Black as Night (Completed)

Chapter 22

Matthew

My stomach grumbles loudly. “I'm so hungry,” I say to myself. I walk a little farther. I see a tree. It has seeds. I run over to it. “It'll be just like eating sunflower seeds,” I tell myself. I rip some seeds off the branch. I shove them in my mouth and chew. I swallow them. “Ah, gross!” I yell out. These things taste terrible! I sit down. Where am I going to find food?

My stomach churns, then aches. I groan. My stomach begins to hurt more. I groan louder. My stomach feels like someone is stabbing it with a knife. I cry out in pain. 

An old woman passes by me. She looks over at me. “Oh, dear.” She has a cracked voice. She comes over to me. “What happened?” She touches my face. I cry out again from pain in my face and stomach. I moan, “My stomach.” “Oh, no. Did you eat the seeds from this trees?” She questions. I slightly nod. “Stupid boy. This is a Nux Vomica tree!” She searches in her bag. I give her a confused look. She begins mixing ingredients. “The seeds contain strychnine,” The old woman says. 

I give her another confused look. I groan loudly. “The seeds are poisonous,” She says plainly. She puts the bowl to my mouth. “Drink it.” I take a few large gulps. “More.” She puts the bowl to my mouth again. I finish it off. The liquid tastes worse than the seeds. “Ah, that's sick!” I yell. She pulls out a canteen of water and pours it in a bowl. I drink some. I hand it back to her. “You would've died out here had it not been for me. I'm Prudence. I'm the old gypsy woman of Martingale,” Prudence conveys. She grabs my hand and I help her stand up. That name sounds familiar. Martingale, Martingale. Where have I heard that before?

“You're a gypsy?” I say worriedly. “I'm not a witch, boy. I'm not going to kill you. Now, what happened to your face?” Oh, yeah. That. “I was running and I tripped my hit my face on a root,” I say. “Hmm.” She pulls out a container of something. She opens it, sticks her finger in, then rubs it on my wound. The wound starts stinging horrendously. I scream out in agony.

“Ow! It burns, it burns!” I run around like a headless chicken, screaming in pain. Prudence chuckles. I stop running around after it stops burning like fire.

I touch my face. No pain. She hands me the bowl of water. I look in it. My wounds are completely healed except for a light purple shading on the eye that was swollen. Happiness fills me. No one except for Julie has ever helped me. I drink the water. I grin like an idiot. “Thank you so much!” I say. Prudence smiles. “Now, what or who are you trying to find?” She asks. I guess being a gypsy woman she can read minds. “You probably don't know her. Her name is Julie. I need to find her so I can tell her I was wrong about everything and that I love her,” I state. “Actually, I do know her. She came to my caravan yesterday. She'll be in Martingale by tonight, just as you will. Beware though. You may not recognize her at first,” Prudence declares. “Good luck, Matthew.” She pats my hands. She walks away. How did she know my name?!?!