Back in her unit, Davina had paced for so long she was surprised a path hadn’t been worn into the floor. She had done exactly as Sister Zinnia asked, she’d gone to the kitchen, gathered as much food as she could without anyone realizing something was missing. Spare toiletries from the bathhouse were currently lying on her bed, which her panicky hands had made to keep themselves busy. A sheet of paper, a pen, and one large spare set of bedsheets were sitting on the floor. Anxious to know what the plan was, Davina was growing more and more stressed with each passing minute. Having to scamper about the complex in the dead of night like a rat did nothing to quell her fears.
The handle to her unit softly clicked and Sister Zinnia slipped in, armes ladened with clothing and a dark piece of cloth.
“I thought you said you’d be right back!” Davina would have shouted had it not been for the years of practiced whisper-reading in her room. “I-I thought...” she trailed off, mind playing endless possibilities.
Dropping the bundle in her arms so she could speak, the sister did her best to try and soothe the frazzled girl before her. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Just kept dropping things on my way here but didn’t want to make two trips,” she gestured to the pile of colorful clothing.
“What is all of that?”
“These my dear are bits from the clothing drive we’re having. This was everything I could find that may fit you. I was inspired by a certain someone” The satisfied smirk on the sister’s face was contagious, she gestured to the girl’s lumpy bed with a raised brow.
“You knew about that?” She had been under the impression that no one but Viola knew of her secret books. Possibly Scaevola if the girl was curious enough to go digging under her bed, but even if she did find the books she wouldn’t have said so. That child was a walking pile of chaos, but she was a good secret keeper.
If Sister Zinnia could have laughed she probably would have.
“Child, you tried to hide a rectangle under your tunic all through breakfast when you were fourteen, it was kind of obvious. I always knew.” Smug with having revealed her news, the sister sat down smiling, and began folding the clothes she’d dumped onto the floor. “Now we can’t have you walking around in that” she eyed the brown tunic Davina was still wearing, “it’ll be an immediate give away.”
She hadn’t really thought about it before but of course the outside world would know what a Sister of New Light looked like. They were covered from chin to ankle in clothing that screamed ‘I love Soldeus’. “So what am I to wear?”
“Here try this,” a white long sleeve shirt and a thick bundle of dark green were pushed towards her. “They’re plain enough to not draw attention to yourself, the skirt is pretty warm, and quite frankly I don’t think I could make it fit in the bag.” The dark piece of cloth she had been carrying before looked oddly familiar.
“Is that-?”
She glanced at what the girl was pointing at. “One of the Notrose sister’s bags? Why yes. Yes it is.” That smug grin was back. “You’ll be needing it more than they will. Now come on, you don’t have a lot of time.” She resumed folding and began stuffing things into the bag.
Davina rubbed the new clothing between her fingers. It was wonderfully soft. The brown tunics, not meant to be lavish, often scratched at her skin and chaffed her legs and inner arms during hot days. She didn’t give it another thought or second glance as she yanked it over her head, balled it up, and threw it in the corner. The white shirt both fit and didn’t fit. It was a perfect fit across her shoulders and chest, but the sleeves dangled past her fingers. Sister Zinnia was right about the skirt, it would certainly keep her warm. Feeling a little childish she twirled twice, liking how the fabric swirled and flared around her ankles.
The sister smiled fondly at the spinning girl, lost in memories of her past. She shook her head and quickly finished stuffing the last of the clothing into the small knapsack.
“There weren't any shoes, but hopefully it’ll be another warm day so you won’t feel it.”
Davina nodded, having never worn shoes before she didn’t particularly care about not having them.
“Now, hand me that would you?” She pointed to the two bundles of food Davina had placed on her bedside table from her spot on the floor. Carefully passing them to her, so no food spilled out, she watched as the sister carefully placed them on the top part of her bag.
The concern that had been swimming around in the back of her mind finally sputtered out of her mouth, “what am I to do about the outsiders?”
Some of her first memories were of Matrem Aster telling her how the world beyond their gates crawled with the soulless, those who had shunned Souldes’ light and clung to darkness. Spending mere hours in their presence could corrupt your own soul and soon you would be nothing but a snake, crawling upon the Earth through dirt.
It was the sisters mission to save as many souls as they could by spreading His word. The few locals that joined the sisters for choir or prayer were proof that outsiders were capable of salvation.
“I was wondering when we would have this conversation.” The sister wouldn’t meet her eyes, her hands fiddled with the worn strap of the bag, she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else than sitting cross-legged on the girl’s floor. “Everything you know is a lie.”
“What? What are you talking about? What’s a lie?”
Those warm eyes closed and she rested her head against the bed, looking far too tired and old than she ought to. “There is no Soldeus.”
One sentence. It took those four words to burn what little sanity she had left. Her whole world revolved around the all-powerful Sun God, but this woman, the only person she truly trusted in the world, had spoken the ultimate sin.
“I don’t…understand. What do you mean there is no…” she couldn’t bring himself to say the name. Speaking ill of their savior was no small feat.
“What do you know of the Great Wars?” After a beat of silence she finally met the girl's eyes, eyebrows raised.
“I don’t- I mean- what? You mean the fights between outsiders hundreds of years ago? What does this have to do with Soldeus?” She knew very little of the Great Wars. Her tutor had long ago told her how countries blew one another away off the face of the map, and how little from that era survived. Reaching her brain that was about all she could dredge up on the subject.
“Those fights are how this all started,” she gestured to the unit around her as she spoke. “The Great Light was one of the last bombs to go off during the War of Waters. Years of fighting more than halved the world population and completely changed the layout of many countries.” She paused, either waiting for her words to sink in, or waiting for the girl to understand what she had just revealed.
“I still don’t get what you’re trying to say.” Everything was becoming too much. This morning her biggest concern was that she burned her tongue drinking her tea too fast, now she was packing a bag to leave her community after watching a shadow man cut her friend’s throat. And now this? Maybe it’s all just a bad dream.
“Think about it. ’Soldeus saw the chaos and darkness beneath him and took pity on the world. There was a flash of Great Light and the darkness was burned away from the world.” Those dark eyes stared so hard they could have bore a hole into Davina’s face. “A bomb went off D, and a lot of people died. That is the Great Light.”
Davina didn’t know what to do with this I formation. The thing she had praised for almost twenty years was a lie. A horrible lie that was based off of death and war, not the warm and forgiving presence she had believed.
D. She hadn’t been called that since she was sixteen and told the sister her fears of being overlooked by the other maneats for Angelonia. That girl had a way of getting under her skin. Don’t you worry D, you’re meant for much greater things than that kiss up could ever dream of. Not only did she always have her back, but Sister Zinnia knew how she felt about her name.
If she called her that she was serious.
Things were slowly clicking into place. “So everything about the outside world is…a lie too? My soul won’t be corrupted?” Fear of what lurked beyond those walls was one of the main reasons why none of the sisters left the property.
“The only thing that could corrupt your soul is you, child. What we do and say all matter, but the only person who decides your fate is you.” The words sat heavy in Davina’s chest.
She felt…used. Betrayed. Confused. She had been taught that the world around her was filled with evil as a way to keep her scared and powerless. The people she trusted had filled her head with lies and stolen the chance at a life she’d always dreamed of. But maybe this was her chance to take it back.
She sat a little straighter, ready to face this scary future. “What do I have to do?”
⟴
“Okay now for the hard part.”
Head cocked to the side in confusion, she asked “what hard part?”
“All that's left is for you to grab anything of yours that you’d like to take with you. I just need to write something real quick.” She nodded towards the paper and pen Davina had brought.
“Do you think I could bring any of my books?” They were her most prized possessions, it hadn’t occurred to her that she would be leaving them behind.
Tilting her head from side to side, evaluating the size of the bag, she nodded but held up one finger before she began writing.
Only one?! But which one? Reaching her fingers between the sheets and the frame she pulled out each book. She’d read each one several times, grown bored of a few of them even, but realizing she would never see most of them again made her suddenly wish she had read them more. After much deliberation and perhaps a silly tear or two, she settled on A Flock of Sweet Spiders. It was a children's book about a courageous spider who wants to save the world, not knowing the world already sees him as a monster. It was a rather silly story, but it made her happy no matter how many times she read it.
Content with her choice, she carefully wedged it into the bag not wanting to mess up the sister’s careful packing.
“Was that the hard part?” True she felt as though she’d just ripped her soul in half, but the sister had made it sound as though more troubles were to come.
Sister Zinnia was still scribbling away at her note, but she nodded to let her know she’d heard her question. Davina waited patiently until those dark eyes looked up, though they looked miles away. Standing and tucking the letter deep into the folds of the bag, the sister turned and looked one last time into the face she had cared for for so many years.
“Kind of. The books were your hard part, the letter and this” she gestured to the space between them, “is mine.” She took a deep breath to calm herself and push back any tears threatening to spring free, for she had to be the sturdy one here. “This is where I leave you.”
Davina took a breath, ready to beg that she came with her, but the sister cut her off.
“I can’t leave child. I wish I could, I’ve tried, but I can’t. People are rewarded if they find runaway sisters. My presence would be putting you in unnecessary danger. You, who’ve taken no vows are safe, and I will never put you in harm’s way.”
Davina didn’t know what to say. She had learned so much, too much that day. A single tear sliding down her round face said it all.
“But I will keep you safe.” She lifted a silver chain out from under her tunic, one Davina had never seen before, and placed it over the girl’s head. “This was one of the only things from my old life I managed to keep with me. Show this to the person I send you to, okay?”
“But who-”
“Everyone has their secret love, this one was mine.” She opened the locket hanging at the end of the chain and showed the girl the old picture inside.
The photo was a little grainey, but she could easily make out Sister Zinnia. Those same dark eyes gleamed up at her, the same warm smile she knew was there. A man with a shadow of a beard on his cheeks, and a warm smile of his own, had his arms wrapped around the sister. Although I guess she was Anne when this was taken. And there curled happily in the woman’s arms was a sleeping child.
“I never, how come you never..?” She wasn’t quite sure what to say. Her little mind had been blown so many times in one day that it didn’t know what to do with this information that now hung around her neck.
The sister closed the locket, the ghosts of memories long since passed clearly swimming in her eyes. “We’re not exactly allowed to share our pre-vow lives now are we? Sweet sun, sisters aren’t allowed to have been married before, let alone have children. They were not easy secrets to share.”
“Can you..Can you tell me about them now? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
The sister never could say no to those big hazel eyes. “Fine. But only because you’re going to learn about it anyway. Before I came here, back when I was Anne, I was married to a man named Robert Stokes. Everyone called him Bobby though.” The fondness in her face made Davina smile, she always liked it when people around her were happy. “We got married when we were young, just about your age actually, and they were the happiest years of my life. We had our daughter Lorraine, and life couldn’t have been better.” She paused and she closed her eyes, the memories racing in her mind.
“We had no idea she was sick until it was too late. She was the sweetest little thing. She’d laugh at just about anything and she had these eyes that just wanted to swallow the world up. Bobby and I fell apart after that. I threw myself into work, I was barely home, and Bobby-well he made some bad friends. I think he was just trying to feel something again. Anyway, we were drowning in debt so when this woman came by and said there was a way to fix all of our problems, I did the only thing I could. In exchange for my enrollment into the community they agreed to clear our debt.”
Her story sounded oddly similar to Maggie’s. A stranger befriending them during a time of struggle and offering to fix their problems, something weird was going on. She wondered what the stranger would have offered her had she not been taken here as a toddler.
“I’m sorry you went through that. That couldn’t have been easy, and you did part of it alone.”
She shook her head, and in that moment Davina saw how tired the sister was.
“I’m telling you this because Bobby can help you.” Before the girl could open her mouth to ask more questions she continued, “I’ve gotten a letter or two from him over the years, it wasn't easy to sneak in mind you, but he’s gotten his life back in order, and I have his address. You’d be right around the age that our Lori would have been. No one would know the difference.” She finally put her hands down and took a breath. It sounded like she was trying to talk herself into the plan instead of stating the facts to Davina.
This time she did ask questions. “Wait, who? Would know what difference?”
“Collectors. If the shrine ever came looking for you all they would see is a father and daughter. Bobby could fix some paperwork to make it look as though his daughter has come to live with him after the surprise passing of his estranged wife.”
Davina stared back at her open-mouthed. She didn’t even know what to say to that. When did she have the time to set all of this up? We’ve only been planning this for an hour?!
“I wrote his address down on the front of the letter. It's 1229 Bell st, it should be near the water and not too far from the clock tower.”
“Wait woah woah woah. What?”
“It’ll be alright. You’ve ju-”
“How am I supposed to even get there? I’d have no idea where I was going. Sun! I could wind up getting lost and eaten by..by wolves! Do we even have wolves here? Stars I bet I’d be delici-”
Sister Zinnia put a hand on the girl’s shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. Her concerned eyes said sweet light, what is wrong with you? She pulled out a folded and yellowing sheet of paper from the pocket of her tunic, one of its sides was torn as though it was ripped from a book. Unfolded, Davina could see it was an old map of Bridlo county, one that had three clearly hand-drawn sketches squeezed within its margins. She knew the girl’s mind well.
“I-fine. I know you’re right.” Taking the paper from her grasp she saw there were several crudely drawn sketches across the top of it. One of the skylines she loved staring at, with an arrow pointing out a tall structure. Under the picture she’d written the clock tower. The second sketch was of a directional post. One arrow pointed to a town called stagrest and the other, with a star drawn next to it, was redwell. The last was of street intersections. The names Ashwood ave, Spruce lane, Orville st, and Percival st had been scrawled next to little drawings.
She looked up, face full of questions. Her mind was still stuck on what book the map had come out of. The shrine doesn’t even have books like this.
“I’ve given you all the major landmarks you’ll need.” Gesturing to the map she went on, “you have to walk towards the clock tower. That tall tower you can see from the north windows.”
Davina nodded, she knew exactly which building she meant. She had no idea it was a clock until then however.
“Eventually you’ll come to a fork that will force you to either go left or right. You want to follow the signs to Redwell. I forget how long of a walk it will be from there, but the clock tower will come back into view and you just keep walking towards it.”
This was starting to sound like a lot of walking.
“Bobby and I lived a few blocks away from the docks on Percival st. It's a little white house with blue shutters.” Her sad smile was back.
“Okay. I think I can remember all of that.” She wasn’t going to admit how grateful she was that the sister had drawn pictures instead of writing out the directions by hand.
“Now when you get there,” she took the map and turned it over so Davina could see the back of it. “Make sure you say ‘Annie is collecting her favor’, he wouldn’t dare turn you away.”
As she informed the girl of this her face shifted from sad into something that said try me I dare you, so Davina didn’t push the subject too far. But she did have to ask, “but what if he does turn me away?”
“That’s what the locket is for. Once he realizes I’m the one who sent you, you’ll be good to go.” Her fingers came up to clasp the locket around the girl’s neck, her thumb gently grazing the front of it. There had once clearly been a symbol on it, but years of that back and forth motion had rubbed it away. It was clearly a beloved object, and Davina felt bad that the sister was parting with it because of her.
“Are you sure you don’t want to-?”
“No, no. I’m sure. You’ll be needing it more than I will.” She sniffed once and turned her back to her, busying herself with what looked like a cloak draped across the bed. “Now it’s going to get cold at night so don’t lose this.” She draped the dark fabric over the girl’s shoulders, fastening the buttons, not meeting her eyes. “You should be going. It’ll be getting light out soon, but I’ll buy you a few hours.”
“How are you going to do that?” A trickle of sweat was starting to form at the nape of her neck, she was no longer sure if it was the heat from the layers or her nerves. She was going to blame the layers.
“Ah, now that's what the spare bed sheets are for. I’m going to make it look like you’re sick in bed with a cold. You know the others hate the idea of catching anything. They’ll leave your unit alone, and by the time they realize you’re not even here you’ll be long gone.”
Even though they both knew it, Davina had to say it. “I’m going to miss you.” She wrapped her arms around the only person who had shown her love. If she didn’t get a hold of her emotions she would call the whole thing off and go through with the silencing, if it meant she could stay with the sister.
“I’ll miss you too, child.” She whipped away a tear Davina hadn’t even realized she shed. “Now, now. None of that. You’ve got a long journey ahead of you.” She walked over to the plain wood door, and gestured to the girl.
Taking one last look around her room, she picked up the bag from the floor, slung it over her back, and slipped out into the cold night.
The air was sharp and bit at her exposed cheeks, but she took a moment to turn back to the open door to wave goodbye.
“Goodbye Davina.” The woman's silhouette, illuminated by a single candle would be the last time she saw Sister Zinnia for quite some time.
⟴
To Davina, stumbling lost in the woods was magnificent.
Having only ever stared at the woods surrounding the shrine from a distance, she’d never appreciated it’s height up close. She felt small and insignificant surrounded by the towering pine giants, and she loved every minute of it. She wasn’t quite sure if she was walking in the right direction, the clocktower and the lights of the town were nothing but a small speck of light in the distance. She’d come across something vaguely resembling a path a few hours ago, but didn’t feel too confident about it. Her path was just a line on the dirt that was clear of leaves and fallen branches, as if someone had just walked through recently. Her plan was to keep walking in what was hopefully the right direction while the sky lightened around her.
Sure the heavy skirt got caught on branches and ripped, and she may have tripped down a small hill, but she was just happy to be outside. Each step away from the community was new. Perhaps it was the sweet sweet taste of freedom talking, but she even found the sharp pebbles underfoot fascinating. To her mind never before had the scent of pine needles been so sharp and crisp, nor had birdsong ever sounded so pure.
She wasn’t expecting it but the woods practically hummed with life. Wind made the tops of trees sway, leaves shifted and whispered as she walked through them, and small animals skittered in the underbrush. Birds called out to each other and had her emotions not already gone through the ringer, she probably would have wept out of pure joy. The sound of running, trickling water was somewhere far off to her right, leaving a quiet hush in its wake. She went out of her way to step on twigs or run her fingers over coarse tree bark, loving the way it occasionally crunched under her hand.
As the sky gave her mercy and buttery light filtered through the gaps between trees, Davina finally stopped walking.
Finding a large rock to sit upon, she pulled out one of the bundles of food from her bag. There hadn’t been much to grab from the kitchen, a few chunks of bread, some soft pieces of fruit, one hardboiled egg, and a few tea bags. She wasn’t exactly sure how or when she would have time for tea, but they had been sitting on the counter so she grabbed them anyway.
Deciding on the egg, she slowly munched on it as she tried to absorb the events of the day. Her brain immediately skipped over the grim ceremony. Those memories were to be locked away in her mind, with the key buried in the part of her brain that handled math. She instead focused on Sister Zinnia.
There was so much about her that she didn’t know. Stars, still doesn’t know. Maybe Bobby can help fill in some of the blanks, or Robert. She wasn’t too sure she was ready to refer to someone she’d yet to meet with such an informal name. She never would have guessed that the woman who showed her how to properly carve a Soldeus statue was someone’s wife. She was someone’s mom.The sister had always been good with Davina when she was growing up. Always explained things in a way that she could understand, always listened to her endless questions, never lost her patience with her, and she was an expert at chasing away nightmares.
Her tired brain still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that she was no longer a sister. She wouldn’t have to answer to Sister Myrtle again. There would be no more days spent in silence. No more stiff prayer benches. No more itchy toques, no more veils. She could just be herself. Whoever that is.
Breakfast finished, eggshell bits brushed off her skirt, she gently pulled the folded map out of its resting place. The layout of the city reminded her of a large flower, the streets furling out from the center, where a large rectangle labeled Merchant’s Corner resided. The county of Bridlo was split in two. Stagrest took up the left half and hugged the borders of the Devoe estate. Redwell, Davina’s destination, was a smidge smaller but reached the docks of Poncona Sea. Only a large grove, a smattering of homes, and farmland separated them from the shrine.
The aged map did not show her old home, but there were two familiar fading landmarks on the page that could still help point her in the right direction. There were small lines depicting the farms she’d walked through as she left, and a darkly shaded blob with small waves that wound its way towards the Poncona sea. If she was correct, and the shushing sound she was hearing was the river, then as long as she kept the water on her right she would eventually find the cities.
Standing on her rock chair she could make it out, just there, between the branches of a...birch tree? She was 57% sure it was a birch tree. There was a dark nothingness where the cliffs ended and dropped into the cold choppy waters.
So onwards she walked.
There was no way to tell how long she had been walking for. The woods weren't run by a system of bells. The sun was somewhere behind her now, so perhaps it was sometime in the afternoon or evening when her path reached a fork in the road.
Half of the food was already gone, her feet were sore and every step stung, but her spirits lifted when she saw the rotted wooden post. The signs were pitted and rough. There were flecks of green peeling away in spots, perhaps it had been painted once but time had not been so kind. The town names were still there though. Someone had neatly carved Stagrest and Redwell deep into the wood, but their cheery appearance looked wrong on something so old and weathered.
The disintegrating arrow pointed right for Redwell, so right it was.
The trees were noticeably denser along this path, but at least it was an actual path. There were neat round stones lining the sides of the dirt road, and every so often a wood arrow would appear to inform her how far away the town was. 15 miles. Then 10. The closer she got the faster her heart raced.
By the time she reached 5 miles her head was pounding in time with her chest. The sky had since grown dark but the lights of the village were so deliciously close, so she blindly stumbled on. She rehearsed what she was to say to Bobby in her mind over and over, until the words Annie is collecting her favor no longer had any meaning. The exhaustion and excitement overrode any fear she should have been feeling, and what little anxiety did voice it’s opinion she quickly silenced. She had come too far, literally and figuratively to turn away because she was scared. Her jumpy muscles practically made her speed walk the last mile, and she didn’t stop until a large and well maintained sign loomed in the distance.
Her hand came up to run it’s fingers over the smooth glossy wood of their own accord. Every ache and pain in her body quieted out of respect for what was possibly the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.
Welcome to Redwell
⟴
On a given night the town of Redwell was louder than any unusually loud day at the shrine. People were still awake, shuffling home from late night shifts at factories, or casually walking arm in arm with loved ones, enjoying the night air. Others drunkenly sang garbled tunes as they stumbled out of bars. The smell of sea salt accompanied the not too distant sound of the surf crashing into rocks. The cry of gulls sent a pang of homesickness into Davina, who would miss the croak of her own winged friends.
She tried hard not to openly flinch when people walked too close. Warnings of don’t get too close, beware their sweet lies, and may Soldeus keep you from temptation, sang sad lullabies behind her eyes. A pit of bitter anger was growing in her stomach. Years of sitting behind a desk while a woman she trusted crammed lies into her head, wasted. The matrem had molded her child mind like she was some kind of plaything. Davina tried to drown that boiling pit in her stomach with the marvelous, unspoiled, possibilities before her.
Years of gazing at the Bridlo cities and expert daydreaming hadn’t prepared her for this. Rows of pastel colored homes, shops advertising seafood, ice cream, and brunch specials (whatever that was), stood on either side of the street. Those curious eyes drank in every inch of the foreign world around her. Her imagination never would have pictured the soft flickering glow of the street lanterns that gave an orange tint to the cracked cement roads. Nor did every house have little numbers or names on the mailboxes or doorways in her mind. Stars, she had never even factored in something as small as mailboxes into her daydreams before.
The chiming of the large clock tower reminded her of home and of her task. She decided she liked the sound of the clock more than the bells of the shrine. Where her old life had been run by shrill chimes, this clock had a deep powerful gong she could almost feel deep in her chest.
Peering around, the tolling tower stood proudly ahead, looming above the surrounding houses. She liked the look of it, crafted out of large sandy stones, it was rather squat looking but the tall spire helped it cut through the generally flat skyline. The clock face was a charcoal black with golden hands, that ticked by happily.
Out came the sister’s map, and she studied it until her tired eyes burned. Judging by the map and her position juxtaposed to the tower, she was standing on the main road. Bell st couldn’t be too far. If she was reading it correctly, and nothing had changed since Sister Zinnia was here last, then the house she was searching for was seven streets to her right. Two blocks in from the docks.
Suppressed nerves getting the better of her, Davina walked up to a darkened shop window and tried to inspect her appearance in its reflection. She looked how one would expect to after walking for an entire day. Her feet along with the bottom two inches of her skirt were caked with mud, patches of the skirt were torn and covered with prickly burrs. Her hair resembled some of the bird nests she’d seen on her hike through the woods, and no amount of smoothing or running her fingers through it helped. She wiped as much grime off of her face as she could with a patch of slightly clean shirt sleeve, adjusted the bag on her back so it sat straighter, and that was the best she could do.
Bell st looked quite similar to the streets surrounding it. The only difference Davina could make out was its proximity to the water. Small boats lay upside down in a few front lawns, long fishing rods rested beside doors, and there looked to be about two bait shops on the block.
One house stood out from the rest however. The pastel white and blue paint on the house had chipped away over time, giving the house a faded and tired appearance. Only two of its blue shudders remained intact, the others hung sideways or lied on the overgrown grass below. The three stone steps leading up to the house were littered with small cracks and bits of something green were trying to grow out of a few. There were no chairs on its porch, or flowers growing in boxes under windows. Davina actually noticed that a few of the windows had cracks in them that were beginning to spiderweb outward. She must have stood outside the sleepy home for half an hour before she gathered the courage to actually climb the steps and knock on the once-blue door.
She knocked. Nothing.
Again, and nothing. A dog barked somewhere in the distance. At least someone hears me.
A third knock, this one a little harder. There was still no movement. She’d knock harder but a fear of splinters kept her hands at her side, she didn’t trust the paint-peeled door.
All of her planning and envisioning of this moment hadn’t involved him not answering the door. Him turning her away? Check. A stranger opening the door, with Robert Stokes having moved away years ago? Check. The shadow doctor waiting for her with a knife, staring hungrily at her throat? Yep she’d thought of that one after she stubbed her toes on a rock. Again. How had she not thought of him not answering the door? It was the middle of the night after all, he was most likely asle-the groaning of the door startled her thoughts.
“What?” A tired voice snapped at her from behind the slightly cracked door. Too dark to see the face of the voice, Davina’s mind chose instead to focus on the fact that she had never spoken to a man before.
“I..” Her reply came out in a choppy exhale and sounded more like a puff of air than anything else.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” No, she didn’t. “I’ve got a business to run ya know?” She did not know that.
What she did know how to do was stare up at the dark crack like a drowning fish. If she did make a sound it wasn’t voluntary.
“Come back when the sun's up if ya know what's good for you.” With that, the gruff voice shut the door and she was back to staring at chipped blue paint.
What? No! Davina shook herself and shouted back “Annieiscollectingherfavor!” Her carefully practiced words came out smashed together and in one quick burst. Even if he had heard her she wasn’t sure if anyone would have understood the mess of letters that just fell out of her mouth.
A too-heavy pause. He’s not coming back. Her lungs felt too heavy in her chest suddenly and she crumpled upon herself on the middle step, her feet pounding in sweet relief. There was no backup plan. Stars, there was barely even a plan. Her exhausted mind spun in circles, she’d left everything because Sister Zinnia trusted this man. Maybe she could go back? The sister and her could come up with another way to leave and this time they could both go. Perhaps- the door groaned once again behind her.
Before she even had a chance to turn around a large hand was under her elbow and plucking her off the steps. The darkness of the house swallowed her whole.
183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1o4HoBfAp
