THE UNTOUCHABLE [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 7: A PROMISE ON DEATHBED

Charlotte ate the berries, stealing a glance at Ellie who by now was sitting by herself in the tent. It did seem strange to Charlotte that Ellie just sat straightbacked, looking at the ground in front of her. Maybe she was not feeling well and had to sit and rest, Charlotte guessed. Ellie was sweet, but there were also times that she seemed to be caught in her own mind, she became quiet and distant. Charlotte only hoped that whatever that caused Ellie's deteriorating health was not something serious, that it was curable. She had enough of those traumatic memories of dealing with Mom's cancer. It had started as massive headaches that only got better after Mom took strong painkillers. Then she started having fainting episodes. Charlotte and Dad attributed that to Mom's lack of rest and trouble sleeping. But it was so much more, so much deadlier than that ...

Emily's happy squeal took Charlotte's mind back from wandering, and she saw the little girl came running.

When Emily got to her, she had two books in the clasp of her hands. Charlotte shared the berries with the girl before they started reading. Emily also loved the berries, and after feasting on the delicious berries, she laid on the grass plain with her head on Charlotte's lap and Charlotte started reading the first of the two books for her in the best MissCharLee voice as she could.

Charlotte loved the voice of MissCharLee that she used whenever she read for kids at birthday parties. Melodic, happy, and matched by the movement of her head and eyes. Those seemed to captivate young children and helped them calm down and better follow the story she was reading.

It was when she was about to start reading the second book to Emily when she saw Dad and Michelle walking together, following Ellie who walked a few steps ahead with a shovel on her hand.

It piqued Charlotte's curiosity. Emily had stood up by now and ran to her mother, and Charlotte decided to follow right behind after making sure she took her slingbag and slung it across her body.

"Dad!" she called out as she got closer. But Dad did not seem to hear her, he kept walking. Emily got to Michelle and was trying to grab her Mom's hand, but Michelle pushed her daughter away.

In shock, Emily ran to Charlotte and grabbed Charlotte's hand instead. Confusion was on her face.

"Dad! Ellie! Wait!" Charlotte ran faster and Emily started whining while clinging to her left arm. Charlotte slowed down when she saw Ellie stop and turn to her.

"Come! You and Emily can come along too!" Ellie waved at her, and Charlotte nodded. Emily followed her quietly now.

They all walked fast about 1-2km to the edge of the grass plain that formed a ragged boundary with another forested area, on the far opposite side from the forest route that Charlotte, Dad, and Ellie usually took to come to the site from their cottage.

At one point, Ellie stopped walking, Dad and Michelle stood flanking her to the left and right. When Charlotte arrived there with Emily, chill ran down her spine when she saw Dad and Michelle look pale and their eyes were empty of any emotion.

They stood, zombie-like, their gaze straight ahead. They did not even acknowledge Charlotte and Emily, their own child.

"Ellie?" instinctively Charlotte extended her arm to prevent Emily from running closer to Michelle.

"Stand and watch, sweet girls. Stand and watch. I will need your pure gentle souls to feed what was of Rogh soon. His weapon is buried here, and his darkness has grown strong enough to tell me what to do," Ellie smiled, a crooked smile that looked like she was hissing.

"Rogh? What-who is Rogh? Ellie, what are you talking about? What is going on?! Dad and Michelle, they look-look weird. Ellie! Answer me!" Charlotte grabbed Emily's hand and shouted at Ellie. Ellie scared her now.