CACKLE- Book 1

Chapter Twelve

Remi emerged from the forest's edge, which widened to reveal a large grassy hillside.

The soft sound of foliage dancing in the wind behind her was comforting, but up ahead she could hear another faint sound, the sound of laughter. Not like Anna's or her own; it was higher pitched.

She approached the hill with caution, walking slowly, keeping her body low to the ground. She reached the top of the hill and slowly peaked over the ridge.

There was a long wooden fence, splintered and rather decrepit with age. On the other side she could see two small children, laughing and playing with a tiny red ball. They sat several feet from a line of sheets drying in the wind. Their size and fabric coloring, white and tan, reminded her of the bed sheets she saw in her books growing up. Where people would dress up their beds before going to sleep. Remi only had a cloth to lay on in her cave back home. She never understood the need to dress up a bed. 'These people must have a very large bed.' She thought.

Remi crawled along the ground. Remaining unseen was a way of life post apocalypse. She was no stranger to crawling and slinking her way around boulders and across rocky terrain to avoid catching the eye of a walker or other demons skulking about.

Anna and Remi didn't care if they had to walk around without clothing in the cave. They were not running or dodging in their home so they did not have need for protection over their skin. When clothes were being washed they would walk around in the body the Goddess had given them. Anna had told her, things were not the same in this timeline. People felt shame over their bodies. Yes, clothing was worn for protection, but they had a fear of naked flesh being exposed, something that Anna called 'modesty'. They tried to hide every inch of skin they could, other than their faces and hands, but sometimes, even those.

Remi climbed up the wooden fence, using it like a ladder and placed each foot silently on the splitting planks. She approached the linens blowing back and forth in the wind. The children hadn't noticed her yet. A young boy passing the small red ball back and forth with who was likely his sister. They both had the same nose, lips and mousy brown hair.

Remi wondered what the red ball was made of. Some kind of toy, that was obvious. Though she never grew up with such luxuries. Once Anna had found her a doll; it had been mangled and was missing both eyes, but it was the only toy she had ever owned and she loved it. Until an unfortunate evening when she had a nightmare. Remi awake to see the doll she had been squeezing so tightly, had burnt away into ash and dust. She wondered now if the young girl had a doll like she had. Maybe hers would even had eyes.

Remi gently picked the wooden pegs off a long sheet of tan linen and wrapped it around herself. The motion caught the eyes of the children who looked up to see her cloaked in their sheets. They blinked at her and she at them, before the children bolted upright and ran for a large brick home twenty feet or so from where they had been playing. The young boy dropped his ball when he ran.

Remi picked up the extra fabric around her legs so it didn't catch or drag across the ground and scooped up the little red ball. She examined it, turning it this way and that in her hands. Its texture felt familiar, wood perhaps? There were chips in the colouring. Paint. It was a ball made of wood, painted red! She squeezed it tight in her palm.

Seconds later a large woman in a brown dress, speckled with small white flowers and a smudgy apron rushed out of the brick house. She had white fabric wrapped tightly around the mousy brown hair, which was tied in a tight bun atop her head. In her hand she held a long wooden rolling pin. Her round face whipped back and forth wildly until her eyes landed on Remi.

The two looked each other over. Remi considered the various ways she could use her powers to kill this woman, as well as the ramifications if this person somehow knew Anna. Of course her children would not be too fond of her choosing to jump straight to defending herself...

The woman let out a breath that Remi hadn't realised she had been holding and lowered her rolling pin. Leaning up against the door frame she took in Remi's stature as she wiped her hands on her apron. She walked slowly towards Remi. Her eyes still cautious as she appraised her dirty face.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? What do you want?" Her voice was shrill and curt. Her accent was strange, but Remi sensed no malice behind her words.

Remi opened her mouth and a small squeak like noise came out.

'What the heck was that?!' She thought. Some kind of nervous reaction? She felt overwhelmed, as this would be the first human she has ever spoken to, apart from Anna. She didn't realize how nerve racking that would be.

Remi's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

The woman looked Remi up and down, taking in the fabric sheet around her and pressed her lips together. She signed, resigned. "I'm not going to hurt you girl, just tell me your name."

Remi cleared her throat and found her voice, but her response came out more like a whisper, "Remi."

The woman stepped closer, she was now standing no more than five feet away.

"Sorry dear, I didn't catch that."

"Remi. Er. Remilia. Remilia Annabella Vikroth." She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to fully identify herself but since Anna had given Remi her last name, it may be the best way to find her.

"Uh huh." The woman nodded. A curious look spread across her lips as she gave Remi a half smile.

"My name is Kynthia Arrow. Those..." She gestured back to the house, "are my children. You gave them a good scare, you did." Her accent made her words clump together but Remi understood her well enough.

"Vikroth, eh?" The woman asked.

Remi was right, she did know something, she recognized the name.

"Yes, I'm looking for my aunt, Annabella Vikroth." Remi stood up straight, trying to project an air of confidence. Pretending that she knew what she was doing as she stood there, wrapped in linens with her head held high. The cloth didn't really drive home the point she was hoping to make.

"She lives in town." The woman said and looked around Remi to the fence and to the forest behind it.

"How did you get here? What happened to your clothes?" The woman asked.

Remi couldn't exactly explain as she wasn't sure if she would come off as being sick in the head if she tried. Her going back in time wasn't supposed to be possible. Anna had told her that after the Culling witches with elemental magic had been extinguished. Regular humans did not look fondly upon them. They had good reason to. She also couldn't really disclose that she was re-born in the nude, walked for days, levitated and eventually road on the back of a bear to get there.

She ignored the first question. "They... caught fire. Please, I need to find Anna. She's my..." The woman cut her off.

"Your Aunt, yes. You've said that." She gave Remi a knowing nod that suggested she gathered enough, but the twinkle of curiosity in her smile and her eyes didn't lesson.

"Yes." Remi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, you can't go into town wearing my bed sheets. Come in, let's get you something else to wear." The woman turned and started walking towards the house, gesturing for Remi to follow. "Maybe wash that face too." She added.

Remi felt a flush in her cheeks, remembering the wild girl she saw looking back at her through the bear's eyes. She did as she was told and followed Kynthia into her home.