Hallows

Chapter One: The Festival

     It seemed as if it was a very exhausting day at the festival tonight, full of fun carnival rides, activities, fortune telling booths, and pie throwing contests. I observed the crowd and watched as little kids ran from one ride to another with such excitement, young couples holding hands with smiles on their faces as they steal a kiss or two from each other. As well as the occasional stray animals that tend to wander around in the shadows. I weaved my way through the carnival making sure to keep to the shadows as I continued observing the local inhabitants of this town. It is quite mysterious as to how those machines give them such joy, makes me wish I was able to get on one myself to experience that odd emotion. I took a deep sniff and smelled the barbecue and candy from food stands mixed with the sweet, tangy smell of nature. Everything smelled so magnificent, and so unknown that I wished I could merely stroll to a table and try some of it. But, no matter, I mustn’t wish for such trivial things.

     I kept forth on my path through the carnival towards the forest, yet as I crossed between tents, I came across an unhealthy, dirty, looking German Shepard facing my direction. Well, to say that animals are not fond of me is an understatement, they seem to hate me with a passion and this occurrence was no exception. I slowly backed away with my hands thrown up in surrender as the male dog stepped forward slowly to advance and began to growl low in his throat at me. As soon my footing came across the corner of the nearest tent, I took a sharp turn to my right and straight into the forest. Unfortunately, the dog wasn’t willing to give up that easily as he kept in pursuit. I wounded my way through the trees trying to shake him off, yet he kept attempting to bite at my heels, so I took in a deep breath and ran as fast as I could with a dress and boots on. I don’t know how long I ran until he stopped following, but it was enough to make my legs burn with pain.   

     I abruptly stopped, and as soon as I was able to catch my breath my legs turned to jelly underneath me as I fell to the grass. I allowed myself a moment of relaxation as I closed my eyes while the night breeze swept through and brushed my long, red hair out of my face. It felt like such a fantastic night. With my closed eyes I was able to hear the chirping of birds even clearer than before, in a sort of soft and peaceful musical peace. I rose to my feet once again and threw up my arms, allowing myself to twirl in this long white dress and danced to the music of the birds that the wind carried. It felt relieving being out of such a suffocating civilization, where I was slowly losing my mind. The night air is where I truly belong, enveloped by the smell of the trees and the sound of animals padding around. The freedom of the stars in the sky and the softness of grass as I dug my toes into the dirt. These are the moments I can truly cherish, being alone out at night.

     Sadly, these experiences never last longer than a few minutes at most because someone will eventually catch a glimpse of me and come following to see if I am truly the person that the rumors say I am. As usual, if it is a resident who is younger they will usually dare each other to go up to me and say something before they scurry back frightened of the rumors, yet if it an older resident they will stop 50 feet away from me with a bible in one hand as they recite verses towards me and a cross in the other. They never seem to notice that the fear which clouds their eyes, or the panic which sets into their muscles as they begin to tremble is misplaced.

     Apparently, the townspeople always run in packs, because where one goes others will follow with either rocks in their hands or guns at their sides. Now, I am not one for violence. So, I always end up retreating to the Orphanage. It’s always saddening, but there isn’t much to be done about it, as Sister Serenity always lectures me about.

     Except, today, none of that happened. Today, while I twirled in the wind and only listened to the birds, a young fellow was trekking very noisily through the trees without any concern for the sleeping animals, he seemed to not notice what at all was happening around him, or where he was until I noticed him the moment he bumped straight into me, making me lose my footing and tripping. As I careened backwards with my arms in the air trying to balance myself, this young man caught me in his arms at least two feet away from the ground. I was in a state of shock that someone actually touched me, until I realized that he hadn’t seen my face and was apologizing for not looking where he was going, and how he got lost until he immediately fell silent as he finally looked straight into my eyes. At that point I began to fear what this man would do once recognition dawned on his face when he realized who I was, but curiously that didn’t happen.

     He just continued to stare at me with his mouth wide open, and after a few silent minutes he closed his mouth, swallowed as his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, and opened his mouth again. This time, though, instead hanging open again the edges of his lips turned upward into a smile, while he began to talk to me with such softness in his voice. “Umm,” he chuckled. “Sorry for staring, you just have such beautiful eyes. Do they always change colors like that?” His smiled widened even further when I didn’t respond. “Oh, I completely forgot my manners. My name is Seth Urian. I’m new in this town, just moved in this morning. What about yourself? What’s your name, and do you live in this town?” His smile began to waver a little as I continued to remain silent.

     It’s not my fault though, I simply had no idea what to think, or even do. This boy was babbling and smiling, and it amazed me how someone can show this emotion to a stranger. I’ve seen it on so many faces in this town, but it was never directed at me. I scrunched up my eyebrows in clear confusion and stared at this pale boy with dirty blonde hair that was being disheveled from the wind, and a bright, but wavering smile. No matter the fact that he smiled at me, this person doesn’t seem to know who I am, I wonder why? Maybe it’s because he is new, so he hasn’t yet heard the rumors about me?

     My thoughts continued to shift all over the place until I felt a sort of vibration coming from his chest as he was pressed against me. He chuckled, and I saw the smile reach his eyes while he kept on staring at me. “I guess you don’t get complimented about your eyes that often, huh? I’ve never seen anything like them before. They’re, how do I put it, different? Are they contacts?” After a good few seconds what he said about my eyes finally pierced through my thoughts. My eyebrows began to raise in surprise. Was he making fun of my eyes, in a nice way?

     He took in a quick breath and said with exasperation, “My Gosh, your eyes look as if they are the colors of a rainbow now. The way they shift through them are magnificent. It’s as if I can paint them in the night sky.” His eyes never left mine, and in return my eyes never left his gaze. In truth, I didn't want to look away from his eyes, but just to lose myself in the depth of their hazel gaze. It seemed as if the only things that truly mattered was the way he was looking at me so intently, that I did not notice when his right hand rose and stretched out across the left side of my face in a soft caress. It was enough to wake my senses from this unspoken shock I had been experiencing, which I used to quickly untangle myself from his warm hold on me. As the cold wind pierced through the thin material of my dress once again, I was already ten feet away as Seth was rising his head from the grass he fell on when he lost his hold on me. His hand extended towards me as he attempted to rise, but it was enough of an advantage for me to turn back around and run into the forest.

     As I ran his shouting for me began to fade into the distance, as if it was just a dream. I stopped only until I was completely sure that I had lost him. I noticed that my heartbeat was practically pumping out of my chest. Not from the run, but from my encounter with Seth. It was one I would have never expected to happen. The fact that he didn’t run from me, but towards me was new. New enough to the point that I wasn’t afraid of him. I was still able to feel his caress on my left cheek, until I realized that it was only because he didn’t know of me. Yet. Once he stays in this town long enough, he will find out, and he will fear me along with the others. Which means I need to get back to Sister Serenity before any of the locals found me. I continued the rest of the distance at a slow and steady jog until I cleared the forest and saw the building of Symphony Orphanage.