Three Converts

Part 23

I took Annie's advice and headed toward the rides. Of course, I didn't have any money, but I enjoyed watching all the same. The kids spun, bounced, dipped, and looped. It was funny to see their expressions change from fear to delight and back to fear. Families walked by laughing, arguing, conversing. Their familiarity stung. I went back to focusing on the riders. I walked from ride to ride, every now and then reminding myself that I was one of these people now. I was normal. The relief was explosive. I didn't realize how I'd lived, expecting to be glared at or shooed away. People were quite friendly when they weren't being accosted by a stranger in a robe, trying to convince them to leave everything they know and love. The obviousness of it was absurd.

The Ferris Wheel put me into a daze. I don't know how long I stood, watching it swing its patrons counterclockwise. Until I saw white movement through its giant spokes. Franklin. I couldn't let him find me.

I fell into the back of a group of teenagers and slipped to the outskirts of town. I could use some peace and quiet anyway, to consider my new life with Annie and Gibby.

Like everything today, the lake was brighter, clearer. It absorbed the sun's rays with twinkles and winks. I sat in the very spot I sat with Griffin just two days earlier. The fair smelled amazing, but it was hard to beat the pure air here. It smelled like the mountains, with a pinch of town. It was probably how I smelled. Eventually, I supposed I wouldn't smell like the mountains anymore and the thought made me sad.

"Lucy." My heart cleaved, one half dropping to my feet, the other rising to my throat.

Franklin blocked the sun with his lanky shadow. I didn't say anything. Why hadn't I run further away? Franklin slapped me off the rock. It took me by such surprise, I sat like an idiot on the ground. I noticed the bottom of his robe was filthy. Another slap. This time I was prepared, so he awkwardly hit my forearm. He became angrier. He tried picking me up, but I was flailing wildly now. He dropped me at the water's edge, knocking the air from my lungs. My body wouldn't move. He began rolling me into the water. The motion jolted me into action.

I began crawling through the shallow water, only to have my head thrust under. His giant palm held it in place. Don't inhale, don't inhale, don't inhale I reasoned with myself. My neck ached, then mercifully, agonizingly, he yanked me up by my hair. Glorious oxygen. There wasn't enough in the world. I inhaled greedily. Franklin was babbling, babbling. I twisted my head and was punished with another dunk. He stuffed my face repeatedly into the gravely sand. My throat ached to cry, yell, scream. Franklin would kill me here. They'd find my body. They might think I did this to myself. My family wouldn't know, they'd assume I was living my new life somewhere. My family. Mother, Father. Sophie...

My faith was unstable at the moment, but I can only describe what happened next as a gift from some higher power, if not Diety. My hands still free, I felt into my pocket. Franklin was so wrapped up in his own wailing and sermonizing, he didn't realize I was struggling with purpose.

When he lifted my head again, I sucked in all the air I could, then reached behind me, blindly, but desperate as anybody ever was, and stabbed Franklin's face with the blue glass good luck charm. It wasn't much, but enough to startle him into letting go of me. I knelt and stabbed again. He raged at me, but my center of gravity was solid now. He couldn't dunk me quite as easily. Not that he didn't try. We wrestled uncomfortably, me taking so much water into my nose, I felt fishlike. Franklin, bleeding more and more with every jab I gave him.

All the while I was trying to get to shore. Shore was much safer. I could run on shore. I could scream on shore. Finally, I fell onto the rocky beach. Franklin dove on top of me, but in a final act of anger I lifted the glass over my head and brought it down on him. There was a crunch and a scream. I rolled over clumsily, my now-empty satchel tangling me up. I stumbled up the small hill to the grass, half running, half falling. The screaming sounded far enough away that I was convinced Franklin wasn't right behind me. I risked a look back at him, then threw up into the grass. Franklin was thrashing around the beach with my good luck glass chunk sticking out from his eyeball.