Revenance

Chapter 7

Mira awoke as the late morning sun hit her cheeks. She was tangled in her blankets and her cloak, and she was still wearing her shoes that she'd been wearing the day before when she ran out.

Slowly, she lifted her head off her pillow and glanced around. Something soft fell from her hair and in front of her face. When she picked it up, she saw it was a beautiful violet flower. It looked alive and as though it were still blooming.

Mira pulled herself out of bed and changed into different clothes, setting aside her dirtied cloak and dress. She set the flower on her window sill and headed out into the corridor, where her brothers were talking about something she didn't understand or care about.

Her mother caught her as she was heading into the kitchen, a basket of laundry in hand. "Hey there. I missed you yesterday. Where did you run off to?"

Mira looked up at her and was at a loss of what to say. "I was just ... I was..."

She tilted her head, and Mira could see a sense of understanding in her eyes. "Were you with your friend again?"

After a moment of hesitation, she nodded. "I was."

"I see, Dear. Would you help me with the laundry?"

Mira nodded again. "Alright."

She smiled and handed a folded pile of sheets to Mira. "Come along."

Mira, holding the sheets in her arms, followed her mother outside to the wash. They sat next to one another, each pushing the cloth into the water wet with soap. There was a shared silence between the two of them, only occasionally being broken by the sound of water splashing over the side of the tin bucket.

"The sisters from the church stopped by yesterday," her mother finally said.

Mira stopped, her hands tensing as she clenched the sheets in the water against the washboard.

Her mother sighed and stood up to pin some clothes to the clothesline. "They wanted to talk about your behaviour lately... They said you've been drawing strange things in school."

Mira still didn't say anything as she started ringing the water out of the sheets.

"I just ... I would like to know what's going on, if anything." She sat back down. "They want to take you to talk to the priest, but... I just, I don't know what he's gonna do. And I want to keep you away from that."

"It's nothing, Mother. I promise." Mira stood up and pinned the sheets to the clothesline.

Her mother watched her as she sat back down and continued washing the other clothes. "Alright, Mira. I just don't want you to get in trouble, you understand that, right?"

Mira nodded without saying much else.

The two of them finished hanging up the laundry in silence. Mira retreated back to her room where she dusted off her cloak and pulled it on around her shoulders. She laced up her shoes and glanced at the flower she put on her nightstand before heading out the back door of the house.

Hayden and Oskar were working in the farmhouse and Mira quickly snuck by them before they could notice. She scrambled over the fence and into the woods, practically stumbling as she ran, quickly checking whether anyone had followed her.

She found her way to the river and glanced around. "Tajo?" she said. "Tajo! Are you here?" Mira stepped closer to the riverbank and strained to see through the trees on the other side. "Hello? Tajo—!"

"Who are you calling for?"

Mira whipped around to see Hayden and Oskar standing behind her. She felt a lump forming in her throat and she swallowed nervously. "Hayden... Oskar."

Hayden was the one who spoke, and he stepped towards her when she saw them. "I asked you a question, Broken Mirror."

"No... no one." Mira felt inclined to step back, but she knew she would be stepping into the river, so she held herself where she was.

"No one? That didn't sound like no one." Hayden grabbed her by the hood of her cloak. "What have you been doing out here? Don't think we haven't seen you sneaking out."

Oskar stepped up next to him. "She's probably just out here to see someone like her. Another freak."

Mira shook her head and tried to free Hayden's hand from her hood. "Just stop it. Let go of me."

"Why do you get a fucking free card every day?" Hayden hissed.

"We do all of the farm work. We do all of the chores," Oskar added. "Why don't you have to?"

Hayden leaned in close. "You're Mother's favourite, aren't you? She gives you a pass for everything."

Mira shook her head and kept trying to pull herself free. "No, I'm not. Hayden—"

He lifted her up by the hood of her cloak. "You haven't seen the consequences. I'll show you the consequences."

Oskar took a step back. "Wait a minute, Hayden. What are you doing?"

Hayden didn't answer him. "Bye bye, Mira."

He lifted her up and threw her into the river. Mira crashed into the running water, struggling to stay afloat. She could barely see her brothers as she drifted away. Her cloak trailed behind her through the water and caught on something she couldn't see. It tugged at her throat and pulled her underwater even as she tried to resurface. Her lungs screamed for air and she felt water filling her nose and mouth.

Mira tugged the button holding her cloak around her shoulders free and the water swept her away. As she searched around with her hands, looking for the river bank or something to cling to, she felt herself losing consciousness. Her hands found a wooden log and she grabbed ahold of it, as things in the water raced past her.

She lifted her head above the water and blinked the dirt from her eyes. Though blurry, she could see the river bank nearby and she tried to swim to it. Just as she was reaching towards the bank, a rough dull object hit her in the head, and everything went dark.