The running

Grey clouds roll over the hills bringing darkness from above, but if you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothing changed at all, and if you close your eyes does it almost feel you’ve been here before. Thats what I was thinking as I stood on top of one of the many hills in the dark mid-afternoon in summer, it was peaceful and quiet up here, it is where you could escape all the noise of the town below, you could only hear a whisper of the Roar flow up to the hill tops. The wind whipping and lashing at my back, making me shiver slightly.

 

Noise sucks, you don’t get any peace and quiet around here, just imagine if you can, the annoying fact that you could everyones thoughts, what they are thinking and feeling, you can’t escape it, at night you can hear it it is called dream noise, but you get used to it after a while. I’m walking out into the dark cutting out a different path, through the bush-scrub. I’m tearing through the scrub, weaving past trees, jumping over rocks and trying to stop myself from falling. The Roar is growing louder as I run towards the town also known as the Haven, my lungs and legs are killing me as I run down the steep hill, I finally reached the outskirts of the Haven, but keep on running until I had ran down into the town square, from then on I walked, when I got to my house the sun was just starting to set because it is on the other side of the town.

 

“You home”? I yelled as I walked through the doorway

“Yes, dinner’s ready and your dad wants to talk to you, oh and by the way how was school”?

“Good”

 

I saw my dad sitting in my room with the door open as I walked up stairs, he spotted me walking past and said “Hey, ‘bout time you got home, I want to tell you something”

He patted the spot next to him on the bed, my dad and mum were on the council and so were some of their friends which sometimes made their talks kinda boring. I don’t know all their friends names but one of them is blind and he uses other guys noises to make his way around.

I went and sat next to him, he was taller then me and kind of scary looking but he was nice funny and had heaps of friends, but I only am friends with his friends kids.

 

“I learnt this of… let's just say he was an old friend, but if you want to learn this you just have to ask” he said after a long wait

“Get on with it, I don’t have all day” I said

“Ok, if you want to keep your noise quite I have a trick you could use”

I was astonished with what he had said because only the council had quite noise and the rest of their friends. So I replied but not too fast, I waited before I said “Um...ok”

“Cool, so when do you want to start”?

“After dinner, if thats ok with you”

He had a huge sunny smile written across his face as he said “Yep thats fine”

The drawing

We walked together down the stairs to dinner, just in time to because she was just about to call us. Mum was dishing up food, my little sister was setting the table and we were standing in the doorway watching it all. As we sat down for dinner we started to talk as usual.

“Lucy, how was your day at school”?

“Good, mama” said my little sister

“What did you two do”? dad asked both of us

“Read” Lucy said

I frowned and said “School work” This was our usual conversation, and that is what I always said, but tonight mum asked “What did you do”? this was a question a took a little while to answer but when I did I pulled out a piece of paper and placed it in the center of the table so they could see it. It was a drawing that I had drawn in art today, by the look on mum and dad’s face they were astounded, I had drawn a war landscape, I put another piece of paper next to it, it was of mum, dad, and Lucy, they were both pretty accurate of the actual thing but the only problem was I had never seen a live war.

 

Dad was looking at the battle ground but his face was unreadable, then I said something that shocked them both “I haven’t finished them yet, but I will soon I hope”

“How did you…”? he didn’t get to finish his sentence when we heard a knock on the door.

“I’ll get that, and stay here” he said, he obviously wasn’t expecting this

 

He opened the door and the council members were all standing there, this was a rare occasion all of them had never came over, and uncle Ben was here to.

“Todd, Viola” he said “There’s an urgency outside, can we”?

“Yes, follow me” dad replied “Have a look at this, and she’s never seen one before” he whispered although I could still hear him.

Ben and the others looked at my drawing, Lee was the blind man’s name and he was looking at it through Ben’s noise.

 

“I’ll talk to you later about this” Ben said

I swallowed and looked back at mum and she just shrugged and said “I’ll just put these two to bed and I catch up with you, ok”

He nooded and they all walked up stairs, we followed after them and mum put Lucy to bed and then got me into bed, kissed me good night and said not to eavesdrop and get to bed straight away. I was laying on my back and staring up at the roof because that’s where the were, the were in the room that I’m not aloud in which is above my room so I can eavesdrop which I did.

 

It was a bit muffled but still hearable they were saying

“She drew that”? Ben said “At school”?

“Yep” dad replied

“Wow, I mean how did she she had never been or seen in a war” that was Sophie

“Can we get to the point already”? Lee said

“Sorry, yes, ok, we are for what happened outside” Ben

“I thought the was peace, but obviously not” Wilf

“Why what happened” mum

“Well I saw someone running from the hills on the other side of town and then heard a weird sound it was kinda like the noise was louder than usual” Ben

I felt guilty at that I should of been carefully than I was. Then I heard it it was like a low moaning sound, it howled on the wind like a dog lapping up some water out of it’s bowl. I heard footsteps coming down stairs and they stopped at my door and opened it, Ben was standing there and beckoning me up stairs, so I followed and ended up in front of the room I wasn’t supposed to enter.

The Meeting

The door had a bit of paint flaking off it, the door was pale white I think it used to be a cream colour, the door looked like it hadn’t seen a lick of paint in decades. Uncle Ben lightly rapped on the door with the tip of his knuckles, the door swung open with ease, everyone was looking at us just lingering there it the doorway. He walk forward and so I followed him into the room, the room was a bit small, it’s walls were also once painted a cream colour and flaking, in the actual room sat a couple of chairs surrounding an old looking table, up against one of the walls sat a small sort of cabinet thing, the table had the paint striped of it and looked very plane on the table sat some paper, maps, and other thing that weren’t recognizable from where I was standing. I looked around at the people sitting at the table, some I recognized and some I didn’t. The ones I did recognize weren’t looking at me, they were looking at the paper on the table.

 

Mum beckoned me to sit next to her, and so I did, Ben across from me, mum next to me, dad next to her, Wilf next to on the of the other side of me and Lee next to him, the others I didn’t know were up the other end of the table. Then they started talking, the fist crap I didn’t care about but then they started askin’ me questions.

 

“You drew this”? Ben asked gently, talking to me like I was a kid… jesus christ I’m 15, for god sakes

“Yep” I replied

The council members whispered amongst themselves for a few minutes until Ben quieted them all down.

“Wow… it’s amazing, where did you get your inspiration for it”? Lee asked in barely a whisper, I’m surprised I heard him at all, he was looking through Wilf’s noise.

“I…based it on” I paused trying to think of how to word this “A memory, sorry this must sound really weird for you guys to hear this from a kid that never heard of it” I paused for a second “But, it will be our next topic in class, I think they will speak on it vaguely”

I waited for someone to say something but no one did, then just unexpectedly something flashed before my eyes… I blinked and frowned, but I wasn’t thinking about it. After a long time of silence someone I didn’t know said something to me.

“What for, what from” she asked nobody knew what she had said but I did so I replied

“Because the teacher said to draw something that you remembered or that was important, I did both”

 

They all started to whisper amongst themselves but no one tried stop them, I just sat there watching them all. Since they were all whispering to themselves I was able to start thinking, I don’t think that I was supposed to draw the war thing. I thought, although I have noise it’s naturally a bit quite, but I can also hear girls noises like my little sister’s.

The hill

I woke up in my bed, I don’t know how I got there but I did. I climbed out of bed into the cold area of my room, I got dressed in my clothes for that day that I was going to wear to school, I washed my hands and face it the bathroom which was the size of my room. I walked down the old creaky stairs into the kitchen, I made lunch for myself, got a bottle and shoved it into my bag, along with my journal, my drawing book and my pencil case. “Good bye” I yelled, up the stairs and I left. I walked out the front door and along the little path that was a shortcut to school and the hills, I walked down the path to the two intersections and that's where I met Ben.

“Hello Nina, have a good day at school, oh and ye remember what I told you last night”?

“Yeah, you said that I should stick to drawing people” I said in an inconsiderate tone.

“No, I did not say that I said-” I cut him off before he could finish his sentence

“I know what you said”

He nodded and let me past without saying anything, I took the path to school he left once I had gone down the path. I should just skip school and go to the hills I conceled this thought and so I ran back down the path and checked for uncle Ben, but no one was there so I ran up the path to the hills.

 

It took for ever but I finally got to my favorite hill, I sat down under my favorite tree and put my bag next to me, took out my pencil case and my journal and my drawing book, I put my journal next to on the ground and got my drawing book and started to draw, but I was drawing without knowing seeing and memory in my head, the drawing was very detailed and so I drew it that way, it took an hour but when it was finished it looked like…

when I looked at it it looked like mum’s friend that had died in a bom explosion when she was little, the girls name was Siome which was a pretty name now I think about. But I guess I’m weird because I’m a girl and I have noise that other people can hear, which is not common, but now that I think about it no other girl I know has noise that someone else can hear, but then again uncle Ben just says it because I’m special and talented, but I don’t think he thinks that drawing stuff you don’t know about like the war drawing or this one a talent. I decided I wanted to see what else I could draw so I did. The next thing I drew was a picture of…

I didn’t why I drew it, but it felt important, I had only drawn’ two things, I checked my watch and saw that it was afternoon, the time that I would of gotten home but I was still here. I shoved all the stuff in my bag and cut diagonally across the ground keeping close to the to the ground remembering the council talking about me running down the hill yesterday, I decided to run straight to the square and say I took the long way home I was still running when my phone rang, it was Mum so I answered it.

“Hello Nina, we are wandering we you were”?

“Um… hi, just taking the long way back” I replied trying to not sound like I’m running, but she spotted it

“Are you ok, you sound a little exhausted”

“Nah, I’m fine almost there, be there in a minute” I say

“Ok” when she said that there was obvious worry in her voice

Just as I reached the square she had hung up, I saw a lot of people I knew walking in the square, I slowed down, then I spotted my friend she was running up to me, she skidded to a stop as she reached me and said “Oi where were you today, why weren’t you at school”?

“Oh… I was up at the old tree that we usually sit at, please don’t tell my parents, or anyone that are friends with my parents”! I replied with urgency in my voice

“Don’t ye worry about that”

“Do you want to walk me home”

“Good idea”

So together we walked down the road, around people passing by, and carts on the road, thats when we both saw Wilf on his cart.

“Yoo need a ride home” he asked

“Yes please, Wilf” I said, his oxes noise had Wilf in their noise, so we got onto the cart and held on for the ride to my place, Issy’s place was near mine, next to Shantell’s place. What felt like years later we arrived out in front of my house, Issy and I jumped down from the cart and so surprisingly so did Wilf. Issy said goodby to both of us and walked off in the opposite direction, Wilf knocked on the door of my house and mum opened it, she was surprised to see us standing there, she let us both in, once we were inside she hugged me much to my disgust, I pulled back and she let go then said to Wilf

“Thanks for bring her here”

“Thats ok Hidy” he said, I don’t know why he called her that, maybe it was a nickname

“I saw this we one and a friend wandering up the hill to this house, so I gladly gave the we ones a lift” he said “Yoo know she looks a lot like you and…”

“Me” said dad cutting Wilf off

As he walked into the room, I instinctively took a steep towards mum until I was standing right next to her. Dad stop in front of Wilf and they had a private conversation with their noise. A minute or so later we all said goodby to Wilf.

The drawing that I regretted

Dad looked at me, we were standing there in the middle of the kitchen near the table. Dad was still looking at me then he looked at the bag on my shoulder then his eyes flickered to the table, but I just stood there, Put the bag on the table his noise rang through my head, so I did what I was told, I put it on the table, he immediately took out all it’s contents and put on the table next to my bag. He looked at my journal, picked it up and flicked through it but found nothing, then he pick up my drawing book and turned the pages one by one until he got to the newly drawn artworks, mum was looking at the drawings next to him. I sunk down in my chair when they looked at me,  dad didn’t say anything he just left the room, he came back a minute later, he put something in front of me, when I looked closely I saw it was a piece of paper and a pencil, I shoved the pencil away and reached into my pocket, both of them watching my every move. I took out my drawing pencil, I looked up at mum and she gave a slight nod so I put the pencil to the paper, I took in and deep breath and stared at the paper, and started to draw without any recolonization of what I was doing, just looking at the detailed image in my head. Agian after a hour I finished, I blinked once and looked at what I had drawn, very much to my horror, as I looked at it I recognized it so I quickly folded it up and shoved it into one of my pockets. Can I see? dad’s noise said, I shook my head.  Are you sure? his noise asked again, and again I shook my head.

“Can I see, please”? mum asked, I shook my head, then what we all heard next made us all turn around.

“Can I see” said a small voice, it was my little sister, she had only one talent and that was to control people when she didn’t get what she wanted but only for good, but only I knew that.

“Um… ok” I said, then I whispered to her “Only if you don’t show dad, ok” ?

Ella nodded, that was my sister’s name Ella.

I took the drawing out of my pocket and gave it to her, she looked at it, she had a puzzled look on her face, she obviously didn’t know what it was. The she gave it to mum and whispered something in her ear, which she nodded to, mum glanced down at the drawing and almost dropped it in shock, then she whispered “holy shit” but I covered Ella’s ears for that. Mum folded it back up and handed it to me, then she and me went up the stairs, and we entered my room, sat down on my bed, and she shut the door.

 

“I don’t know what I drew” I said immediately when the door was shut

“I know, of course you don’t, I don’t know how you even managed to control you tallent” mum said

“What do you mean”?

“I have the same power as you, but your more advanced than me”

I frowned and looked up into her eyes, just then I realized how beautiful her eyes were, they were kinda greenish-blueish with a bit of grey, I got my drawing book, and drew her eye’s then showed her, she loved them and I said she could keep it.

We both went to sleep after that, getting ready for the next day.

The teaching and pacticing

I got up just as the sun was rising, I'd just gotten dressed as I heard a nock on my door.

Today I was going to ask dad about controlling my noise, and mum about my special talent, I walked over to the door and opened it. Standing there was Issy, I let her in and wondered what she was doing here.

“Hey, what’s wrong”

I didn’t answer, but my eyes flicked to the drawing on the wall, that my parents had put there to remind me of all the burden of keeping all this a secret. She looked over, and “Did you draw this” she asked in awe.

I was going to answer when…

“No she didn’t” Thomas said

I frowned, why was he here? He didn’t even know where I lived. Thomas had sandy brown hair, blue eyes and he had a crush on me, he had it on me since we were kids, but I had no interest in him, in fact I had no interest in anyone.

“Sure” he said reading my nose, his cheeks were glowing bright red

“I wish you wouldn’t read other people's noise” I said

“But your a girl, and other girls don’t have noise, I just find it interesting” the way he said it was worked, but it had meaning behind it.

“Well” I said “that  still doesn't make it ok to read a girl’s noise even if, I’m the only girl to have noise”

 

I spotted my dad standing in the doorway watching us, mostly Thomas, surveying the scene. Which I didn’t like at all, he looked at me, I looked at him but made no effort to make the others see him, I allow him to watch us.

“I guess that’s true” Thomas said softly, like he had hurt my feeling which he did a bit, a bit.

“I’m sorry” I said, then added “that’s ok, but please don’t read it, but I forgive you” I usually forgave people that need it, which he did. I kinda felt a bit sorry for him, and I meant it, he was reading my nose for the last time but I let him.

 

He looked at me then left the room, dad was watching him go as he walked into the room. “Hello, Mr Hewitt” Issy said

“Please call me Todd”

“Ok” she replied to dad

Throughout that whole conversation I was still wondering how Thomas knew where I lived. It was kinda weird but I didn’t care. A minute later we both said goodbye to Issy. Dad sat down next to me and said

“I heard that convention and I think you're right, so I’ve decided that you can learn to quiet your noise, that’s if you want to”.

“I want to” I said

“Are you sure”? he asked

“I’m sure” I said reassuring him

“... Ok” he said after a bit

The word of his nose suddenly hit me it said 'I am the circle and the circle' is me but it was light and soft then other noise it also had a weird humming noise behind it, my noise was a bit quieter than usual. “keep rethinking that  twice a day only for a couple of days then we’ll see” he said, so I thought I am the circle and the circle is me over and over for the next week until Monday morning. My noise was definitely quieter than it was last week. Mum had meet with me an hour later and taught me ways to hid your talent and what to do when the teacher asked for me to draw, she had taught me for the rest of the week until Monday morning. They both agreed that I could skip out on school and my two friends could to and we all could help Uncle Ben on the farm because both of our farms were joined together.

The Farm

 So we all did just that with Thomas hangout with us more and more, we were in the far paddock with Manche Jr and the sheep and we were talking, apparently both of their parents agreed with mine, they thought that this was a good tool to learn but it was just hard labor, but on our breaks we would sit with uncle Ben and he would tell stories about an old town he used to live in called New Preston town.

 

“Realy”? Tomas said, not believing that there old Mayor had killed all the girls in the town

“Yep, and Todd, your dad” he said to me “Was the last and youngest kid it the town”

Then we all heard dad say, as he walked up to us “Ben, stop that you might one day end up scaring these kids”

“I doubt it” Ben said back, he was the first and only person that could tell my dad what to do apart from my mum.

“HEY TODD” yelled someone running towards us all, Dad had just reached us.

“Todd” said the person quite blankly out of breath

When the person had reached us, she muttered something and clasped to her knees in exhaustion, bent over, dad smiled, he knelt down on both knees and whispered something in her ear which made her sit up straight so fast it made her lean down again, she tried to sit up again slowly this time, she succeeded and slow sat crossed-legged in front of us.

“What was that” dad said kindly and softly

“Todd” she whispered “I just came… from the h-house of healing, and Mistress Bathlway said that Mistress Loaran to me to tell you that… We found her, we found her beside the lake, she  has blue eyes Viola and Todd will know her, please she need help she dying, we need help and power”

“I told people that was over though” was dad’s response

“Come on, Todd, you need to, that poor girl needs help, you're not going to let one innocent life die are you?” asked Ben

He shook his head, then I steeped in “Please, I don’t want anyone to die even if that person is...” I stopped talking, I had said too much, so I just gave him my book open at the picture of the girl. I gave it to the girl on the ground and asked her “Is this what she looks like”?

She took the book, looked at the drawing and dropped my book “Yes… but how did you…”?

“That doesn't matter now, fine I’ll go but only if you…” He stopped and said the rest in his noise, Ben, the girl and I could hear it but no one else could.

The dad literally yelled “VIOLA” as loud as he could in his nose and out of his mouth, I saw mum jump on her horse and bring dad’s horse with her, when they reached us he said hello to his horse and told her he was there in a soft voice I had never heard him use before. Dad climbed his horse and they said goodby to us and left, they rode off into the distance. The girl left a minute later.

“What  was that about”? asked Thomas

“I have no idea”  said Issy

Then they looked at me, then Thomas said “Are you going to say something or not”?

“uhh” I replied biting my lip, I am the circle and the circle is me, my noise got quieter, until it was completely silenced.

Emily (Thomas)

Emily, I care deeply about her, I looked at her, she was leaning on the fence, biting her lip nervelessly, then she stops biting her lip and takes a couple of steps back towards Ben, it’s only then when I realized what I was thinking. I felt my cheeks redden and grow hotter, I wish I could just tou… then I stopped, I’m trying to think of anything apart from her but it is extremely hard. So I just keep thinking about her but with less interest, than her and Issy left said they wanted a drink, I mean I don’t blame them, so I left said under my breath that I had to go home.

 

The House of Healing (Todd)

As we walked into The House of Healing we meet Mistress Loaran, she lead Viola and me down to the end of one of the hallways, there stood Mistress Bathlway waiting for us. She gave us a slight nod as she opened the door into an old looking room but with high-tech stuff in it.

We both walked in and saw a girl lying on the bed with a lot of machinery hooked up to her, I felt sorry for the poor girl. Mistress Loaran, Viola and me walked up to the side of the bed that the girl was laying in, Viola gasped and I was bloody shocked, this girl was on the council and went missing, her name was Allison, she was the one that was always fighting to get her way but standing here right now and just seeing her lying in this bed was just sad.

“Where exactly did you find her” I asked

“We found her by the base of the river and she was in a bad condition, she still is”. Mistress Loaran replied

I checked to see if I could hear her and I could, I smiled as I began to read her noise. It took a long time but I finally finished reading her noise, she had had it rough, it was horrible.

“What”? Viola whispered from next to me, she was holding my hand

“She is still alive I can hear her, she’s had a rough time, it’s malicious the way that she was treated, I’d advise that no one ask her what happened, I told her that we were here and waiting” I said quietly

“How”? Mistress Loaran asked

“It’s a talent” I said back to her

I showed Viola what Allison had been through and what had happened, Viola was horrified, you could tell by the look on her face.

 

 

(Thomas) The sleep

 

I was standing under her window, I wanted to tell her something but she was probably asleep. I started to climb up the side of her house towards her window, when I got there I was surprised that the window was slightly ajar, with one hand hanging onto the window sill and with the other I opened the window a bit, just enough so I could just slip in then out again. I slipped through the window and with a soft thud I landed on Emily’s bed room floor, I could hear her breathing softly, she looked so cute just laying there, Stop it, I focused on writing the letter and then leaving. I knelt down onto the floor, rested the paper on the floor and started to write only stopping when I looked up keeping an eye on Emily as I wrote. When I finished I followed the paper up neatly and carefully placed it on Emily’s bedside table. I don’t know what happened next but when I looked up at Emily just sleeping there I just couldn’t help thinking… so I decided that I should stay until morning.

 

I woke up next to Emily in her bed, she was hugging me and she had a smile on her face, she still looked quite pretty just sleeping there. Then I realized it was morning, so I slipped out of her grip and slid to my feet, I got my bag  and slung it over my right shoulder, lent down and kissed her on the lips, she smiled after, I climbed out of the window, I closed the window to how it was before I had widened it for me to slip in, when I reached the ground I sprinted away from the house, once I had reached the road I casually started to walk down the road, this is where I meet Emily’s parents, they were coming back from town, the stopped their horses and looked at me.

“What are you doing Thomas”? Todd asked me

“Me… oh, I’m just out on my daily morning walk” I said quietly

Emily’s mum gave me a small smile, and they rode off, towards their house, as I walked towards mine. That was effing awesome! I thought to myself.

(Emily) I Woke up and…

I woke up and… I felt a moist sensation on my lips, I put a finger to my lips and they felt wet. I quickly rushed to the window and saw someone running away from the house. I turned and  scanned my room and saw a small little piece of paper it read: 

 

Hello, I can’t tell you this in person because it would be to embarrassing, anyway… I kinda like you, more then a friend, I’ve liked you since kindergarten, sorry for last night I just had to get this letter to you.

So as you must of guessed I’m a bit shy but love you all the same, if you don’t feel the same way I don’t mind but if you do I live just down the street from you, this might sound a bit creepy but I watch you walk home every day. So that’s how I know where you live and the fact that my aunt is on the council, she has been missing for some while and her name is Allison, I don’t think she likes me a lot, anyway I’m kinda bad at this, so I will hopefully see you soon or not.

Ps: I would love it very much if you wrote to me and left it in my  house somewhere.

 

love from: Thomas

 

 

He had neat handwriting that was for sure, but replying that was going to be tricky, So I decided to lay back down and clear my head, the bed was warm from a minute ago from me sleeping in it, So warm, but I swear that he slept with me, that’s probably why it’s so warm and that must explain the fact that he said sorry but then again did I hug him? and if I did did I like it, so many questions but no answers… maybe I did and if I did why didn’t I know,  maybe if I draw it might help… my thoughts were interrupted by mum opening the door to see if I was awake, which I was but she spotted that I was even without walking over to my bed.

“Good morning, why are you up so early”? she asked gently

“No reason,  just excited for today” I replied, which was a complete lie

“Cool, get up, get dressed, brush your teeth and I’ll meet you downstairs”

“I have so do I just go down stairs then”? I asked as I got up, this wasn't a lie because I had done all of that

“Ok then lets go” she said kinda stupid that I had already done all of that

So we walked out of my room and down the stairs and out into the dining room which was also the kitchen, then I spotted Ben and dad talking in the living room I curiously watched them talk from the kitchen as they talked until they saw mum and me in the kitchen and they both walked out of the living room and into kitchen where we were standing, I was still watching Ben because he kinda looked uncomfortable just standing in the middle of the kitchen.

“Good morning Viola” Dad said happily mum smiled back

“Your up”?! he said to me kinda surprised to see me up so early

I was still eyeing Ben when he said that “What” I said not paying any attention “Oh… yep I’m up” I added as I looked away and then surprisingly ben knew why, but instead of talking he beckoned me up the stairs without any acknowledgment from my parents, once we were in my room he shut the door and looked at me expecting I was going to talk so I did.

“What, you know I got up early and you want me to talk, aren't you supposed to ask me questions”? I said softly but kindly too

He nodded, “Well”? I said not realizing what was happening outside

He sighed and said “I know you're puzzled, but that’s all I know apart from you got up early and you started to think a lot about the boy ‘Thomas’” he said

“That doesn’t concern you and the reason why I got up early is know one's business” I said because I knew that my parents were listening.

“Oh… But I know why and if you want…”

I cut him off, I knew what he was going to say next “No, thanks I’m fine and anyway it’s all sorted”

“No, it’s not you haven’t done anything yet”

“But I will soon, I was thinking I would do it after breakfast”

“I could come with you and…”

“No” I cut him off

“Are you…”

“Yes” I cut him off again

He sighed again and spoke gently “Fine”

I was shocked he never gave up this easily, I knew he was going to follow me and see what I was up to. We sat there for a bit and finally he walked out if my room and left me sitting there on my bed, alone. I walked out a little while latter to see dad trying to reassure Ben.  Oh no, did I hurt his feelings if I did I need to a bit more kind and maybe I need to read his noise or is that wrong? I thought a little ashamed of myself. So I sat down on the stairs and took out a piece of paper I had to one for the letter and the other for something like this. I started to draw unaware of what I was doing, after I had finished I looked at it and I thought something unkind, folded it up, stood up, walked past mum dad, stood in front of Ben I shoved the piece of paper in his hand and walked out of the house pausing at the door, then I left.    

 

(Emily) Thomas’s house

 

I ran, I ran and ran, until I saw someone walking out front of a house she was looking at me weirdly, probably because I was bent over trying to catch my breath from running out the door of my house, and girls don’t usually run in the Haven.

“Are you ok” said the woman kindly

“Ah yeah, do you know a boy named Thomas around here”? I asked

She smiled and said “Yes, he’s in the house, I’m guessing your Emily, he talks a lot about you, but he’s asleep right now”

“I need to leave something in his room, if that’s ok”?

“Yes it’s ok, come in and I’ll show you where it is”

I smiled, she must be Thomas’s mother I thought, I thought the fact that she let me in her house when Thomas was sleeping weird, even stranger then that was Thomas’s bedroom. We had reached a door which was Thomas’s bedroom I think, she opened the door and pushed it open, then she gave me a light push into his room, so I walked forwards into the room. It was dark so I couldn’t see very well, but what I did make out was the Thomas wasn’t like James, he had a neat and tidy room, sort of like mine, but he’s room was a bit weird, he had a small desk in the corner like me, he also had a bedside table like me, but he had notch in the wall, I bet that lead to a secret hideout, every boy had them. I had reached his bedside table, I took out the letter that I had written before and place it next to a photo frame on the bedside table, I did look at the photo frame but I couldn’t see it properly, I turned and walked out of the room, Thomas’s mother shut it softly behind me, she ushered me out the front door. I wished her a good day and walked off before she could say anything, I was halfway home when I saw James coming from the square in a hurry.

“James” I yelled he spotted me and ran towards me when he reached me he said between breath

“The… square…”

“Whoa, slow down there buddy, what about the square”?

“The… square…” he said again

I ran off and he followed me, when we both reached my house both of us were on on knees panting for breath, then someone opened the door, they almost stood on us, they yelled out in shock and took a couple of steps back, it was one of the council members, she looked at us kneeling there, then looked back through the doorway, then went back inside. A minute later she comes back out with my dad who said disapprovingly

“What are you two doing, get up and come inside and tell me what happened”

So we both got up, brushing ourselves down which didn’t help, we walked in and lingered by the stairs.

“Well” dad said wanting to know what we had been up to, I was about to say something but James beat me to it.

“Well I was in the square… well it’s hard to say what happened, but it’s easier to see for yourself”

“Wilf, Bradley please can you check it out”?

“Eye, Todd” Wilf said

Dad then looked at me sharply, and so I said “I was just…”
“Emily, was walking back from the…” James interrupted, so I Jabbed him hard as I could in the ribs “Ouch” he groaned loudly

Dad immediately looked at me “Give me a break, jesus christ, all you do is just…”  I sighed “Fuck this…,... I give up” I said, and I walked off, in fact I walked all the way to my tree in the hills leaving the others bemused. I climbed my tree, I had left some notches all the way up the tree for me to climb so I did, I climbed all the way to the top, which was roughly about 20 feet from the ground, I felt a lump in my through for just leaving them all there, I usually just ran to my room, where's this tree sat just on the border of the Haven just in a couple of miles there was the spakle camp

( Spakle AKA:  The Land, were, human like natives, they had pointy ears, and they were pale, they made peace with us a long time ago)

I felt something press against my chest, I felt for what it was, it was my drawing book and my pencil was in my pocket. It was dark, as I sat there on my branch, I don’t know when I fell asleep but I did, hoping I don’t fall.

I woke up to the faint sound of noise flying up from the town, they were probably getting worried now, but who am I to care I mean occasionally my friends might come up here, anyway if they did they wouldn't notice me up the top of a tree.

(Thomas) Where’s Emily?

I woke up to see that I had slept for 5 hours, I was at home in bed, wondering what to do next, when I saw a small piece of paper on my bedside table next to my photo, I sat up in my bed and reached for the paper, I opened it and began to read it, it was short, it said:

 

‘I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner, but you need a reply so I’m giving you one’ it sounded like Emily was speaking to me, so I read on ‘So I do like you and you are cute, but I’m shy to so I guess that makes two of us. You know that I have been here and that I don’t know what to write but guess what I heard Uncle Ben and dad (Todd) talking to each other and Dad said that the girl at the farm sent them to The House of Healing because there was a woman there that worked on the council ( I think it’s Alison) That’s when Uncle Ben took interest in it and said ‘“She’s got to be ok, She might have some family then we could tell them”’ But Dad said that he’d rather wait until she woke up. Anyway I will give you this to remind you that we will talk again.

Ps: Tree

love from: Emily

 

Wow, she actually wrote back to me!

I ran out of my room with the note, to my mum in the kitchen.

“Mum” I shouted as I skidded round the table and stopped in front of her, she had a smile on her face.

“Guess what read this, from ‘Guess what’ until ‘Up’” I said

As she read it her face changed from a smile to an unreadable expression.

“How would Todd and Ben know”? she said to herself but I answered the question

“There both on the Council and Emily is Todd’s daughter” I said

“Thomas, you're a genius”! mum exclaimed

“Wait, what”? I had know I dear what she was talking about

“Tomorrow we will go to there house and talk to them”

“But…”

I got no answer, so I just went back to bed.

 

I woke up once again, but this time it was morning, but as mum and me walked outside we saw guards patrolling the street and the were carrying guns! Shit this was bad.

“Right you are son” said one of the guards “Do any of you know Emily Hewitt”? he said

“Yes” I said wondering why he was asking people.

“The reason I’m asking people in because I was instructed to, now do you know where she would be”?
“At her house”

“No”

“At the river, has anyone checked there”?

“HEY, YOU TWO, GET 4 OF YOU TO CHECK THE RIVER”

“Sir, no sir, We’ve already checked there and found nothing” said one sholder nearby

He looked at me “Ok, ok, cool it, she might be in one place but it’s unlikely, but then again…”

“Spit it out kid” he growled

“She might be on the border, a mile or so from the Spakle camp… underneath a tree, knowing her that’s were she would be” I said finally

“MEN, STOP! FOLLOW ME I’VE GO THE LOCATION” he screamed at the top of his lungs

All of the shoulder did stop and did follow him towards the border.

 

When we finally reached Emily’s house, James was out the front and the rest were inside, he was glad to see me, but he had a worried look on his face.

Todd spotted me and mum looking around, when he caught sight of us he clearly walked over but it was clear something was bothering him.

“Hello, Thomas” he said altho when he spoke his voice was filled with sharpness

“I’m, nice to see you again” I said strongly

“You to, um… you live up the street don’t you”? he asked unsure

“Uh...yeah, why”?

“Did any soldiers pass by?”?

“Yep and they went”

“Where to”?

“Well...I kinda told them where she might be”

“Yes…” he said kinda pushing me to go on, everyone else was staring at me in anticipation

“Well… she usually… goes to… Well there's this tree one or two miles away from the… Spakle camp” I said, barely audible but Viola and Todd had heard me.

Todd cursed and then looked at me, I gave him a questioning look, which he nodded towards Ben. 

(Emily) Men

I woke up to noise and voices, they were strange but strangely sounded familiar, then I realized, course they did, they were the old soldiers from the Spakle war 9 years ago. I slunk back into the shadows hoping they wouldn't see me, they didn’t they shouted stuff like:

“Emily, are you there”? and

“Emily you are need” and

“EMILY” that voice was concerned about what will happen if they got home empty handed

 

I just hid up in the tree until they went, when they did I stayed up there until I heard a familiar Noise, Thomas’s, I winced like he knew where I was, correct he did, he practically knew everything about me.

“Not everything” he whispered

I winced as I watched him, he scaled the tree with one leap, grabbing on to a strong branch and pulling himself up, Wow he’s strong I thought to myself.

“Wow thanks” he said, which shocked me so much so I almost fell out of the tree.

“Shit” I swore, newing that they had heard me, me and Thomas stood facing each other, staring into each others eyes after a while he said

“Come on, I’ll help you down from here”

“No, I’m fine, watch this” I said

I grabbed the branch I was standing on and slid my feet off the branch. I  sung for a second and let go, did a kind of backflip and landed on the ground on my feet and one hand resting on the ground, I straightened myself and brushed myself down. Thomas landed on the ground next to me, his feet landing softly on the ground. I took a step back when I saw Mum, dad, Wilf, Thomas’s mum and Uncle Ben, nobody was paying any attention that there was a Spakle lurking behind the trees. I spun around and was scared to see a Spakle standing next to a tree and was even more shocked to hear my dad speak bitterly to it, on the other hand mum spoke kindly to it.

“Hello, sky” said mum cheerfully

“Hi, I’m expecting you all to be well”? enquired the spakle

Dad was glaring at him “Hello, nice to see you” he said sharply gritting his teeth

the Spakle winced and shrank back into the trees, Mum gave dad a sharp look which said Don’t be mean, that was a long time ago, let it go I had no idea what that meant. Mum beckoned the spakle forward, it hesitated, after a moment it walked forwards. I noticed the spakle had the same band on his arm as mum but it read 1710, I thought that strange and made a mental note to find out more.

“Sorry,... the sky never meant to…” 1710 studded

“It’s ok, you didn’t know” dad said softly I was shocked that he used that tone because if you knew him he had never spoken like that ever, it scared me to the bone. 

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 17.09.2015

Alle Rechte vorbehalten