The Story Teller

Old

"What were you doing in the cemetery Elena???"

She was quiet. "Well...?"

Noah squirmed where he sat, staring in any other direction than the glaring of his mother's eyes. "Good evening, mother." There was no one he feared more than he feared her.

"You want to poison her too" Melina scowled, her braided hair sculpting her face, somehow making her look more intimidating than she already was. "You want to poison her like you have yourself? God only knows why I raised you."

Noah continued to shrink under her words, and Elena couldn't take it anymore.

"What do you want, mother?" Elena growled.

She stared at her daughter in disbelief. "What do I want?" she scoffed "I want you to stop hanging around with trash like that boy and start spending time with good company like that Ricardo fellow who seems interested in you..."

"Yeah, he is, because according to him I'm a hot pocket!!" Elena seethed.

Silence. Elena's glare had a simple meaning. Try me.

They watched the outrage flare on the face of their mother. Noah had just raised himself a bit, easing a bit at his mother's bulging eyes. He seemed to be more agitated when she was placid, as if her anger were more understandable.

Melina breathed in. She breathed out. "Your father would be very disappointed, and you know it is far from me to dissuade that young man from your presence. But Elena," she moved and squatted, her bottom, and her body in general, blocking Noah from Elena's view. "I am the way I am today, because I listened to the foolish voice of love. I am doing this for you because I know you have a big heart, and that can sometimes be a huge disadvantage. Listen to me, okay? Don't follow-"

"What? You're SON?"

Noah was no longer behind Melina, at least not physically anyway. He was slumped, his irises burned white. Melina gazed at him, disgust written all over, while Elena watched her mother, with the same expression.

"He's your son, you know." Elena seethed, her teeth chattering. "Your SON. He never did anything wrong. He didn't ask to be this way, to be able to see the dead. And I was just as shocked as he was when you told him to leave..."

"He was an abomination..."

"He was THIRTEEN!!!"

Elena stared holes into her mother as she got up, and her hand shook with anger. "I'm leaving, don't follow me. And I'm going to spend 'good company' with assholes like Ricardo once hell freezes over."

Elena's phone vibrated in her pocket, and she picked it up. 12:00 pm. Story-telling time.

At least that could put a smile on her face for now. "Excuse me, I have to work." 20$ an hour. Did I mention that? Meh, it doesn't matter. And her parents don't even know either, so I guess its not important.

"ELENA." Melina growled, demanding attention.

But she never got it, because Elena had already walked out of the cemetery.

"Elena!!" she screamed.

"Elena." she whispered, seething.

....

Elena plopped her butt on a bench about a gazillion miles from the cemetery because... well I'm a pastor, so I can't say what she was thinking exactly, but you have an idea.

She had run, and she had not looked back. She had broken an egg and jumped over a fence and had run over about a dozen people, but she had not stopped. And now she was here. Here, but where was here?

Her nose filled with the scent of blooming roses and the soft sound of buzzing bees and the swaying of trees. She could feel the soft brush of dead leaves across her back and the sun scorched her skin as a bead of sweat dripped down her arm. Her once white shoes were now mud brown and filled with sand and rocks, and her socks were dirty with it.

And glaring at her was a man that looked withered, though his blue eyes seemed to assess her and tear every bit of her, to find the information within her. (At least that's what she said. I think that mysterious man that I definitely do not know, looked rather swell. Quite manly for his age. Um...which I definitely do not know.)

He was wearing a long white robe with a white hat. He was also wearing a blank expression. His hands and his face were a mess of wrinkles, though his blue eyes were sharp. His skin seemed white transparent, like if she squinted she would see a stretched out heart with a pair of lungs, his liver and kidney. His breath going thump, thump, thump.

OK. THIS IS THE MOMENT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER FOR. I CAN FINALLY SHOW MY AMAZING PRESENCE TO YOU ALL!!!

SQUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

*cough**cough**cough*

Um... you didn't hear that, alright.

Anyway...

Ok, so there, stands me. I look as dashing as ever in...

*cough**cough**cough*

Ok, FINE! Gah.

Elena sees the old man walk over. She seems hop over a bush in his rush.

And fall in the process.

"Oh." She gasps, going over to help him up, and I must admit that that wasn't one of my best days.

She helps him up and dusts off his robe. "Um, are you okay." She murmurs.

The old man coughs and when he creaked "Chair." She thought it was life or death.

She rushed him to the chair she had been on and told him to take even breaths.

He told her he had heard. "Thank you, child."

"No problem." She sat next to him. "It was nice meeting you, but don't you think it be nice if I took you home..."

Like she was talking to a child, but then again, was there really a difference?

"Thank you, child. But I just left, and I bet I'm not going back anytime soon." He cleared his throat.

Elena squinted. "Um, have we met before. You seem..."

"I doubt it. But you probably have seen me before. The entire village has."

"Um, I don't..."

"I'll give you a guess. I'm really, really old."

She gasped.

"Pastor Adam."