Chapter 2
***
The voice was small but strong. She guessed it was a young woman, judging by the delicate hand holding the glass.
"Drink up and warm yourself."
A silent rain now soaked the world, and Audrey turned and began to organize her books.
After a while, she felt a hush in the air. Audrey turned her head. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining down on the street.
A shower.
As if drawn by the sunlight, Audrey made her way to the window. As soon as she opened the window, fresh, crisp air poured in.
The breeze was soft against her skin, and the sunlight was warm, not unlike late fall.
It was magical. A small smile crept across Audrey's face at the liberating feeling of the breeze.
A rustling sound drew her attention. The cloaked figure was setting down a teacup.
Audrey walked over to her.
"Thank you for the tea, it warmed me up, and I'd like to repay you."
"That's not necessary."
The cloaked figure said in a quiet voice and held out her hand. As Audrey stood still, a hand, half hidden by the cloak, emerged.
It belonged to a slender woman.
The woman who took Audrey's hand first lifted her bowed head slightly. Her eyes were still hidden by the cloak.
The woman's gaze dropped from Audrey's golden eyes to her white, rough palm. Following the woman's gaze, she looked at her hand.
Her skinny hands were rough and ugly with cracked skin. Raising her head as if to look away, her gaze returned to the stranger.
She wondered what the woman's face looked like through the cloak, but she couldn't see it. Only her thin lips, wet with warmth, were clear. It was only when she noticed a small dot next to her that she thought it was unusual.
The woman pulled something out of her pocket. It was a pen. The ivory-colored cap was engraved with ornate designs made of silver. It was out of place in her outfit.
It was also the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life.
"May I borrow some paper?"
Audrey looked around and grabbed a notebook from the counter. Mr. Finley had given it to her the year she'd started working at the bookstore.
It was her most prized possession. She was reluctant to give it away, but another customer came in at just the right time.
"Here you go."
She held out the leather-bound notebook, hoping the stranger would be careful with it. The woman took it and began scribbling on the front page.
"Welcome."
Aubrey welcomed the customer. The middle-aged woman said she wanted to find a book for a gift.
When she retrieved the book from an unseen stack in the back of the store, the cloaked woman had already disappeared. Only a notebook on a small table in front of the fireplace remained.
Silence fell again in the bookstore, the customers gone. Audrey opened the note. Her beautiful handwriting was like embroidery on paper.
***
It was a dry, windy day. Audrey Eckbon’s walk home from work came to a screeching halt in front of her house.
Wham.
A sharp noise, followed by a harsh voice mingled with profanity, burst through the door. Her heart sank.
"Fucking shithole."
"This is not the kind of place I want to come in!"
"Mmm."
Behind the muffled voice, she could hear her sister Lena's stifled cries.
"Shut up, bitch, and don't tell me you've done anything good with your play date!"
"Honey. Please don't do this."
“Get off me! Won't you let go? You woman! My fate is like this because of you! Is this a house or a hospital? Only the patients.
Boom. The sound of the bowl breaking snapped Audrey out of her daze.
It was her family who suffered the hardships, not him. What did he even bother to show up, wreck things and then disappear?
Her father's frustration was palpable, as if he was the biggest victim. Audrey turned around, her legs barely able to move.
An irresponsible bastard, a drunkard, a gambler, a cowardly man.
A man who ran amok in his own home. These were the words that described Dylan Eckbon, and she was ashamed that he was her father.
She was out of breath. She didn't want to face such an unscrupulous man. Audrey found Dylan Eckbon both despicable and terrifying.
She had been beaten by him many times. She felt sorry for her mother and sister, who would be dealing with him inside the house, but she wanted to avoid him if she could. She didn't care if she was called cowardly.
"Huh...."
She stopped running and took a deep breath. The cold air rushed past her lungs, tearing them apart. It was hard to breathe, but it was also exhilarating.
Audrey enjoyed the pain, because when her lungs were about to burst, she couldn’t think about anything else.
When she reached a small stream near her home, she sank to the ground. She rested her arms on her bent knees and clenched her jaw. She gazed into the distance. The sky was turning purple on the horizon.
As she watched, she pulled something out of a worn cloth bag. It was a smooth, tanned leather notebook.
She opened it and flipped to the first page. She read and reread the short passage. Her chest tightened again.
The beautiful, yet neatly written sentences eventually left her eyes in darkness.
***
He's probably gone by now.
Her father came to visit every once in a while, wreaked havoc in the house, and then left. She never knew where he was, because he was always looking for someone to take out his anger on.
Audrey dusted herself off and stood up.
She lived in a small village far, far away from the capital of the Ruben Empire.
She and her family lived in a small house that stuck out like a sore thumb from the center of town. Her family's ramshackle home was tucked away from the prying eyes of the people at the bottom of the hill.
She had just climbed over the low hill when she saw a plume of black smoke rising into her field of vision.
As she ran frantically, her eyes filled with the black smoke. She stopped breathing for a moment and started running wildly. Several people were gathered around the house.
Among them was the man who lived closest to Audrey's house. It was Mr. Smith, the blacksmith. His wife, Sarah, was with him. They were the only neighbors who occasionally came by and checked on each other.
"Mama! Sister!"
All eyes turned to her as she bustled about with a bucket of water.
"Audrey, you're alive!"
Sarah's voice rang out, but Audrey didn't hear her. She kept running toward the front door. Before she could reach the handle, someone stopped her.
"No, Audrey, no."
Mr. Smith grabbed her tiny body as she lunged for the door.
"My mom and sister are inside!"
Audrey wailed.
She had been by the creek too long. The flames had been contained, but there were still spots that hadn't been extinguished. The burned-out sections could collapse at any moment.
"It's too dangerous."
Someone else stopped her.
"My mom's inside!"
She had a young sister who couldn't scream even when she was scared.
"You can't.""
"Mama! Sister!"
"No, you can't, you'll get yourself killed!"
"I don't care."
Tears welled in Audrey's eyes, and Sarah, who held her, was crying too.
"You have to stay alive. The living must live."
Why? Why was she talking like that? Why did she say it like they were already dead?
"They’re still alive, they’re still alive!"
Audrey wailed.
"The back door here is open!"
She ran toward the sound. Smoke was pouring out of the open doors and windows.
She pushed through the thick smoke and went inside. The acrid smoke stung her nose and lungs. She could see remnants of the fire here and there. Several men, including Mr. Smith, joined her.
"Mom! Sister!"
Kolok. Kolok. Her voice was barely audible over the choking smoke. The muffled calls gave no sign of life.
"Linda! Lena!"
"Sister, if you can hear me, knock on something!"
Lena, who had an acquired disability, couldn’t speak, but she could hear faintly. But no matter how hard Audrey listened, no sound came back. All she could hear for a long time was her own wailing.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry, Sister. I had bad thoughts. So many bad thoughts about wanting to leave home, about wanting to fly away, to be free and far away by myself.”
She had been a bad person since the first time she thought about running away from her family, whether it was once or a hundred times.
That's why this happened, that's why God made this happen, to punish such a sinner. Audrey rebuked herself.
That day, her life went down in flames, along with her burned-out house.
***
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