A Child's Dream

Chapter 2 Little Eyes

It took her till evening to catch up to them. By then the rain had stopped, and the unusually warm sun helped dry her clothes and warm her, as she continued on her way. She wished many times through the day that she’d had her pony, but she persisted in her foot pursuit of the strange riders.

When she caught up to them it was well after dark, the bright moon above lighting her path like the early dawn. But before she could approach them, she dropped to her knees to catch her breath. But when she looked up, it was dawn, and the two were just descending a hill, a few feet from their camp. Feeling renewed, she was off after them again, but with the occasional faster gaits of the horses, she couldn’t catch up as quickly as she would have liked. Then later that day, they met up with a family. Then, together, they led the family’s wagon onward.

She wasn’t sure what she should do. She couldn’t go back. She wouldn’t go back. But then again, she couldn’t approach them now. What would this family say if they thought the pair may have been running away from their child? She couldn’t put them through that. She wouldn’t. She’d follow carefully, and wait. Yes. She’ll wait.

She followed for another two days, resting and dozing in the day when the family stopped, and finding safe places at night near by to sleep. Following in their wake in the morning. She wondered what Peter would say about all this. She couldn’t explain how or why she wanted to follow these two. She didn’t know them, they didn’t know her, why was she so intent on following them? Suddenly the ground gave way beneath her. It was near dusk, and dips and holes in the ground where harder to see, but when she landed, she’d fallen on someone. “Damn!” they cursed quietly, tossing her; literally; against the cavern wall. “Shit! It’s a kid!”

“Grab her idiot!” She’d tried to run, but the man struck her, knocking her out.

She was shaken into consciousness some time later, her cloak retied around her so that she couldn’t see or move her arms. She tried to struggle free, only to have someone grip her tighter. “The brat’s awake!” her captor called over the drone of a loud engine.

“Well hang onto her. We’re coming up on the rendezvous.”

“Where are they coming from?”

“LET ME GO!” she cried.

“Over the hill. Here they come!”

She started struggling more, and the man looped his arm tighter still. She wasn’t sure where the courage had come from, but she clamped down on his arm in a bite, she’d never thought of till now. “SHIT!!” he shrieked, wrenching his arm free. She struggled one last time and fell free, hitting the ground.

When she came too, her head really hurt. When she pulled her cloak back she found it covered in blood. She put her hand to her forehead, but felt no cut there, she then put her hand to her mouth, and came away with blood. More daintily she touched her lips again, to find they had swollen. Her teeth had cut into the skin. She’d need stitches. She’d have to find the two she followed and approach them now. She was alone, and hurting, she needed them. But when she looked around, they were nowhere to be seen, and she couldn’t tell how far those men had taken her. She started walking east, resolving that she’d have to go home. A distasteful thought, and home was a long ways away. Better she start walking now.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been walking. The sun had to have risen and set several times. She was cold, tired, thirsty, hungry, and dirty. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t eaten in days, and worse yet, she could hardly see where she was going. She had no idea that she’d wandered into a village. People couldn’t have been too concerned about a lone child. For no one paid her any mind, till someone pulled her out of the middle of the street to keep her from getting run over. “Where’s your parents kid?” the man asked sternly, turning to her. “Dear lord!” He wasted no time picking her up and running down the street. “Doctor Preston! Doctor Preston!!”

It was a week later that someone came for her. It was Peter, accompanied by Mr. Colaros. “She hasn’t said much,” explained the doctor, while she secretly listened from behind her door. “I think she’s too traumatized to fully comprehend what’s happened. She’s healing nicely, a little quickly too.”

“She’s always been a fast healer,” Peter explained, which was true. “How did you find her?”
“She’d wandered into town. The Sheriff spotted her and brought her here. He’ll be by to see her soon. He’s always come by, sense he couldn’t take her home.”

“Oh? Why not?” asked Mr. Colaros.

“He and his wife have seven kids as it is, and she’s due any day for her eighth. He thought it best not to over stress her.”

“Of course.”

“Can we see her please?” asked Peter.

“This way.” She scrambled back into bed, just as the door opened. Her brother at once went to her, holding her close, crying a bit in relief.

“Youe use us quite a scare little one,” said Mr. Colaros. “Would you tell us what happened?”

She wondered how she could explain what she did. She couldn’t explain it to herself. Her brother gently ran his hand over her still slightly swollen chin. “Did they hurt you?” he asked.

“Dey droppt me,” she stammered, trying to get her mouth around the words. But the swollen flesh wasn’t that malleable yet.

“Who?” She shrugged. She didn’t know, she never heard names, or saw faces.

“Its possible,” said the doctor. “They could have been purists.”

“Why would purists want my sister?”

“I don’t know. Sheriff Tracker got a notice a while ago from the Airomat Security force. Purists have been kidnapping and killing children in the area. They aren’t sure why, themselves.”

“Aceline disappeared in Chesapeake Bay.”

“They may have started all over the land, and then for some reason centered on Airomat. We’re not sure. But it makes sense that no one saw her leave the Bay town. They probably hid her on the train, maybe passed her off as their own child.”

“How’d you get away? Why did they drop you?”

“I bid dem,” she said with a strange pride.

“That would do it.”

“Well little one,” said Mr. Colaros, a gentle kiss on the top of her head. “You rest. We leave in the morning.”

It took about three weeks by carriage to get home, more direct than the train, but a bit longer in time. Peter dropped Mr. Colaros off at the main house, thanking him for going with him, and continued on to their place. When they arrived, Aceline’s heart sank in her chest. Linda, her 10-year-old sister, and twin to Brian, was wearing the red dress that Mr. Colaros had made for Aceline. “You weren’t here when it arrived,” boasted Linda. “And it’s too big for you anyway. So there! Mom and Dad gave it to me.” She pranced off down the path to school, her books slung over her shoulder.

“Don’t worry sis. We’ll have another made for you.” She ran off into the house, and slammed the door to her tiny room, jamming it shut with her cedar chest of clothes. She wasn’t going to come out, not ever, despite her kind brother’s offerings of her favorite foods.

Like many nights before, Aceline wandered around the house after all had gone to sleep. She crept into Linda’s bedroom, which was much larger than hers, and retrieved her red dress from the hamper. She couldn’t hide it in her room. That would be the first place Linda would look. So she stole up to the attic, and hid it there in her old toy chest. Her father had put it there the summer before. She had no room in her tiny bedchamber for it. Not only that, she didn’t have any toys.

She returned to the second level, where the bedrooms were, and headed for the lav. She lit a candle and set it down. Then she noticed her face. It was still a bit puffy, giving the impression she was about to cry. A little dried blood was at the corner of her mouth, escaping the seal of the stitches on the inside of her mouth. As she wiped her face carefully with the cloth, she noticed how neutral her face appeared when half covered. She held the cloth across, over her nose, and stuck out her tongue. There was no evidence in the mirror. She liked that. She decided then she’d always wear a cover over her face, and the cloth would be red.

Despite her teacher’s and peer’s best efforts, she would not remove her scarf. Her wounds now totally healed, she let Peter make up a story of her face being scared. After that, no adult outside the family tried to remove it. She continued to use that excuse when others asked. Though it was a bit of a lie, it wasn’t her lie to tell. But she preferred it anyway, and that was that.

She looked up at a soft knock on the attic door. “Aceline, it’s me, Peter. Open up. Please?” She wasn’t sure it was him, both he and Patrick sounded alike. “Come on. It’s ok. No one else is here. Please? I know you’re up here.” Slowly she unlatched the door, and stepped back, as he came in. Was it really Peter? She hadn’t seen him at all that day, and Peter never dressed like Patrick. The young man knelt down and gave her a comforting hug. It was him. Patrick never hugged anyone. “You ok?” he asked, following her back to her perch.

“Yeah. I just want to stay out of the way.”

“Yeah well. Come on. Dinner’s ready. You know what mom will do if you’re not there.” It had taken her the whole return trip home to recover, and was just getting her strength back when they got to the house. But for three days, she had to sneak food from the kitchen while her mother ‘tried’ to remember she was back. If she wasn’t at the table at meal times, she wouldn’t be eating. It had happened a few times, but she tried to be there. Squished between Peter and Patrick. She put her doll back in her toy chest. “I thought youn’t n’t know where the red dress what?” he asked, watching her carefully place her doll in the chest.

“I never said that. I said I hadn’t seen it sense the night before, which was true. But sense no one has asked me lately…”

“You really are something, you know that? Really smart for a five year old.”

“I’m almost six.”

“Almost is the key word.e one on. I’ll walk down with you.”

“Peter?”

“Hum?”

“Why is everyone so mean? What did I do?”

“I don’t know. Mom and dad argued about something before you were born, but I don’t know what. The others, well…they just followed mom and dad’s example.”

\"How come you didn’t?”

“Cause it takes too much to hate. It wastes time and energy. Besides, I’m your big brother. I’m supposed to love you. Don’t you want me to?”

“Yeah!” She laughed hugging his legs.

“Come on, grab your blanket.”

She turned around and took one last look outside. Dusk was upon them and it made things even harder to see through the snow filled air. She looked harder, as she saw something move. “What’s that?”

“Come on Aceline. Everyone’s at the table.”

She saw it again as she turned away, and knew then what it was. “Peter!” she called, leaving her quilt, and running after her brother. “Peter! Peter! Wait!!”

“What ‘s wrong?” he asked as she dashed into the hall.

“You gotta come with me! You gotta come outside!” she took his hand and together they started running down the stairs. “Hurry!”

“Whoa, wait a minute, tree rat, it is still snowing like crazy, it’s well below freezing, you can’t see a thing…”

“Please Peter! Please! I saw something! Outside!”

“Snow shadows caused by the setting sun.”

“No Peter!” She dove under her cloak, and thrust his jacket and boots at him. “Please. I know I saw something. And if I am wrong, which I’m not, I’ll make you a hot chocolate out of those candies you gave me.”

“You’re serious?” he asked regarding her. He’d given her a box of her favorite, solid milk chocolate in the shape of little stars. She stored them in her chest in the attic, and only ate one when he was with her to share them. For her to say this, showed she meant business, and she nodded accordingly. “All right. But only for a minute.”

“Thanks Peter.”

“Where do you think you’re going!?” their mother called from the kitchen door.

“Aceline says she saw something outside. I’m gona check it out.” Before the woman could protest, the pair were out the door.

The snow was coming down sideways, blown by the horrendously bone chilling wind. It had to be at least 30 below. It could even be colder for all he knew, had the thermometer not broken when the kids were clearing snow off the deck from the last storm. Peter put Aceline on his back and followed her direction around to the left of the house. It was hard moving. The snow was up passed his knees, before he’d occasionally fall through the hard crust beneath. Finally he reached about the middle of where the garden would be and stopped, trying to catch his breath. “I don’t see anything!” he called above the wind in his ears.

“A little further!” she called.

“Are you sure?!”

“I saw a horse, and a rider. I know it!”

“Ok. Maybe they can hear HELLHELLO!” The two listened intently, but only the wind answered. “HELLO! IS ANYBODY THERE?!” Still there was nothing. “I think you imagined it Ace…” just then a horse’s high pitched call raced on the wind.

“Over there!” she screamed.

“HELLO!! TRY AND CALL OUT AGAIN! LEAD US TO YOU!” Again the horse called out over and over, the pair following it, pushing on through the storm, following the slightly muffled sound on the drifting snowflakes. Then suddenly there it was. It’s head and body caked with snow, throwing its head up to clear the gathered ice flakes from its face. Peter and Aceline, collapsed to the ground, surprised by its sudden appearance. Then he took hold of the flapping reins to calm it down. “He’s not one of ours, or Mr. Colaros’.”

“Peter Look!”

He moved closer to where his sister was, to find a person half berried in the snow. “Oh god. Aceline. Run as fast as you can back to the house. Tell dad and Patrick I need their help.”

“They wont listen to me!” Peter shook his head. She was right. No one listened to her accept him. That’s why they were out here. The horse bent his head around, nickering softly. “What can we do?”

Peter released the rider’s foot, that was still caught in the left stirrup. “We use the horse. We put the rider across his back. I want you up there too, to hold onto him.”

“It’s a her!”

“What?”

“The rider is a girl!”

“You sure?”

“I put my hand to her chest to see if her heart’s still beating, it is, and her chest was too lumpy to be a man.”

“I had to ask. Come on. You hang on tight.” With the rider slung across the horse like a sack, Aceline behind the saddle holding her belt, Peter led them back to the house.

“Where’s Peter?” Patrick asked, as his mother set the plates out on the table.

“Said he saw something outside. He’ll be back, now eat.”

Suddenly the door crashed open, snow and wind working its way inside, before it was shut. “MOM!!!”

Everyone at the table raced out to the foyer. “Good lord! Whose that?!” his mother asked, his father taking the near frozen woman from his son.

“I don’t know. Aceline spotted her outside. She’s putting her horse in the barn now.”

“Cyber?” asked his father, moving toward the family room.

“Couldn’t’ tell. Too much snow.”

“Oh no you don’t! Not on the sofa! Take her upstairs to the bathroom, put her in the tub. Then go to our room and get my thickest night dress and wool socks. Linda, Gail, you’re with me. Peter, when Aceline comes in send her to me. Brian, you go make sure that strange horse is put away properly. Patrick, put covers on all the plates. Peter, dry yourself off. Well…why are you all standing around?!”

Quickly everyone went to their appointed tasks. If there was one thing his mother knew how to do, it was to delegate chores. Too bad the ones she usually gave Aceline got her into trouble when she couldn’t do them. Peter strolled into the dinning area, and looked over the plates. As he’d suspected, one was missing. Quickly he dished out some of his own supper for Aceline, put a spare plate over it, and set it in her spot. “Mom’s gona freak,” sneered Patrick, watching from the adjoining kitchen.

“Its only right. If it wasn’t for Aceline, that woman upstairs could have died out there.”

“She still might.”

“But at least she has a chace, thanks to Aceline.”

“You’re really soft on the little bratt, aen’t you?!”

“She’s our sister!”

“Yours maybe, not mine.”

“I’ll never figure out how you and I could be twins.”

Just as Patrick was about to slug Peter, Aceline kicked his leg. Being so small she could easily slip into a room.

Aceline quickly closed the barn door, as the horse trotted inside. She then grabbed the warm water hose and started hosing tnimanimal down. She then realized what horse it was. It wasn’t just a cyber horse, but the horse that belonged to the woman she’d followed half way across the continent. She couldn’t believe it. She knew it was a horse and rider, but she never expected this. Quickly she grabbed the reins of the bridle as the horse shook the warm water from his head. “Easy fella, I won’t hurt you. I promise.” The horse never moved. “Con, on, we’ll put you in a stall and get you all covered up. You gotta be cold!” The horse obediently followed her, letting her climb over the rail of the stall to unhitch the saddle. “You’ll be ok,” she said, sliding the thing off, and getting berried under it in the process. The horse turned his head to see the girl struggling under the heavy equipment. The saddle was as big as she was tall almost.

“What are you doing!” screeched a boy.

“Trying to get the horse settled,” she replied matter of factly as he pulled the saddle off her.

“You should know better. You’re lucky he didn’t kick you.”

“He’s a cyber. He wouldn’t do that!”

“Really?”

“Really. Now get out of my way, I’ve got to get his bridle off.”

“Oh no you’re not,” he pulled her out of the stall, practically slinging her across the floor. “You go back to the house. Mom wants your help.”

“But…!!”

“No buts! Go!!”

She looked back to the horse, as her brother pulled the reins tightly down and hauled off the bridle. The horse may have had strict programming to be gentle around people, but that was no reason to be mean. But there wasn’t much she could do about it. She trudged back to the house through the gathered snow in the previously cleared yard. Stomping her feet on the deck as she got clear of the stairs. She hung up her cloak, kicked off her boots, and headed for the dinning area where she heard voices. Peter would know what her mother wanted her for, and he’d be nicer in telling her too.

“She’s our sister!” Peter defended.

“Yours maybe, not mine,” replied Patrick.

“I’ll never figure out how you and I could be twins.” She saw Patrick ball up his fist, ready to punch Peter as he turned away. Quickly she ran over and kicked her foot into his leg, right on the bruise she knew was there from the horse that kicked him the day before.

“Damn!!” he cussed. “You little…!!!”

Peter pulled her aside and took the blow he meant for her in his shoulder. “Peter!!”

“I’m ok. Mom’s in the bathroom upstairs, she needs your help with the rider.”

“Ok…” Reluctantly she left them, wishing she were bigger to help her big brother more.

“You really are a prick, you know that!”

“Who’s the bigger coward? One who strikes his own brother when his back is turned, or punches a five year old kid for protecting her family.” Peter grabbed Patrick’s collar and hauled him close to him. “Hear this loud and clear, brother. You touch her, I’ll kill you. And I don’t mean just beat the crap out of you. I’ll KILL you. I’ve had it with this family treating her like the crap we dig out of the stalls. She’s OUR sister, the daughter to our parents. And if any, ANY, of you lay a hand on her again, I’ll take you out, with my bare hands. You understand me!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Peter pulled a knife off the table and cut Patrick’s face, just under his left eye. “I mean it. And she’ll know which of us it is, by the scar you now wear. Get out of my sight!”

Aceline poked her head into the bathroom to see her mother holding up the strange woman in the bath tub, her sisters gathering warm water in cups and pitchers from the sink and pouring them over the girls naked flesh. “She gona make it mom?” asked Gail.

“I don’t know,” she replied turning the woman’s head to look into her eyes. The woman’s lips were blue, her skin terribly pale, her finger tips were frostbitten, and her hair was matted with ice still un-removed.

“Mama?” she called gently.

“Aceline, go into Lin roo room, and turn down the bed.”

“Where am I gona sleep?!”

“In Aceline’s room.”

“I’m not sleeping with the brat!”

“So we’ll stick her in the barn.”

“I’ll sleep in the attic.”

Her mother looked at her, and she tried to look disappointed. “Fine. GO NOW!” Below her mask, Aceline was sng bng broadly. She’d always wanted to make her room the attic. Now was her chance. So what if it was cold, she could sneak a couple blankets up there at night. It was perfect. About an hour later, Montel had carried the woman from the bathroom and set her down on Linda’s bed. They quickly covered her with as many quilts as they could find. “I need someone to radio the doctor. I don’t like the sound of her breathing. She may have pneumonia.” Montel quickly left, leaving the women to their work.

Linda grabbed a few of her clothes, and nightdresses. “I still don’t believe you didn’t take my dress,” she scoffed at Aceline. “Get your stuff out of that room. It’s mine for a while and I don’t want any of your stuff in there.”

“You already tore my room apart,” she said to Linda. “There isn’t much there that you haven’t ransacked already. I’ll get my stuff out later.”

“NOW!! You little bitch!” She chased the little girl out, and returned to her mother.

Aceline quietly moved all her belongings to the attic, and stacked them near her old toy chest. This was finally her room. She was glad. She returned downstairs to learn that the doctor couldn’t make it out to the house till the storm cleared. He was on the radio with her mother in Linda’s room, giving her mother instructions on what to do. She returned then to the dinning area to find that her place setting had been moved, along with Peter’s. She was no longer sandwiched between the oldest twins, instead, she was on the end of the table, next to her mother, and Peter sat next to her. She wasn’t happy about her mother’s seating place, but she preferred it to Patrick’s. She scowled up to the older twin, noticing a large bandage across his left cheek, just below his eye. She knew he and Peter had words after she left, but she never expected this. Quickly she looked to Peter, who she was relieved to see was unscathed. Peter had gathered the rest of his siblings in the back corner, along with his father, and were quietly discussing somethingr far father didn’t look at all impressed. “Look at Patrick,” he said a little louder, and then went quiet again. His final sentence said, he glared at his father, as he took his seat next to his young sister. “Everything ok upstairs?” he asked.

“Mom’s talking to the doctor. And my room is now the attic.”

“It’ll be really cold.”

“I don’t mind. I like it,” she beamed beneath her mask.

“Daddy?” quipped Linda, in the tone she always used to ask for something she wanted that one of her siblings had. She did it with the pony, and he was sure with the dress that was meant for Aceline. But a quick warning look from Peter shut her up right quick, for he knew she was going to ask for the attic. “Never mind,” she said small and quietly. They then turned and ate their dinner quietly and without further disruption or discussion.

That night, when all had gone to sleep, Aceline crept down to Linda’s room. There the woman lay beneath all the spare blankets in the house, leaving Aceline without extra ones for her bed. She didn’t mind. The woman needed them more than she did right now. Her mother had gone to bed as well, leaving the woman without an attendant, and she knew that was dangerous. She pulled the chair closer to the bed, climbed up and leaned over the mattress. “You’ll be ok,” she whispered. “You’ll see. I’ll stay with you. You’re horse is ok, and in the morning, I’ll go looking for the man you were with.”

The girl turned her head, slightly. The soft glow of the nearby candle glistening off the perspiration of her brow. Aceline put her hand to her forehead, feeling the fever, then took the cold cloth and lay it across her skin. She turned her head once more, and her eyes snapped open.

‘I’m so hot,’ she thought. ‘Got to keep going, got to, get there. COLD!!’ She turned and opened her eyes. Someone was there. She could just make them out. ‘D?’

“It’s ok,” said a tiny voice. “I won’t let you down.”

In the soft glow of a nearby light, she saw her attendee. A child. A child with blue eyes, just like D’s. ‘Little eyes. Little D eyes.’