Random Fits of Fancy

A Witch's Debt Full Prologue

Posted this fully because I never did and probably should have? I likely should just post the entire book as I finish it but...idk, I'm scared, it's hard to share, and there's also the worry someone could steal it too...regardless, enjoy!

Prologue

It was a beautiful September day. Sunshine radiated from the brilliant blue sky cascading down to the streets below. Wind tickled the slowly turning leaves clinging to tree branches. It was like a playful stream, touching everything as a gentle breeze. Fallen leaves tumbled down the sidewalk and into the streets of a sleepy suburb.

It was a lower to middle class neighborhood, with seven streets lined with modest one and two story houses. Most of the lawns were manicured and flowers bloomed with splotches of color amongst clean flower beds. Most front lawns had one to three trees to provide shade and draw interest to the real estate, providing that playful wind ample leaves to tickle and tumble...and some yards had more than just leaves to send rolling.

One particular yard had a little boy around twelve years of age with a curly mop of blonde hair and sparkling brown eyes. He played quietly, smiling as the wind nipped his nose and teased his blue jacket. The wind seemed to play with him in his quiet game of kickball. Black sneakers sent the purple ball across the yard and the wind accompanied it, sending it further towards the empty street. He would quietly run to kick it back towards the house, and the wind appeared to follow him, lifting his bangs and lightly touching his face.

This delighted the boy, and he continued his quiet game. His great-great-Grammy always said the elements were alive, if only someone were to listen for them. Winds always bring change, boy. His mother and uncles had never understood it, but playing in that yard with the sunshine streaming down on his head...he felt it. The wind was playful, like it revolved around him instead of the laws of nature. It made him smile a little wider, and kick the ball a little harder, going further and further towards the quiet street.

The next kick sent the ball into the air with a violent swirl of leaves. Bounce. Purple rubber flattened momentarily onto the patchy green lawn, crunching the grass under its momentum. Thump. It sprang back into the air and the wind reacted, blowing harder than before with quiet whispers in the wind that only the boy could hear, but he did not understand them. Bounce. He ran with the wind but it was faster than him. Thud. The ball rolled with the momentum of the playful wind, going onto the clean sidewalk and thunking into the street, rolling and bouncing less and less until it finally thudded against the storm gutter on the other side of the street.

The boy stopped short of the empty street, only for the first time noticing how the whispers seemed...weird. The wind swirled around him, but it wasn't as playful as before. It was stronger now...urgent somehow. Like his Mom when they were running late for shifts at the family restaurant but...different.

It reminded him of some of the kids at school, how they looked at him. Like he was a bad seed. His mom promised to tell him why when he was older, but he was to stay away from them and keep his head down, to not cause any trouble.

He was a good boy. He didn't cause any trouble. He was his Mama's helpful boy. He took pride in that. It made him feel good to help people. He wanted to help his family and get rid of their pain. He was the only one who didn't get the weird pain. He promised himself he would, when he was bigger. He just had to grow up first.

All of a sudden, the whispers stopped, just as suddenly as they had arrived, and when he looked, his ball was gone. Had it fallen into the gutter? He looked left then right and seeing no cars coming his way, he hurried across the street to the gutter, getting on his hands and knees to peer into the darkness. Where did his ball go?