Tara heard a faint grumbling. It was incoherent, but the tune of the voices sounded ever so vaguely familiar.

Then they stopped. The pristine silence left behind was unsettling. She could practically hear a pin drop.

She no longer felt connected to a physical body - one that felt pain and anguish. Never had she ever felt so relaxed, so relieved. But she couldn't see anything either. Her eyes could be closed, but then again, she felt as though she had none in this state.

Suddenly, a stiff feeling cracked up her spine, spreading out to both of her arms. The sensation of legs came after, flowing from her torso down to the tips of her toes.

Finally, she felt the same stiffness that gripped her spine crawl up her face, finding the perfect resting place beneath her eyes. They remained shut, but the feeling of being a body-less spirit remained no longer.

Soon after, the voices returned, growing louder until she could decipher their sources. Familiar ones. The words they uttered continued to be nothing more than gibberish.

Ouch. Tara managed to form a comprehensible thought. Why can't I move?

"Cover her. She'll get a nasty sunburn if we leave her like this."

Words she could understand. Dad?

The crunching of boots on a surface of pebbles responded. They grew quieter, ceased for a few moments, then loudened once more.

"Our baby girl is still hanging in there."

Mom?

The caressing voices slowly pulled her out of the stasis. Vitality began pulsing throughout her body. Tara's eyes cracked open. The sudden light was blinding, but she refused to allow herself to fall back into that state of darkness.

She let out a short groan. Her throat was dry, so much so that the words she wanted to say refused to leave her tongue.

The harsh light softened, bringing into view a couple of familiar faces; those of her mother and father.

"Tara!"

Her mother dropped the blanket she was holding, nearly tripping over it as she impulsively reached for her daughter. Next thing Tara knew, she was being smothered as the weeping woman hugged her tightly.

"Ma-" she tried pleading. Her mother released, then reached down to stroke Tara's face. She smiled, tears still streaming down her face. Tears of joy.

Tara couldn't help but remember the tears her mother had shed for those who shared her grandfather's fate. The ones that slowly diminished over the years. It had been nearly a decade since she last witnessed such emotion.

"My baby has come back to us," her mother's voice cracked. Tara could see her father just behind. He had not spoken, yet his eyes glistened as he struggled to stop himself from crying.

"D-dad," Tara said in a raspy voice as she reached one hand towards the awestruck man. With those words, he relented.

Seeing the two of them break down made her feel the same way. She wailed as the three of them embraced. A feeling of joy washed over her as their warmth melted the angst that had burrowed itself inside of her.

Tara couldn't even recall the last time her parents held her, nor did it matter. All that mattered was the here and now.

"Tara's awake?" jingled a familiar voice.

~

A soft breeze graced Tara as she trekked along a path in the dying forest. The winds had returned, but the landscape remained ever so bleak. Only a lone Marberry tree stood out among the twisted figures that once bore other fruits centuries ago.

According to her family, it had been three months since they found her at the edge of the crater, several days after she ran off. Mikey could've sworn she witnessed her big sister vanish. She even recalled seeing the dust cloud caused by her tumble down the slope. But when she and her father arrived at the rim, they saw no trace of Tara.

The days that followed were the most heart-wrenching. The most capable members of the family made their way to the bottom, only to find an imprint of what they had assumed to be Tara's crumpled corpse.

Everyone had assumed she was dead. Some speculated, while others chose to perish any thought. Still, her mother refused to give up.

She held onto a glimmer of hope. It was this unrelenting feeling that ultimately saved her daughter's life. For that, Tara was most thankful to her beloved mother.

But what was that voice I heard? Tara thought to herself. Even as broken as I was, I am still sure that was no hallucination.

She walked up to the base of the Marberry tree, taking a moment to inspect the bright indigo fruits that grew no larger than a finger nail. The heart-shaped leaf that hung off of its stem always fascinated Tara, but she certainly couldn't say the same for its taste.

All that lay between her and her next meal was this simple task. As such, her mind continued drifting as she plucked. An angel. That's who I thought it may have been. But it can't be. That's just ludicrous.

Suddenly, Tara felt a set of tiny legs plant themselves onto her index finger. She glanced down only to be met with a brightly colored caterpillar, oblivious to the reaction it had just set off. She squealed, desperately attempting to shake the critter off of her. The berries she had held in the makeshift pouch of her shirt plummeted to the ground, bouncing in all directions upon contact.

Tara's mood shifted from disgust to utter disappointment. "I wish that angel could bless me with their presence right now," she said to herself jokingly. The half-hearted chuckle that followed evolved into a long strung groan.

Just then, a dark figure fell from the tree, sending leaves and berries crashing down with it. It came to a hard thump on the ground. Tara stiffened up in a sudden shock. Her eyes widened. They remained so as she heard the mysterious newcomer let out a groan identical to hers.

"Ouch," sounded a masculine voice.

Tara remained speechless as he rose up, revealing his face to her. "Am I this angel you speak of?"

His figure was that of a teenage boy in his physical prime. But there were other things that Tara couldn't keep her eyes off of; his skin tone, hair, and facial features had qualities she had never seen before. 

His rugged hair was pitch black, like the moons when they eclipsed the sun. His eyes were pools of hazel and his skin tone had a dark tint that contrasted her own pale, white skin.

Several moments passed before Tara realized the man was completely naked. "Is that-"

Her eyes quivered at the sight of his manhood. "Wait!" the boy said, jerking his arm out to cover her mouth before she could say another word. "Just hear me out, alright?"