stopped working, standing upright for the first time Alex had seen since he had arrived.
“And no answer will be heard to the question no one asked. So I’m asking if it’s true,” He swung his guitar over his shoulder and began to climb the linked fence. The workers' stares bore into him as he struggled up and over the fence before jumping down onto their side. He marched up to them, a few even backing away at his approach.
“I’m asking me, and you, and you, and you.” He motioned to the workers who had abandoned their positions to listen to him. “I think we the many should have more fucking say then the damn few who make the rules we abide by! Our voices matter more than anything they say. I believe that we are stronger than they know!” The group erupted around him, workers abandoning their posts and joining them speaking together on the rights they had been neglected and how Philip couldn’t stop all of them.
---
Martha slammed the door open to Philip’s office.
“What’s your problem?” Philip didn’t even look at her, still writing out paperwork and reports she assumed. “What are you afraid of?” That got his head to whip up, his eyes boring into hers.
“Excuse me?” His words dripped poison.
“He’s just a boy in love.” He got up from his desk and walked over a decanter of whiskey.
“Sit down, let me get you a drink.” He poured and offered it to her. She pushed the outstretched cup away from her.
“No! I’ve had enough Philip! He loves him Philip. He means everything to him,” the quieter, “He loves him like you onced loved me.” Philip was silent at this, downing the drink she had refused.
“Well what do you want me to do Martha?”
“I want you to let him go.” Before he could answer she kept speaking. “Philip, my husband, my light, my love, my darkness, if you had heard him tonight, you’d pity him. All of the sorrow can’t fit in his chest. How long are you going to keep Henry here?”
“How long? As long as I’m king of this city, as long as I hold the title. Nothing comes from wishing on stars Martha. Nothing comes from the song that boy sings, no matter how sorry he is. If you show them a crack they’ll tear down a wall. I’m not going to let my kingdom fall over a fucking song!”
“What does he care for the logic of kings Philip? Or the laws of your underworld. It’s only for love that he sings.”
“You and your pity don’t fit here. How long are you going to keep acting like this?” Martha felt as if she’d been slapped. She took a step closer to him, getting into his space and staring into his eyes.
“How long? Just as long as I am your wife !” She shoved her finger into his chest, staring deep into eyes she hadn’t recognized in decades.
He stepped back from her and went to look out the window. His demeanor changed from tired and frustrated to angry. He turned on his heel and stormed past her and out of the office. She rushed over to the window to see what was happening. It was Alex, She needed to get Henry.
---
Alex was listening to the workers speak. Their stories were filled with fear and pain. He was trying to wrap his head around everything. It wasn’t until Philip busted through a door in a hurry, sleeves rolled up, hair a mess, seething in anger. He desperately looked around the yard, until his eyes locked in on Alex.
“I’ve got to hand it to you, you don’t scare easy but are you brave or stupid Alexander? You’ve made quite an impression on my wife but, know it takes more than singing songs to keep a lover at your side! Take it from a man no longer young, if you want to keep someone by your side, shackle them from wrist to wrist with sterling silver bracelets, Gods even better bind them with a golden band.” The crowd backed away from him as Philip approached, stalking him like prey. Alex stood his ground, he wasn’t scared of Philip.
“Alex I was young once too, I sang a song of love like you. Kid, I too was left behind. Now I hear the simple beat of machinery. Do you hear that heavy metal sound? The symphony of this city, of power lines. You can strum your lyre, but as you can see I have strung this world in wire. You can sing until you lose your voice but don’t ever forget who runs this fucking city do you hear me?” The door slammed open again this time with an out of breath Martha, with Henry standing behind her. Philip looked and sneered at her. He turned back to Alex.
“You know what? Since my wife seems to be such a fan, give us one last song before I send you beyond these walls and put you out of your misery. Oh and one last thing, sing a song for me. Make me laugh, make me weep. Make the king feel young again.” A two chairs appeared from what seemed to be thin air. He sat and gestured for Martha to sit as well.
Alex swung his guitar around to his front, tuning it quickly. He looked to Henry who stood off to the side behind Martha, his smile was sad and it hurt Alex to see. He was going to bring him home even if it killed him. Alex cleared his throat carefully.
He sang a song of the king of the underworld, how he fell in love with a lady who walked above in her mothers fields, how when he saw her the world stopped spinning, his world became brighter. They had been the same, a man so desperately in love. Alex sang the melody, the same one that had sprouted a flower in the cold of winter.
“How’d he get the melody?” Philip’s voice was less anger and more astonishment. Martha touched his arm softly.
“Let him finish Philip.”
Alex continued on. Singing about the king who felt like he held the world when he held her. That she was everything that he’d ever been missing. He’d seen her and it had felt like he’d always known her.
“But has become of the heart of that man, now that he has everything.” Alex sang of the weight the king had felt, too afraid to look up and afraid to let go. “He’d grown so afraid that he’d lose what he owns, but what he doesn’t know is that what he’s defending is already gone.”
Alex sang asking where that man in the garden had gone. Where was the man in the garden with his hat in his hand, who had nothing to lose? Who would risk it all just to hold the woman he loved. Philip joined him singing brokenly to the melody he had sung to Martha centuries ago.
Alex finished his song and Philip and Martha stood. He had pulled her into an embrace as they slowly rocked to the music the underworld had made. The world was brought back into tune. Alex slipped his guitar back around his shoulder and approached Henry. He kissed him softly pulling him into a hug. They hadn’t even been separated for a few hours and Alex missed him like a lung. He pulled him away from where the queen and king of the underworld slowly danced together.
“You finished it Alex.”
“Yes, but now what do I do?”
“Take me back home, you know the way, we can just walk back the way you came.”
“It's a long, cold and dark road, are you sure you wanna go back into it?”
“Alex, I just want to go home with you.” Alex took his hand.
“I have no ringer for your finger, now banquet table to lay, no bed of feathers, whatever promises I made.” Henry took his hands in his. “I can’t promise you fair skies above, nor promise you kind roads below. But I can promise that I’ll walk beside you whichever way the wind blows.” Henry squeezed his hands.
“I don’t need gold or silver Alex. I just need food when I'm hungry and fire when I’m cold. I just need a steady hand to hold. Don’t promise me fair skies above, don’t promise me kind roads below. Just walk beside me whichever way the wind blows.” Alex suddenly remembered a key problem that had stopped them from leaving as soon as he’d gotten here. He looked over his shoulder at Philip where he was walking his wife back inside.
“What about Philip?”
“He has to let us go, he can’t say no after that song you sang single handedly saved his marriage Alex.” He laughed at that, Henry cracking up with him.
“I don’t know when this road will end, but I’ll walk it with you hand and hand.”
“I don’t need clear skies or kind roads Alex, I just need to walk beside you love.”
“Do you let me walk with you?”
“I do.”
“I do.” It reminded Alex of wedding vows. Maybe this was their union.
“And keep on walking, what will?” It was Alex’s turn to respond.
“I will.”
“I will.” Alex stuck out his pinky finger, Henry hooked his around the already extended one.
“We will.”
---
Philip heard the clattering of running after him and looked to see Alex and Henry rushing after him before entering his office.
“So can we go?” Philip panicked.
“I don’t know yet.” And with that he slipped into the office and locked the door behind him. He went and sat at his desk and put his head in his hands. The voice of his grandmother spoke in his head.
Well What are you going to do now? If you tell him no you’re a heartless man and more importantly you’re going to have a martyr on your hands. But if you let him go you’re a spineless king and you’ll never get those workers in line again. Make your decision wisely Philip, the whole underworld is watching you, waiting with baited breath.
I’m going to leave you one tip: Men are fools led by their hearts, they’re frail, if you give them a rope they will find a way and hang themselves.
Philip sighed as the voice left him. He stood and paced the room. All of his citizens came here poor and clamouring for bed and board but now they want their freedom? To go back to the top and starve. How did he make himself their lord just to fall upon the sword of some paupers minor chord. Who will lead them? Philip laid the plans and gave work to idle hands. There has to be a loophole, a footnote ignored, a condition.
The idea popped into his head and he smiled to himself pulling out a contract, slowly repeating what he was writing to himself.
“Alex here the undersigned, shall not turn to look behind.” He finished the writing before sitting back in his chair. “Henry’s out of site and Alex is out of his mind.” Every coward seemed courageous in the safety of a crowd, bravery can be contagious when the band is playing loud. Nothing makes a man so bold like a lover’s smile and a hand to hold, but on their own their blood runs cold and doubt comes flooding in.
---
To Alex’s surprise it had been Zahra who had returned to them with Philip’s answer.
“So can Henry and I go?” Alex had stood up quickly as soon as she had approached them.
“Yes, but there is a condition.” She seemed tired and eerily calm.
“A condition?” Henry asked.
“Yes, you can walk out but it won’t be like you planned. You won’t be hand and hand. He said Alex has to walk in front and Henry you must walk behind and follow him. You won't be arm and arm or side by side.”
“That doesn’t seem so-” Zahra cut Alex off.
“There's more, if you look back to see if he's following you, he goes back and there’s nothing you can do, you’ll be separated, never to see each other again.”
“Gods why though?” Henry held Alex’s hand harder as he spoke.
“Why build walls? Make people walk single file? It’s called divide and conquer.”
“So it’s a trap?”
“No Alex, it's a trial. Do you trust yourselves? Do you trust each other?”
“We do,” They responded in unison.
“Well if you want to walk out of hell, to prove it before Gods and men, you must.” She turned to start leaving and Alex reached out to her speaking.
“So it’s not a trick?”
“It’s a test.” With that he disappeared into the shadows.
Alex kissed Henry and held phim close and took a deep breath before turning around to start their walk through the town. The condition didn’t apply until after they left the gates but Alex wasn’t going to risk it. He needed to do this, not just for Henry and him but for the others trapped here. To show the escape was possible. To show them that the world they lived in could be the one they dreamt about. Through an open window he could hear Martha and Philip.
“It’s almost spring, we’ll try again next fall.” Philips' voice was soft.
“Wait for me?”
“I will.”
The gates were approaching closer and closer with each step. Words Zahra had told him echoed in his head. “Alex, you have a lonesome road ahead, it’s not going to be the same as the railroad tracks and the blacktop tar you walked before. This road lies inside your head and it's the pathway to paradise but it can easily lead you to ruin.” They passed the gates, the echoing of their steps died out into silence. The feeling of loneliness crept in from all directions.
The voices returned.
How sad it is to see a stranger walking in the cold alone.
Where is he Alex?
Who was Alex to think that Henry would follow him into the cold and dark again. He thought to himself ‘Who was he against Philip? Why would he let him win? Who am I to think he wouldn’t just deceive me just watch me leave alone. I used to see what the world could be, but now the way it is, is all I can truly see.’
Alex, where is he?
Where is he now?
Alex could feel himself spiraling, everything in his brain was too loud. He was shaking and it was hard to breathe. He had to, he had to just.
He didn’t realize what he had done until his shaky eyes landed on Henry who had gasped. In a shaky voice he spoke.
“It’s you?”
Tears spilt from Henry’s eyes and his voice was broken. “It’s me.”
“Henry…”
“Alex…” Alex tried to run and garb him but Henry was pulled back into the dark and Alex was pulled and spat out on top.
---
Zahra had been patiently waiting at the hole that led down to the underworld. He saw Alex get thrown out and the entrance closed over. Her eyes welled up, she couldn’t move to go and comfort Alex. That wasn’t her job. She covered her mouth at the wail Alex let out.
“No! No, no, no, no! Let me back down there! I need him! Henry!” Alex clawed at the ground raking his fingers across solid rock, tearing at the frozen ground. His screams and cries, although Zahra had heard them thousands of times, never left her mind. She couldn’t do this any more and ran to him where he sat clawing at the ground. She held him.
“Alex.” She whispered into his hair. She held him close trying to keep him from tearing apart his fingernails on the frozen ground. His screams just died down to unholy sobs, words trying to desperately to escape him.
“Why, why did I, bring back spring, if, if I can’t, if I can’t spend it with him.” Zahra couldn’t respond. She had no answer for him. Zahra had lived through many iterations of this story, so many she thought she would’ve gotten used to this by now, but no.
Alex and Henry’s story was one of tragedy.