Squeak...squeak…
Squeak...squeak…
The metal chain of the swing set made a much louder noise in the silence of the night for how little Beth was moving it. Every small move brought a long loud squeak that would have desturbed the neighborhood if the property lines were a bit smaller.
The noise seemed to echo through the yard, and bounce back to her from the small line of trees and bushes in the back of the property. The trees and bushes seemed extra dark, even though the moonlight reflecting off of the snow lit up the night a lot brighter than it had the night before.
She had been on her swing every night this week. The metal squeak surprised her each time, as if she forgot just with how loud it was,but it would always slip from her mind as she moved about an inch forward, and inch backward. Her eyes became more and more unfocused as the snowflakes fell in front of her, until finally she seemed to lose herself to the flurry, thinking absolutely nothing, hearing nothing...most importantly: feeling nothing.
Her much desired trance was broken by the quick darting silhouette of a black cat dashing through the sparkling snow towards the darkness of the tree line. It’s sudden appearance snapped her back to the moment. As she turned to look at it, it froze, and it slowly turned its head to look towards her. It slowly took a couple more steps, and then froze again to look at her. After a few more steps, and additional hesitation, it then continued towards the darkness that lay twenty feet from the swing, where it was quickly absorbed as if it had never been.
Lucky, she thought, as the idea of being a cat that could just melt away struck her.
Squeak...squeak…
She started to move again, hoping to find that state of nothing again that the cat had disturbed.
Squeak...squeak…
Crunch…
The crunch of the snow made her jump slightly. She looked towards the treeline where the crunch had come from, where another shadow began to emerge. Beth stopped moving, and held her breath.
Crunch….shfffffft.
Crunch...shfffffft.
As the shadow emerged from the dark harbor of the treeline’s blackness, the light of the moon began to give it form, and Beth was able to see what it was that was slowly stepping towards her. It was an old woman, slightly hunched, with an apparent lame foot that the woman dragged slightly with each step. She was slowly making her way to where Beth sat on the swing.
The old woman was not very well dressed for the chill of the night, or for the snow at that. She appeared to be wearing a layer or two of oversized and very tattered gowns that hung down to just below her knees, and around her waist was a single rope, tied in a simple knot. Beth looked towards the woman’s feet as she shuffled closer step by step, and noticed that there were no shoes, boots, or even socks. Rather, the woman was walking through the snow in her bare feet, stepping with one foot, which sank into the crisp snow with a crunch, and dragged her other foot which was roughly double the size of the normal one.
Beth watched the old woman as she crossed the twenty foot divide between the swing and the treeline from which she emerged. The whole time she was walking, the old woman never took her eyes off of Beth’s own face. She walked slowly as if not to startle Beth, in the same manner Beth had seen people approach animals that they didn’t want to scare away. Beth had an odd thought that being a stranger, Beth should run, but in the back of her mind, a voice urged her to stay put. It was warm, and reassuring. So Beth stayed, and continued to watch the woman’s approach.
She stopped a foot in front of Beth, who looked up at her, curious, but expressionless. The woman’s hair, even though it was held back by yet another scrap of tattered cloth, seemed to stick out everywhere. Her face was the most wrinkled face that Beth had ever seen, but her eyes seemed to shine in the moonlight, and they seemed to have more clarity to them than she had ever seen in an old person before.
“Aren’t you cold?” Beth finally asked the woman. “I can get you socks from inside.”
“Aren’t you cold?” The old woman asked in turn, pointing a gnarled finger towards Beth’s shoulder, which was exposed to the falling snow.
Beth forgot that she came out tonight still wearing the dress from the party that her mom and dad had taken her to. Her coat lay forgotten on the counter where she had set it after the sitter had told her to go to bed and then promptly passed out on the couch.
“I am used to the cold,” Beth replied.
“As am I,” the old woman said finally, still staring intently at Beth.
“Are you looking for your cat?”
“My cat?” the woman raised her eyebrows. She then had a look of understanding on her face before giving a lopsided crooked-toothed smile.
“No. I was just out for a walk, and…” she hesitated. “...and I saw you out here, and was curious what would make a small child-such as yourself-be out so late-on a night such as tonight-all by herself...Not properly dressed for the cold…”
“Forgetting, mostly,” Beth said simply.
The two stared at each other before the old woman motioned towards the swing beside Beth.
“May I?”
When Beth nodded, the old women shuffled over, turned, and attempted to sit in the swing. She missed, and plopped firmly in the snow.
“Oof!” She shouted.
She gave a small smile when Beth giggled and asked if she had ever sat in a swing before.
“No, my child, I have never had a need to.”
Beth stood, and held out her hand. The old woman took it, but without using her help, stood almost effortlessly from the snow, smiling even wider.
“What is your name, young miss?”
“Beth.”
“Do you live here?”
Beth nodded. “Do you live around here?”
“No,” the woman replied. She sat and gave herself a small kick on the swing. “I am merely visiting some friends out in the woods.”
“I thought it was just woods out there,” Beth said, frowning. “I’ve never seen a house out there.”
The old woman burst into laughter that had more gusto than she had ever heard before, especially from an old person. It seemed to echo from everywhere all at once. Her wrinkled face crinkled even more with the laugh, which Beth thought to be another impossibility.
“There are plenty of homes in that woods, my dear,” the woman said, “You just have to know where to look!”
She paused and studied Beth as intently as Beth was studying her.
“Why are you out here, little one?”
“I..”
“No lies now,” The old woman said sharply with a stronger voice than she had spoken with mere seconds before.
The sternness in her voice surprised Beth, even as much as the laughter had. She had given a quick thought as to what to claim she was doing out here past midnight in the snow, wearing just the dress from that party. The old woman’s voice seemed to command her beyond just her words to tell the truth.
“I won’t sleep tonight,” she sighed softly. “I never do after the parties they take me to.”
“You do not like parties?”
“No,” Beth whispered. “Not these. Mom and Dad are celebrating, and are never by me the whole time…”
Beth turned back towards the swirling snowflakes. They were lit by the moon as they fell on the backdrop of the dark woods, shining almost as if each flake were a tiny light source itself. As she attempted to get lost in them once more, she could feel the old woman’s eyes continue to stare at her, waiting for her to finish her answer. Her voice faltered when she attempted to speak again.
“What are they celebrating at these parties, young one?” The old woman pressed softly.
“Sometimes they are celebrating political things,” Beth finally said. “Sometimes...they are having the party as an excuse to...well...as a distraction, I guess.”
“Look at me, girl,” the old woman commanded her voice firm once more.
When Beth looked at her, the old woman leaned closer until her face was mere inches from Beth’s. She stared intently into Beth’s eyes. Beth was startled at how blue the woman’s were, and how brilliantly they shone in the moonlight.
As she stared into the woman’s eyes,her stomach lurched. A wave of unwilling memories flooded over her as everything that happened at one party or the other surged to the front of her mind. It felt almost as if the thoughts were being played in order like a TV show recap. A bitterness stung at her throat, and she barely moved fom the woman in time to vomit into the once stainless snow at her feet.
“I..I am sorry!” Beth gasped, wiping her mouth when the final convulsion left her. “Did I get you?”
“I...see…” the old woman sighed. She ignored Beth’s question.
The sadness in the old woman’s voice surprised Beth. She stopped looking for traces of her vomit on the woman’s feet, and looked back at her face, where the sadness in her voice was very clearly in the woman’s eyes.
“What?” Beth asked.
“Nothing, dear child,” The woman said, giving her a sad smile. “I just want to give you a present.”
Beth stiffened. She had learned to never trust a ‘present’ from an adult who was not a family member. However, the warm feeling that Beth felt from this woman, as well as her own curiosity kept her from running inside her home. Beth could not see what the woman could have as a present, or even where she could possibly be hiding it on her, since there was nothing but tattered clothing.
“A present?” Beth asked with hesitation. “What is it?”
Still smiling her sad smile, the old woman leaned forward and tapped her finger sharply against Beth’s forehead.
***
Hunter rubbed his eyes as he stumbled towards the door. People knew better. People knew better than to bother him after his parties. Either he was sleeping, or indulging, and neither one of those should be disturbed, damn it.
“What?” He shouted as he swung the door open.
He blinked in surprise. All the sleep that had been clouding his eyes was whisked away from him by a combination of the cold air on the other side of the door, as well as the woman that was standing at his doorstep.
She was tall, blonde, with striking blue eyes and she was dressed in a sparkling silver gown that was low-cut and clung tightly to her very generous body.
“I..uh…” he swallowed back a stutter and cleared his throat. “I mean, what can I do for you, miss?”
“I hate to bother you at this hour,” she said. She flashed him a perfect smile of brilliant white teeth.. “I think I left your party without my purse.”
He gave her a grin of his own, and stepped back, motioning her to come in.
“Again, I am terribly sorry, I will just be a moment,” the woman said, still smiling.
As she walked by him, he stared at her for a moment before he shivered, and remembering his door quickly closed it. Then locked the deadbolt. She turned look at him after she heard the shliiiick of the deadbolt. She tilted her head, as if curious, but still smiled.
Playing coy, he thought. I like it.
“I’m going to be honest,” he said, walking towards her. “I think I would have remembered someone like you being at my party.”
“Oh?” She asked.
Hunter looked her up and down slowly, making a show of it.
Still Smiling. She wants it. Just like the rest of them.
“Ooooh, yeah,” he said. “Most definitely.”
“Are you sure?”
“Girl, I can tell you right now, I wouldn’t forget you by this time next week.”
“What about Beth?”
Hunter coughed as his throat suddenly went dry, and he stopped midstep about a foot from her, and narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“Beth?” the woman said again. “About 14, green eyes, black dress, and unforgivably inattentive parents?”
“I..uh...don’t know what you are talking about.” Hunter swallowed and took a step back. “I don’t see your purse anywhere. I think you should leave, miss. It is getting late.”
He turned and quickly walked back to his door to open it.
“Maybe you would prefer I stay if I looked like this?”
“Listen, it's late,” he said, turning to look at her again. “I don’t have time for…”
He froze as he saw a little girl who looked about 12 or 13 standing in the room where the woman had been. She looked just like the woman, only younger, as if she could have been the woman’s daughter or little sister. He rushed back into the room and looked around. The woman who had been there just a moment ago was gone. Hunter rushed through his home, looking for her, poking his head in doors and flicking on lights. Finding no sign of her, he stomped back into the room where the girl was sitting on an armchair twirling her hair.
“Get the other one from wherever she is hiding, and get out of my house before I call the cops.” He shouted. Any other time, he would have relished someone like this girl alone in his home, but with the woman nowhere to be found, and what the woman had said...it was a bit too much for him.
“Awww….What does Beth have that I don’t?” The girl stuck out her lip and pouted.
“I..I have no idea what you are talking about, but you need to leave!”
He looked around for his cell phone, and spied it on the table.
“You have exactly five seconds to leave,” he said while unlocking his phone.
“What if I want to stay a bit?” The girl continued. “Oh! Here is my bag!”
She suddenly had a small bag, bound by a silver cord in her hands. She opened it, and pulled out a long silver dagger that was much too long to have been able to fit in the bag without tearing it through.
“Put...put that down right now!” Hunter stuttered, heart pounding. “The cops will be here in no time. You have no idea who I am, or who my dad is!”
“Oh...I know more than you think, Hunter,” the girl said.
“I...I don’t know who you are, or what you think, or where your friend is,” he choked out, backing away. “But you need to get the hell out of here! The world is going to come crashing down on you, you little shit!”
“That isn’t nice, Hunter,” the girl said. She continued to walk towards him. “Indeed, I was supposed to be sharing a feast tonight with my friends. Instead, I had to heal a little girl mentally and physically. I have had to find two negligent parents, and change their thoughts around so as to be more attentive and loving. I had to change their world view to be more...human…. Do you know the effort involved in changing a human’s personality? Especially ones so broken and deceived by people like you?”
All the playfulness was gone from her face. Her eyes were narrowed, and her voice didn’t match her body. It was older, mature, angry, and every bit as cold as her now icy stare.
“Who...Who are you?”
“Someone whom the world has forgotten,” the little girl said, nearly snarling. “But it is of no concern at the moment.”
As Hunter tried to turn and run, he fell. Pulling at his feet, he looked down to see them frozen to the floor, covered in a small, yet incredibly strong layer of ice.
“Hello?” A small voice said from his phone. “Emergency 911, can you hear me?”
But his phone, and the call lay forgotten beside him as he flailed his arms at the approaching girl and pulled desperately at his trapped feet.
“Please! No!” Hunter cried out. “I will give you anything!”
“How often did Beth beg you?” the girl growled. “How many others have begged you?
“...units are on the way! Can you hear me sir? Units are on the way, please remain on the line!”
“Now, I am sure you will forgive me if I am a bit rusty. I haven’t done this in a few hundred years,” The girl’s lips turned up into a smile. “So, this may take longer than it used to.”
Just as he began to scream, the wind outside picked up into a snow filled howl that seemed to mock him.
***
The officer on the scene radioed back that the door was open, and snow was getting inside. Having been told of the ungodly screams through the phone from dispatch, he waited until another officer arrived before they stepped in, weapons drawn, and slowly looked around.
“Put your hands in the air!” he shouted when he saw the back of a head in a chair.
“Stand slowly, and put your hands on your head!!” the other officer yelled when the seated man did not acknowledge them.
The first officer slowly walked around the man, looked down at him, and then turned to puke all over the floor.
The second officer lowered his weapon and walked over. The man’s stomach was cut open, and looked to be completely filled with straw and gravel which was falling out of the open hole. As more officers and the Paramedics poured through the front door, he too vomited.
***
Beth blinked, and then looked around.
“What?”
She was sitting on her swing in the backyard. She shivered and looked around at the falling snow.
“Where...Why am I…?”
Still shivering from the cold, Beth stood from her swing, and felt something fall off her lap. A small bright blue box with silver sparkles and a Silver Bow had fallen into the snow at her feet. She bent down to pick it up and dusted the snow off. A small tag was attached to the bow, and written in tiny, yet fancy writing, was her name. She looked around. She had no clue why she was outside, or who had given her this gift. Her curiosity overwhelmed her confusion, however, and she carefully pulled the lid off of the box.
A small piece of paper sat on top, inscribed with the same fancy script as the tag.
“A coin for your thoughts, my dear.” She read slowly. “Your friend, Perchta.”
Beneath the paper, was a shining Silver Coin with a woman with Flowing hair flanked by stars, with the words Liberty above her. She picked it up and slowly rubbed her thumb across the date:1794.
She looked around again, and clutching it to her chest, she ran inside, a small black cat watching her, unseen from the shadows of the treeline.
~~~
