Sugarcane and Indigo

The Storm Part 1

The sky was weeping and the wind howling as I raced through the twists and turns of Nowhere back to Indigo's house. Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing. My grip on reality was slipping. I didn't know who to trust anymore.
    I had built my life on five simple truths. One: My town was safe. Two: The outside world wasn't. Three: Anansi and his followers could be trusted. Four: It was my duty to help my town thrive. And five: I wasn't the type of person to stand against my town.

    But none of that was true anymore.

One: my town wasn't safe. Violet had been killed here and if Miss Clay was to be believed so had others. Two: the outside was seeming safer and safer with every passing day. Anywhere seemed safer than a town run by Le Fouet. Three: the followers of Anansi couldn't be trusted and by association, neither could Anansi. The Whip worshipped Anansi and their mission was the eradication of all outsiders so how could I follow the same God they did? Four: if The Whip ruled my town then I couldn't give my allegiance to Nowhere any longer. And five: everything I had done while investigating Violet's murder showed me that I if there were sides here - and there were - then I was no longer on my town's side.

    But even those truths were founded on the assumption that the people Indigo and I had talked to were trustworthy and they weren't! Miss Clay was crazy. Mister Ryland was an old shut in. Grammie had more and more secrets everyday. Even Indigo was avoiding me now.

    Who was I supposed to trust? The people who had raised me, who had sheltered me my whole life? The same people who might be responsible for Violet's murder? Or the insane people who stood against my town?

    Was I crazy for believing the mad? Or were they mad because they got too close to the truth?
    All I knew was that I wanted to talk to Indigo - no, needed. I needed to talk to Indigo.

    I raced through downtown Nowhere, sprinting as fast as I could until a Wee-ooh! Wee-ooh! Sounded behind me. I skidded to a stop and looked over my shoulder. There, in his police cruiser was Sheriff Buchanan. My jaw dropped and the hair on my arm stood straight up. What was he doing here? Why was he stopping me?

    He rolled down his window and leaned forward to shout at me. Above us, it started to rain.

    "Stop running or I'll put you in handcuffs!"

    I immediately wanted to started shouting back about how it wasn't against the law to run but I bit my tongue. I couldn't be arrested, not now, not when I needed to tell Indigo what I knew.

    I nodded and forced a sickly sweet smile onto my face. "How's your wife?" I asked, "I heard about the miscarriage."

    The Sheriff flared his nostrils and grunted through clenched teeth. "I'd watch my mouth if I was you, girl. A halfbreed like you wouldn't be nearly as missed as you seem to think."

    My eye twitched a little but I kept ahold of my temper. I smiled once more and then turned away and began walking - not running - as fast as I could.

    The Sheriff followed me in his car for a few blocks - probably to frighten me - before he got a call and was forced to do a U-turn.

    The minute he was out of sight I began running again. I raced through the residential parts of town until I came upon my street. The rain was coming down in sheets now drastically lowering my line of sight. I raced down my block and across the street to Indigo's house.

    I ran up the steps leading to his front door and began pounding.

    "Indigo!" I shouted, "Let me in! I have to tell you something!"

    He didn't answer.

    "Indigo!" I shouted again, my hair whipping around my face in the wind.