Masquerade Rogue

Chapter I ~ Wishing in a Well

The stick clattered yards ahead against a tree branch, and a streak of white chased after it. Entertaining a dog was so easy, Merle thought, as she and her twin sister Mara waited for Dodger to return. Mara forced a smile and patted her legs, motioning for the dog to come back. The clutter of the street and boards behind them, the two had taken a break from setting up from their small town’s annual Kitsune Festival. Mara ran forward, meeting the samoyed-dalmation mix breed and wrenching the stick out of his black spotted jaws. Merle lagged behind, looking and feeling gloomy in a plain sweatshirt and jeans combination. Mara stopped running, her heart not in it right that moment. Dodger raced up again with the stick in his jaws, his thick white fur smeared with spots of black.

“It must be so easy to be you.” Merle said, talking more to herself than Dodger as she patted his head and lobbed his stick once more, then wiped the fingerless jaguar print gloves she always wore on her jeans half heartedly. Mara nodded, her thoughts cloudy. She had barely heard her sister’s comment, but whatever it was explained her feelings that day. ‘Hurt’ didn’t even cut it.

After walking for so long without any specific destination or trail to follow, the two didn’t realize that they were approaching a small clearing in the woods with a small wishing well in the center that looked like it was straight from a historical fiction book. There was no bucket at the top, and when Mara looked over the edge, she couldn’t see anything for a while down, but could hear the echo of the water sucking against the sides from a distance. she tried a smirk. “If only we’d brought Harold! Then we could push him in!” She nodded with satisfaction.

“The perfect crime.” Merle agreed, smiling briefly. She pulled her hands out of her hoodie’s pockets, a small, glossy photograph crumpled into her fist. She unfolded the paper without looking at the image of her and a boy standing in front of a small bakery. He was taller than her, with blonde hair, tan skin, and a stocky build.

Mara walked over and glared down at it. “Too bad we’d get arrested.” she spits out angrily. “But he deserves no less.” Anger threaded through her skin; her cheeks warm, she sat down in the grass and started tearing it out. “How could he have done that!?”

“He’s a pig.” She said quietly, and ripped the photo in half. She handed Mara the half with the former couple’s heads on it. “Want to make a wish?” Merle asked, nodding to the well.

“I dunno...Maybe we should just move on. Find a new guy. You deserve better, and I don’t want my sister’s boyfriend flirting with me. That’s just wrong and I can’t believe he tried that.”

“Well, I don’t think the cosmos have any perfect single guys left to grant wishes with.” Merle replied.

Mara sighed, agreeing. She got up and looked down into the well again. “We should make one together.” At that moment Dodger sped up to them and nudged her leg with a slobbery end of his stick. “Boy...It really must be easy being you.” Mara sighed, scratching him behind his ears.

Merle held out her half of the ripped picture over the well, wiping at her face with her sleeve. "I wish life could be simple, easy, and uncomplicated..." She said in a monotone. "Like an animal's life." She added. She released the paper, and it fluttered down into the darkness that stretched for what looked like miles.

Mara nodded. “That’s what I wish too. No guys to cheat on either of us. That would be the life...maybe even no guys at all! I’d like that. Just you and me against the world.” Her heart seemed to pound harder as she watched the ripped shreds drift slowly down into the darkness.

Dodger gave up on trying to get the girls to throw his stick and sat down in the grass. The dog picked up that they were sad, but when he had such a fine stick for throwing, he couldn't understand what was bringing them down.  His tail thumped up and down, but he laid his snout on his speckled paws. His one blue eye, and the other brown one, looked up pleadingly at the two girls.

Merle sighed and layed down next to the dog, resting her head on his back. "Maybe Dodger can come, too. He's not so bad." At hearing his name, the dalmatian cross perked his ears. Merle closed her eyes and crossed her arms across her stomach, her too-long sleeves covering her hands.

“Yeah...I suppose Dodger can come. If he wants to.” Mara turned back and stared into the deep darkness of the well. Merle yawned, and crossed one ankle over the other. "I need a nap." She drawled. Her twin agreed.

“All that running has made me nauseous.” Mara laid down with her back rested against a trunk of rough tree bark close to the well.

"Gross. Running." Merle agreed. She pulled out a small chain that was clipped to her jeans' belt loop and ended in her pocket, revealing a silver pocket watch. "One thirty." She read the time out loud, then replaced the object in her pocket.

“The festival doesn’t start until six, right?” Mara asked.

"Yeah. Just enough time for a short cat nap."

“Good. Then we can be back before Mom and Dad get too worried.” She slipped down into the sun kissed grass next to her sister, the dew sinking slowly into her maroon tee-shirt. Dodger squirmed between them, placing his head down on Mara’s arm and licking her fingers softly. She watched the rays of sunlight mottle against the leaves from the tree branch above her head as they swayed slowly in the breeze.

"See you around five." Merle yawned again, and readjusted herself so Dodger wasn't her pillow any more. Just before she drifted asleep, she thought about a certain photo, ripped in two and sinking to the bottom of a certain well.

“Yup. See you.” Mara placed her arm behind her head and let the crisp, cool air flow into her lungs, deep and refreshing. She closed her eyes, trying to forget the past few days as they drifted away.