And Time Stood Still - Part 3

     Penelope lugged the Baabackpack into the Neohome. They had patched up all the broken windows in this abandoned Neohome, and now a fire glowed softly in the fireplace. She let the door click shut behind her and walked over to Benjamin, who was heating a cup of borovan over the stovetop.

     They had moved around Neopia several times, but found themselves drawn to the snowy peaks of Terror Mountain. She recalled exactly when they made the decision to live in Terror Mountain. They were scaling the walls of the Ice Caves when she slipped. She closed her eyes and braced for a painful impact that never came. Benjamin had caught her by her climbing rope. She regained her bearings and let out a nervous giggle. The height was utterly dizzying.

     “I think we should live here,” Benjamin said cheerily, hoisting himself up onto a ledge and helping Penelope up next to him, “Nothing like being in the safety of danger’s grip”.

     Penelope couldn’t help but laugh wholeheartedly. Benjamin often spoke in riddles, but she found herself able to understand him in ways that she had never understood anyone else.

     “Sure. Let’s live here,” she agreed.

     --

     “Got us some more food,” Penelope said, nuzzling her head into Benjamin’s shoulder as a greeting, “A good thing the Snowager is also gone”. They made eye contact and burst into peals of laughter.

     And in that instant, life was once again in technicolour. Except it had already regained its shine long ago. She just hadn’t noticed. One day, the wind had turned from harsh and scathing to a gentle caress. And on another, the walks had turned from arduous treks to leisurely strolls. At some point, routine had taken over in its slow, methodical, beautiful way. She strained to remember a time before this one. And then she realised, and the words were on her lips before the thought could even finish forming.

     “Time stands still for no one.”

     And like a switch, all the heaviness in her heart dissipated. The yearning for her old life was replaced with a new sort of longing: a longing that no longer dwelled on the past, but moved toward the future. And like the future, she felt herself moving toward Benjamin and embraced him. The force knocked them both to the floor.

     It was like a waltz the way time moved now. Two by four by two by four. Step, step, step. She could hear the faint sound of violins and organs and cellos--a symphony now cut through the silence. The whistling of the wind was no longer an ominous cacophony. It now formed the harmony to the music. It had been that way for such a long time, but she had never taken care to listen again. She led Benjamin in a dance that followed the rhythm of the world as she saw it now.

     “What are you doing?” Benjamin said, with a short burst of unsure laughter.

     “I just realised…I have spent all this time waiting for our old life to come back. All this time longing, yearning, searching,” Penelope said.

     “Me, too,” Benjamin said, his voice deep with sadness.

     “But, listen,” Penelope said and gestured to the snow swirling outside.

     “I don’t understand…” Benjamin replied.

     “Look at all we have done together. Look at the life we built up from nothing. Isn’t that worth something? Don’t we deserve to be happy now?” Penelope asked.

     “Well, yes, but…” Benjamin started, but a look from Penelope hushed him.

     “Do you remember when we first met?” she asked.

     “Of course I do,” he answered.

     “You were the first Neopet I had seen in a year,” Penelope told him, and he nodded to indicate that this was true for him as well.

     “I remember that you didn’t like the way that I walked,” Benjamin laughed.

     “Well, you were stomping all over the place!” Penelope chided him, but her voice was warm with laughter.

     “I don’t know if we’ll ever figure out what happened to everyone else.” Benjamin started.

     “And we might never have the answer,” Penelope answered. “But somehow I’m okay with that. I spent so much time looking to the past that I never noticed the present. I think we’re doing pretty alright.”

     A new sort of fear gripped her. What if Benjamin did not understand what she was saying? What if she was still alone in this world? But a look into his deep brown eyes steadied her. They roved over her face, still curious to find out exactly what Penelope meant.

     “What I’m saying is…I still miss all of them,” Penelope’s voice cracked, “But I would be sad if we had never met. If we had never built this life together.”

     “Yeah…me, too,” Benjamin said.

     Penelope searched for the right words. She felt Benjamin’s eyes on her. Her voice trembled as she asked the next question.

     “If everyone came back….tomorrow…would you still want to live this life with me? Or would you go back to your old life?” Tears were now welling up in Penelope’s eyes.

     “I…I…” Benjamin stuttered. He took a shuddering breath.

     “I couldn’t ever go back. Not anymore. Not after all of this.” Benjamin answered.

     The snow-covered mountain seemed to illuminate the room even as the sun set behind the horizon. The two embraced once more. Time was no longer of any concern.

     --

     It was not to say that the pangs of loss did not still burn in their hearts. Some nights were heavier than others. On those nights, Penelope would rouse Benjamin from his sleep, and they would pour over old photos together. Somehow, they never seemed to run out of things to say--each photo was a story worthy of telling in its entirety. Sometimes details would flood back to them suddenly, and other times they would struggle to remember their past lives.

     One day, Benjamin told Penelope the story of when he crashed his bike into the Coconut Shy, much to the chagrin of Leeroy the Quiggle.

     “And then, he chucked a coconut at me,” Benjamin gasped through bursts of laughter, his eyes shining. Penelope laughed, too.

     Suddenly, she realised where she had seen the twinkle in Benjamin’s eyes before. It was the same twinkle in the stars that they watched every night now. Benjamin no longer puzzled over the answers he sought from the sky. Instead, they noticed the sky for what it was in the moment--a collection of stardust and galaxies and things that are beyond understanding.

     Penelope had kept a journal of their travels, noting down each moment in her loopy handwriting. The journal was full of adventures and misadventures--the time that they accidentally locked themselves in King Skarrl’s chambers, the delicious Negg Pie they had found tucked away in the Neggery, when Benjamin accidentally set their paddleboat on fire mid-travel--all memories that she kept alive in her writing. The journal was punctuated by drawings and trinkets. A sketch of Benjamin’s favourite constellation. Lydia’s keychain. A flower pressed between wax paper.

     “This was never the way we expected our lives to turn out,” she wrote, “But there is beauty beyond our imagination.”

     --

     The long days of summer stretched into winter. The frigid cold of Terror Mountain did not bother Penelope anymore as she foraged for resources with Benjamin by her side. Going through the Igloo Garage Sale was taxing, but often yielded surprising goods. Resources were becoming more scarce as time went on. She focused on sifting through the piles of objects--most of them useless junk. Benjamin wandered off to look through another corner of the igloo.

     “Look!” he exclaimed, startling Penelope.

     He brushed the snow off of a half-covered scroll.

     “What is it?” she asked.

     “It’s some sort of key to something…maybe…” he started and then pulled out his chart of constellations. He laid them next to each other.

     “Do you think…?” she asked.

     He pointed to the top of the newly discovered parchment.

     “It’s…Latin?” she inquired, unsure.

     “It is…but more importantly--look!” he gestured at the parchment again.

     “The constellation is the same one as you drew, yes,” Penelope said, still uncertain.

     “This constellation only happens once every five years,” he explained.

      Five years. Tonight would mark the anniversary of the disappearance of the rest of Neopia.

     “The title…resurgo…reappearance…” he murmured.

     “Do you think that…?” Penelope started.

     “It’s tonight,” he said with a sense of finality.

     --

     Penelope finished packing up the Baabackpack with food. The afternoon sun hung in the sky, but it was going down quickly. They needed to make the trek back up to the top of Terror Mountain, where they would have a clear view of the night sky.

     They made quick work of reaching the top of the mountain. The first few stars already hung in the night sky. Penelope looked at Benjamin. Wordlessly, he put his arm around her. They sat in silence as the stars began to dot the night sky. It was unusually clear tonight. The constellation was missing one last star. Penelope could feel her heart hammering in her chest.

     And then, it appeared. The last star lit up a path on the ground that glittered under the night sky. They were meant to follow it. Penelope met Benjamin’s eyes. He gazed back at her and then looked at the path. She smiled and nodded.

     No matter what happened next, one thing was certain. They were going to do this together.

     The End.