Revenance

Chapter 13

Weeks passed.

Mira's father went to Dunbar for the summer season. It was just her and her mother and her brothers. She stopped going to see Tajo, but that didn't stop her distant glances at the woods. She still thought about him, and she swore she saw him against the trees while it was raining. But she never went after him. And she never received any signs from him in the months that followed.

She always caught the sideways glances from her brothers. More often than not it was Hayden. He never forgot about the day at the river, but he never talked to her about it. The glances always struck her in the heart. Some were threatening, others weren't. Sometimes she could read his gaze, other times it was an absolute mystery.

Her brothers had started to leave her alone, since the incident with Priest Marquett. Mira thought they were starting to think the same things as the sisters and the other villagers. But that didn't make them stop entirely. They still picked at her for little things and even used her as a punching bag when they were frustrated. But those incidents became fewer and further between.

The schoolteacher and the people at the church soon became impressed by Mira's proficiency in her work and in her studies of the doctrine. They had hope for her that they previously didn't have. And soon, the idea of going to Edinburgh became a distant improbable idea.

And before Mira knew it, a year had passed. It'd been one year since her last encounter with Tajo, and she thought about him again. The flowers that he had given her still hadn't died. They looked freshly picked and even like they were thriving. She kept them on her window sill, and she couldn't help but think about Tajo any time she saw them.

There was a thunderstorm one evening, and Mira's mother had asked her to make sure the animals were safe in their respective shelters. And as she was leaving the chicken coop, one of the chickens ran out behind her and into the rain.

"Hey—!" Mira stumbled out of the chicken coop and followed the chicken as it ran. It dashed through the fence and out into the forest. Mira stopped in front of the fence and sucked in a sharp breath. With reluctance, she climbed over the fence as thunder crashed in the sky.

Rain pelted her cloak and she was soaking wet as she climbed her way through the trees. It was dark and she could hardly see anything at all, with lightning only briefly lighting up the forest around her.

She managed to grab the chicken and held it close in her arms. "Got you," she said with a sigh of relief, and turned to head back. But she stopped when she couldn't see a clear path back to her home. She turned to try and find the river, but to no avail. She hadn't been in the woods at night before and couldn't find her way around. Any attempts to retrace her steps led to her going in circles, or wandering to where she never meant to go. But she couldn't tell, everything looked the same and it was too dark to differentiate.

Mira was close to giving up and waiting, but the next flash of lightning lit up something against the trees. She stopped and squinted her eyes, straining to see what it was. Thunder cracked once again and lightning struck. There, she could recognize a pair of antlers and a pearly white skull of a deer.

A pit formed in her stomach and Mira backed away as chills ran down her spine. She watched as the figure approached her slowly, and stopped a mere foot in front of her.

Mira gritted her teeth and swallowed a lump forming in her throat. Her heartbeat pounded through her body and she felt the chicken quivering in her arms.

"You're afraid of me?" His voice was still and quiet, but it still sent a shockwave of terrifying emotions over Mira.

"I... I don't..." She was at a loss for words.

He stepped back. "You've changed, Mira."

It was Tajo, Mira knew that. But she couldn't get rid of the fear in her chest. Some part of her was probably happy to see him, but it wasn't as strong as the terror.

He reached out to touch her, but his hand stopped inches from her face. "Did you forget about me?"

Mira shook her head. "No, I never forgot. I could never."

Lightning broke through the sky, lighting up his silhouette once again. He looked more menacing than she remembered and she couldn't figure out why.

"Are you lost?"

She nodded.

"Come along, then."

Tajo moved along without waiting for her. She hesitated, and then followed him. She couldn't hear his footsteps against the heavy rain. She wasn't even sure if he was walking at all.

"The last time I saw you, you nearly died," he said.

Mira didn't say anything. She just nodded and continued following him.

Tajo suddenly stopped and Mira almost ran into him. He turned to look at her over his shoulder. "You're a different person."

She still didn't say anything, but she almost felt inclined to. Was she a different person? What changed?

He stood there for another moment in silence before sighing and continuing on. He brought her to the fence of her farm and stopped. "There's your home. Don't come back after dark again."

Mira climbed over the fence and turned to look at him. "Why not? You've never told me why."

Tajo looked at her again and shook his head. "It's a long story."

She glanced back at her house and then back towards the woods. "I'll come back. I will."

He didn't say anything else. He simply disappeared behind the wood against another sheet of rain pouring through the trees.

Mira watched the forest before returning the chicken to its coop. She closed and locked it before heading back into the house, where her mother was waiting at the dining room table. Mira stopped in the corridor to take off her shoes, and her mother looked at her.

"What took you so long?"

"One of the chickens... it ran off and I had to catch it."

Her mother nodded. "Where did it go?"

She swallowed. "Onto the road. Almost into the woods, but I caught it."

There was an extended moment of silence before her mother finally sighed. "You know I don't believe that, right?"

"I know," Mira said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. Just get some rest, alright?"

She nodded and returned to her bedroom. The door clicked shut behind her and she exchanged her wet clothes for some clean dry ones before climbing into bed. Mira pulled the curtains shut and faced away from her window. She couldn't bear to look at the woods that night.

And when it came to Tajo, she couldn't figure out why she was afraid of him. What was keeping her? Every other time she went into the woods, it'd been fine. What changed?

Before she could really speculate, she drifted off into a dreamless deep sleep.