Protecting Emma by ML Michaels

Author:ML Michaels [Michaels, ML]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-05-17T05:00:00+00:00

Jana put one foot blindly in front of the other. The tears that had flooded her eyes were beginning to dry, leaving them red and sandy feeling. She rubbed them with the backs of her hands and took a deep breath. A small, but sharp stone found its way in between her toes and made her yelp. She stopped, wiggled them, and the pebble fell to the ground. Half way back to camp, she looked up and saw Ronan racing out of the forest towards the village. It was a curious sight to see him running so fast while everything else was paralyzed by the misty evening. The path led her around a bend, and Ronan was suddenly out of view.

It had been a long day up on the hill. Winifred’s burial had lasted the entire afternoon. Jana was asked to say a few words, but she had quietly and humbly declined. She wasn’t one for speaking in front of crowds, nor did she have it in her desolate heart to stand up and talk about her best friend after so recently losing her. Jana had been apart of the circus since she was eight years old. Winifred had already been performing for a year. She took young Jana under her wing, and taught her how to turn her ungraceful contortions into beautiful sequences that mesmerized people. Winifred had not only been her best friend, but an older sister as well. Without her, Jana felt empty, distraught and lost. How could she do her contortionist act with just one person? Who would she talk to at the end of a long day? Who would she go to for advice? As questions raced through her mind, she realized she was crying again. She stopped and took a deep breath.

“Jana!” She would recognize that voice anywhere. “How are you, my dear girl?” Homer Battle caught up to her on the path, his large belly swaying from side to side as he walked, his crimson colored shirt barely concealing it. He put a large hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. Jana stared straight ahead, not responding. “My, my. You must be in shock.”

He led her towards camp, where a huge bonfire was burning, casting little dancing swirls of shadow and light on the pine needles of the trees, breathing an eerie, yet warm atmosphere about the camp. Ragul was singing one of his songs with his eyes closed, a song of mourning. His voice was low, but sweet, and the others around the fire seemed to move with the melody of his song. He stopped as Jana approached. Jana wondered how he knew she was there.

Homer reached for the bottle that was being passed around, and Jana took a seat on a tree stump. There were about ten or twelve of them sitting, staying warm around the fire. Jana kept her head down and listened to the conversation that gushed in the absence of the singing.

“It truly is a shame,” Celeste said. “Winifred was one of our best performers, and so beautiful.

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