So as promised, here's the next chapter of the writing I posted up last week. I've been musing over the whole thing again and yeah, I think this piece of writing's gone to the grave for good. Elements of the scenes I've written may pop up in some other story but other than that, it's pretty much dead and buried. I've got to let it go, if I can't get inspiration to continue it, I won't force it!
Don't cry Siaw don't cry.
Haha, nahhh I'm not overtly emotionally attached to the thing anyway. :D
On a side note, I've read through it once and I actually think there would've been some things I'd fix up if I were continuing the story. Since I'm not however, here it is, exactly as it was all those years ago, unedited:
Chapter One: Encounter
Kristine clutched at her mother’s dress, peering between the folds of the soft material. What she saw had her gripping her mother’s garments even more tightly. She blinked desperately, repeatedly to get rid of the image that was before her eyes.
Not even in her dreams, or more appropriately, nightmares, had she imagined the scenario to be that horrifying.
No, not even in her dreams, she decided firmly, burying her tiny face into the light fabric that was her mother’s dress.
Something tugged on Kristine’s dress from behind.
Kristine’s face reluctantly emerged from the sea of periwinkle blue, tilting her head slightly in the direction of the tug.
The grin that was aimed directly at her was that of an evil demon, just like those grins and faces Kristine were hiding from.
With the loudest howl she could muster, Kristine pushed away from her mother with all her might and started to run away as fast as her little legs could carry her.
Startled, Kristine’s mother twirled around, suddenly acutely aware that her legs were no longer bogged down by an additional weight. She glanced down at the hem of her dress; the place Kristine was grabbing onto sheer minutes ago.
“Kristine?” she asked, tentatively, head snapping up; the conversation between her and her companion next to her coming to an abrupt stop.
An anguished howl, followed by a series of terrified screams came from several feet away.
“ Kristine!”
It was a shout this time, no longer a puzzled question.
“Mummy!”
The little girl, dressed in a simple lavender frock screamed again and put on a sudden burst of speed, hoping against desperate hope that she would be able to lose the one who gave chase.
She was absolutely terrified of – of it. Given, she had to admit, it was mean and cruel of her to label anything, or more precisely, anyone an it, but then again, the evil and horrible figure that tore after her could never be bestowed with the honor of having a calling that would denote its gender.
She howled again, turning her head slightly to watch her mother left behind in the dust it kicked up behind its feet. Her mother was starting to shrink into the background as she ran further and further away from her. The familiar figure draped in soft periwinkle blue was fast becoming a speck in the distance.
“Mummy, help!” she yelled at the top of her voice.
A few feet away, Kristine’s mum could only watch helplessly as Kristine ran, flailing her arms wildly as she almost bludgeoned into a little wide-eyed girl. Her hand swept up in front of her before she could realize and she stepped forward, as if to rescue her little girl, to calm her down when her companion’s arm shot out, grasping her hand gently but firmly before lowering it slowly back to Melody’s side.
“Melody,” her companion chuckled, reading her mind and noting the worry carved in it, “Don’t worry, she’d be fine. It’s just harmless fun. She’s not in any mortal danger.”
“But she sounds afraid!” Melody protested as Kristine’s screams rose a note higher. “She sounds like she’s going to – to faint if this reckless chase continues and – “
“Hush, Melody.” Her companion smiled easily and chuckled. “The chase is as what you said: reckless. Nevertheless, it will not harm Melody. Children her age are supposed to be chased or give chase.” She laughed, a fond look suddenly dawning in her eyes. “The times I used to have as one.” Her eyes snapped back into focus. “So, you must not worry, Melody.”
“But – “
“Melody.” Her voice was laced with a warning tone. “She may sound afraid now; maybe because she doesn’t know why she’s being chased out of the blue. But when she realizes that the chase is just for fun – “ Her voice trailed off and she smiled at Melody. “Let her go with an easy heart, Melody, my dear.”
Melody sighed, a small smile making its way across her face as she watched Kristine; it was a funny and adorable sight although Kristine was going through a possible cardiac arrest. Then she frowned a little, wondering why on earth her daughter was being so afraid.
It gave a small chuckle, and as if sensing Kristine’s distress, began to gain on her.
No, thought Kristine, eyes widening with horror, alarm bells beginning to ring in her head, Where’s mummy?
Kristine remembered her last encounter with it. Oh yes, she did very well. The picture that flashed through her mind was clear as the morning sky that floated cheerfully above her as she raced across the playground, avoiding the little girls that sat in a circle, poking at the flowers that grew in the centre –
It had been a bright summer day, just like this one. In fact, the similarities between this day and that day etched in her memory were so uncanny that it was too close for comfort for Kristine.
Kristine had been barely three at that time, happily skipping around in the meadows just outside the village. The meadows had always been her favorite place to play – there were always the happy sunflower heads which could be plucked and rattled; she would watch with glee and excitement as the seeds tumbled out every time, without fail. Then, if she were lucky, there were always dandelions to pick and blow. She absolutely admired and adored the way the graceful heads gave way to tiny propellers that would fly across the meadows, far into the distance.
On that day however, there had been no dandelions. So Kristine had, grudgingly, resigned herself to playing with the sunflowers.
Just as she had bent to pluck the stooped flower’s head, it had arrived.
The it she had seen on that horrible day was, she knew, different from the one that chased her with a relentless pace today. Given, they both had different colored eyes and hair, but Kristine hadn’t missed the way its eyes shone with evil and mischief, just like the way the current its eyes sparkled with now. Little girls’ eyes never shone with such pure naughtiness and mischief, only little its.
It had pushed her to the ground in the meadows with such force that Kristine had never had the chance to defend herself. Her little chubby face had met with the loosening soil helplessly, her arms flailing wildly with some sort of hope that perhaps their desperate movements would be able to stop Kristine from having her head stuck in the ground. It was all in vain nevertheless as Kristine not only found her head jammed into the crumbling soil but also her entire body as the little devil swept the feet from under her, cackling with glee.
Kristine had spluttered and spit out horrible-tasting mud and dirt, almost crying when she noticed the state her favorite play clothes were in: a hideously disgusting mess. She had felt the tears slide down her face and had even opened her mouth to release a scream but the scream was stuck in her throat as she realized that part of her throat had been clogged up with dirt. So she had been reduced to glaring daggers at the little devil as it sauntered away, snickering. She had wanted to rush after it then and rain her little fists all over its back but she had held herself back in fear that it would just shove her back down into the ground again mercilessly.
So she had stood there, glaring at it until it had faded into a speck into a distance. She had never known someone who could be so mean. After all, she hadn’t even disturbed it. She had merely been picking flowers. And it wasn’t as if the beautiful flowers belonged to it. Nothing as pretty as her beloved flowers could ever belong to such an evil thing.
When she went home, she had slopped mud all over the floor in such large amounts that her father had originally thought that the culprit for the mess was the buffalo from the farm across the street which had somehow managed to sneak into the house. Upon finding out that Kristine was the one at fault however, he had, remarkably, not scolded her but instead teased her.
“Kristine, why aren’t you a little devil now for bringing all this mud home?”
Despite the twinkle in his eyes when he said that, Kristine had been immensely horrified as the scary image of the little devil that had shoved her in the meadows flitted like a shadow across her mind at the mention of the word devil.
Not surprisingly, after the terrible flashback, Kristine had howled loudly and practically flew to her bedroom upstairs, leaving behind a very puzzled father and a very angry mother, who had been brought out of the kitchen by her daughter’s terrified howls; both of which didn’t know what had gotten into her and what she was so afraid of.
The memory flashed away as fast as it had come; it seemed to Kristine that the reminiscing had never come to her at all.
Her feet was pounding heavily on the ground now, sharing the same wild beat as her heart. Her eyes skimmed over a little girl who was happily playing with her rag doll on the green grass as she ran past.
Why is she not disturbed by it being here? she thought, puzzled, Don’t its terrify all little girls? And why doesn’t it terrorize her instead of me? Don’t little its pick on little girls?
Lost in her whirlpool of thoughts, her eyes lost their focus for a split second and in that split second, Kristine’s foot tripped over a tree root and she went flying forwards; she could almost feel her skin cry out in pain and indignance as she flung out her right hand to break the fall. Her head slumped forward and in the next second, she heard panting from above her and she knew that it had finally caught up with her.
She closed her eyes in desperation, in grim resignation as its face neared her, breathing heavily as it did so. For a sheer minute, she contemplated raising her injured right arm and whacking its head away violently; or perhaps even using her left arm to do so. But when she saw the crowd of little its that had begun to surround her, she was rendered motionless. Her mouth, which had also been deliberating whether or not to scream, hung open in mid-gape.
There were more of them? Kristine wondered.
“Tag! You’re it!” sung the it that hovered above her and she winced as its hand came down on her injured arm, “Sucker, you run like a baby!” it continued, bellowing and enunciating each syllable harshly.
Kristine gingerly lifted her right arm, and upon seeing the purplish bruises that were beginning to form due to the hard fall she had just taken, tears began to form in her eyes.
“Yeah,” agreed one of the its that was part of the ring that was now closing in on her, as if threatening to cut off her air supply and thereby suffocating her, “She screams and cries like a baby too! Did you see how she called for her Mummy?”
There were faint jeers overhead as a miserable Kristine tried to pull herself up into a more comfortable sitting position, careful to not let her injured arm graze against the root or the ground in the process.
“Mummy, mummy!” mimicked another it, admidst a chorus of laughter. “Baby!” it hooted with glee.
Kristine looked up at it, tears swirling in her eyes as she saw the unbridled joy that lay in its eyes; it seemed as if these its enjoyed making little girls fall onto the ground and cry.
Little monsters, Kristine thought, What’s there to be so proud of, making me fall and get hurt? Its must be miserable creatures to resort to this sort of – torture!
Despite the boos that echoed around her, Kristine turned to face the direction in which her mother had been in and felt somewhat better when she saw her mother starting towards her, walking briskly with a determined pace; her face anxious.
Kristine dragged her gaze away from her mother’s with an effort and looked down at her injured right arm as she felt a sharp pain shoot across it. She watched with horror as the skin on her arm finally broke, revealing a trickle of blood that snaked across her pale skin, leaving a hideously red trail in its wake.
“I said tag, you’re it!” shouted the it above her. “You’re supposed to get up and tag another of us.” It smirked. “Or are you too much of a baby to do so?”
At its words, and the pain that now coursed through her arm and the image of disgusting red blood on her arm, Kristine burst into tears.
“Baby!” taunted a black-haired it, “A little pain never caused any of us to cry!”
Kristen burst into renewed tears, cradling her right arm, trying to shut out their taunting when she heard a soft and kind voice.
“Stop it, Denny,” the voice said, “She fell down and she got hurt. Of course she’d cry!”
Kristen tilted her head backwards, raising her face, trying to spot who was speaking. She knew the voice belonged to an it, although the tone and manner of it sounded soothingly like her mother’s.
“Come on, Luc, we were just having a bit of fun! It’s just a bit of tag!”
Kristen’s eyes fell on her mother and it struck her then how much running she had done as she saw her mother desperately trying to close the vast distance that was now between them. Kristin had never been aware of how much she had ran or how large this playground was.
“It was just a bit of tag until you chased her and she fell and hurt herself.”
“But she kept screaming when she ran – “
“You scared her by tugging on her dress like that! And you chased so fast after her without an explanation; of course she was so frightened that she screamed! And, you had to tease her about being a baby when she fell and got hurt!”
The one called Denny opened his mouth in protest.
Luc shot him a warning look. “And don’t you dare tell me you wouldn’t cry when you feel pain! Pain with blood!” He pointed fiercely at Kristine’s bleeding arm.
Denny closed his mouth and swallowed his argument as Luc glared at him. He gritted his teeth angrily and then turning on his heels, left the playground, motioning for his gang to follow him.
As Melody approached the dispersing boys, Luc bent down and looked straight into Kirsten’s eyes. Kirsten recoiled slightly as Luc touched her injured arm gently.
“Are you okay?” He started to haul Kirsten up tenderly.
Melody watched curiously as Kirsten started to nod her head and then changed her head’s direction in mid-way, shaking it fervently.
Her liquid brown eyes remained locked with Luc’s emerald green ones.
“If you’re not okay now,” began a naïve Luc, “Then I hope you’d be okay when you see our teacher, Ms Bainbridge. She’s very nice.” Luc smiled warmly. “And she’d be able to help you with this.” He pointed at Kirsten’s arm.
“But my mummy –“ began Kirsten, whipping her head around, her eyes meeting with her mother’s. Melody let out an indistinct sigh of relief when she saw the color coming back into her daughter’s pale cheeks. She smiled at Kirsten and then nodded, signaling to Kirsten that she should follow Luc to see her new teacher. Kirsten’s chubby face lit up in a bright smile before turning back to Luc. “Never mind about my mummy.”
Luc returned her smile. “What’s your name?”
Kirsten’s warm smile turned into that of a shy one. “Kirsten. Kirsten Harper.”
She looked at Luc.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Lucas. Lucas Thomas. But you can call me Luc.”
“Thank you Luc.” Kirsten smiled gratefully. “Thank you for helping me.”
Melody watched her daughter walk away with the little, caring boy, smiling to herself.
She stood watching the both of them for a few minutes, lost in the happy grin etched on her daughter’s sunny face.
She felt something brush her shoulder and looked up into the face of her companion, Ms Applewhite who had caught up with her and whose hand now rested easily on Melody’s shoulder.
“I told you she’d be fine.” Mrs Applewhite smiled, nodding in the direction of the two small figures that approached Mrs Bainbridge. “She was never in any mortal danger.” She winked at Melody cheekily.
Melody sighed, happy that her daughter would be able to fit into her new school well now that she had met nice Luc.
Mrs Applewhite, clicked her tongue in approval. She winked at Melody again, her eyes twinkling.
“She’d be right as rain.” Melody gave a small smile. “Now that she has such a friendly little boy by her side.”
“Indeed.” Mrs Applewhite remarked, chuckling. “I would think,” she paused in mid-sentence, her cheeks dimpling. “That this is a wonderful friendship in the making.”
Honestly, there's no prizes for guessing where I intended the plot to head off to. It's pretty darn cliched if I say so myself. :D
Have a good week everyone :)
The Shakespeare Curse by J.L. Carrell
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