So this is the first of 10 chapters. I've upped my dose. Why? Because I can do it. Why can I do it? God. Call me crazy, I call myself crazy three or four times a morning but the truth is in the... pie charts? Let's just spell it pie because who doesn't like pie? 'specially strawberry or banana! But anywho! You already know my views on the belief of a god and I believe that my God should be spelled with a cap G. There has been a change in my life and it's the only thing that has changed. If it's a mistake then it's a mistake that's helping and that's enough for me to follow. And it's not like I'm going in blind, I can see God working in the lives of others. This isn't a passing phase. Christianity is here to stay!
No duh...
So you don't want to read this crud. Here is the writing! Sorry it took so long for me to write. This week did not go how I planned it haha but hey, things that need to be done have priority over my hobby. So yeah! Without further adue, here is my first chapter (of 10)!
1687 words strong!
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Chapter
1
Aiden
rapped his fist against the beaten wooden door, the sound breaking the midnight
silence. He quickly scanned the dark street. No guards - not that any ever
patrolled this part of town. Not if they could help it. Usually they kept to
the north side where the inns were. Cheap, strong ale that flowed like a
woman’s mouth on a Sunday afternoon, if you had the coin to keep it going,
unlike the south side where you were lucky if you found a bench that wouldn’t
bite. Also there wasn’t much down here to guard, unless it be your own coin
pouch and a coin spent on hot food was always better than a coin someone else
spent for you.
Aiden
knocked on the door once more, this time with a little more force. He chewed on
his lower lip, a habit he’d picked up from further back then he could remember,
as he waited for a response.
He rubbed
the back of his neck and cursed in a langue he didn’t know. If he didn’t need
the coin so badly he would have slunk away into the shadows and gone back to
the wall to wait for a job, but as it was he didn’t have the luxury of being
picky for the sake of something so simple as his safety. He needed all the work
he could get. Beggars and choosers and all that rot.
He looked
over his shoulder again. Still no sign of a guard, but that didn’t mean some
unlucky watchman hadn’t been caught off of his route and was even now shuffling
back to the south side, which’d make him all the more eager to turn his
frustration on whoever was unfortunate to run along his path after curfew.
A shiver
ran down Aiden’s spine, making his fingers begin to fidget. It’d be just his
luck.
He had the
nerves left for one more go, but as he raised his hand to knock for the last
time he heard a rusty steel bolt grind back against wood and a moment later the
door creaked open just enough to reveal the face of a gaunt woman. If she
hadn’t been so painfully bony and pale, Aiden might have said she was a beauty
to behold. But as she was with a torn and faded scarf hanging loosely over her
head and around her thin shoulders, a few strands of graying blond hair had
escaped from the cloth, all he could say for certain was that she was in deep
need of a good broth.
“Flynn
sent you?” She asked in a weak and breathy voice, as if the effort to peel the
door back had taken all her strength. Her green eyes scanned the street for any
signs of a guard.
“Yeah,” he
said. “and don’t worry. I wouldn’t have come if anyone was around to see me.”
She
nodded. “Of course, of course.”
There were
a few moments of silence before Aiden prodded on, “Doesn’t mean someone won’t
be coming by.”
“Oh...yes,
sorry.” She said, taking his meaning. “I’m new to all this.” She explained as
she pulled the door open with, just enough for Aiden to slip inside. As soon as
he was in she took a final look out side before closing it and with a thin and
shaky arm, bolting it shut.
It took
Aiden a moment for his eyes to adjust to the poor light but when they had he
took a quick survey of the little house, which didn’t take long as you’ll soon
see. An empty stone hearth that looked to see more webs and rats then fires.
Empty cupboards. A broken water pump. A cooking pot that was as bare as Aiden’s
purse. But what caught his attention was a rickety bed where three children
sat. One boy, no older than eight, and two girls, one possibly twelve and the
other just a few years older than her, possibly two or three years younger than
himself. They had no blankets, pillows or sheets and the mattress they sat on
was sagging low about ready to fall to pieces. Their eyes followed him. Scared,
innocent and completely helpless.
All at
once Aiden felt a lump begin to grow in the pit of his stomach. Whether they
had intended it or not, he knew he couldn’t take pay from these people. Unlike
others who’d been longer in his trade he still had a heart and those children
had just plucked it like a harp.
“We need food.” The woman said from behind him
and he turned to look at her. She was leaning heavily against the door. Aiden
wondered if she had the strength to support herself. “We don’t have much-“ she began
but Aiden was already shaking his head.
“Keep it. Your family needs it more than I
do.”
Complete incomprehension
came over the woman’s face. Either she was one of the best actresses he’d ever
seen or this lady hadn’t hoped in a thousand years to be hearing what had just
come from Aiden’s lips which made his decision all the sweeter.
Finally
she managed to say as her mind failed to try and find the hidden agenda or
angle behind what this young man had just said to her, “But we need food.”
“I’ll
bring it for you.” He said.
She
blinked. “But-“
He took
the woman’s hand. It was shaking. “You don’t have to pay.” He assured her then
let his smile show. “Just don’t let it get around, ehh?”
“Thank...thank
you so much.” She whispered, a weak smile spreading across her delicate
features. “I think I need to sit down.”
It
happened so fast, without warning or sign or gasp of breath. Her knees buckled,
her shoulders going slack and she collapsed, but Aiden was quick. He caught the
woman before she hit the floor and scooped her up. There was a scream from one
of the girls, Aiden wasn’t sure which, but before he could look to them, the
oldest of the three quickly grabbed her two younger sibling’s hands, pulling
them off the mattress, and said to Aiden with wide eyes, “The...the bed. You
can put her on the bed.”
He did.
“What’s
happening to mommy?” The little boy whimpered from behind his sister’s gown.
“Kayli,”
said the older to her younger sister. Aiden could tell she was trying to keep
her voice strong for their sake. “Take Homer’s hand while I talk with the man.”
Kayli did
so, taking him to the corner where she sat with him and began to tell him
something that Aiden couldn’t hear. A smile cracked on the little boy’s face
that seemed to light the room.
“So what’s
wrong with her?” The girl asked as she moved to her mother’s side, taking her
hand like her younger sister had done with Homer.
“Starvation.”
Aiden said after a few moments. There was no way to blunt it. The girl
swallowed hard, her jaw quivering as she kissed her mother’s hand.
“It’s okay
mommy, it’s okay. We’re going to fix this.” She looked at Aiden, tears
threatening to spill over. “There is something we can do for her, right?”
This girl
was about to loose it, Aiden knew. He needed to choose his next words very,
very, carefully. One wrong word and who knew what could happen.
“It’s
alright.” He said, taking the most calming tone he knew. “She’s going to be
fine, alright? I want you to trust me that it’s going to be fine. I know how to
bring-” Stay off that path, Aiden. “Umm...
I know how to help your mother. I’ll be back in a few hours with food.” Her
eyes began to go wide and Aiden quickly began to reassure her. “Don’t worry.
Just take a breath...” It took her a moment to realize that he was being
literal. She took the breath. It helped to calm her nerves – a little. That was
good. Now just to give her something to do so she didn’t have a panic attack
while he was gone. “Now what I want you to do while I’m out getting food is to
get a cloth and some water, soak the cloth and put it between her lips. It’ll
put something into her system. Also-“ he reached to the back of his belt and
pulled out a leather bag and opened it. The smell of cured beef filled the
little house. “if she comes too in the next few hours, start feeding her that. It’s
just some jerky. It’s not enough to do everything we’re needing but it’s
something. If she’s still unconscious in two or three hours then I want you and
your brother and sister to eat it. The last thing you, or they, need is someone
else ending up like your mother”
The girl
nodded again, trying hard not to forget anything he told her. Her lips moved as
she silently went and re-went through every instruction.
Aiden stood,
handed her the jerky and wanted to shake his head, though he thought better of
it. Tonight had not gone at all as he imagined it. He really needed to grow a
backbone. But another look at the woman on the bed and her terrified children -
well backbones were meant to give a little.
“Alright. So
I’ll be back in a few hours. Keep an ear open for my knock.” He hesitated, not
sure how to end off. He never was the best with farewells and goodbyes. Finally
he just decided to leave with a simple, awkward, wave but as he walked to the door,
sliding back the lock, he heard the little boy’s say, “Thank you...”
The voice
was so quite and scared but they were two words to make granite melt.
Aiden felt
the burning begin in his throat and without so much as a back glance he was
outside, the door closing behind him.
“You’re
welcome.” He whispered back for only the darkness to hear and began to move.
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What did you think? I just wrote and I'm going to go from there. Give it a rating and what not. You know the drill =) Thanks for reading!
Daily Reading: Psalm 119:33-40 (Learn God's laws. Dwell on them and keep them in your heart and you'll be alright. Sin isn't freedom. Freedom is not having to go back for your fix of porn, gossip or anything you idolize. Freedom is living a free life where you don't have to worry about someone holding something over your head or getting...that feeling when your name is called and you don't know if they've found out. You know what I'm talking about. Freedom is freedom and I THANK GOD FOR MY FREEDOM!)
Random Fact of The Day: Yea. My sisters messed with my brain about what a girl's period was until I was like fourteen. Not fare holding back such vital info back from a boy who's trying to survive in a house of women! And don't get me started on menopause. Oh gosh.
"Things are going to go a little differently. Remember when you didn't do your homework and mom got mad and yelled at you? Yea, that's not going to happen anymore. First she'll just crying and then she'll kill you. Just saying, you see the tears beginning to flow, you'd better hide all the sharp stuff."
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