Outcast Among the Reeds

Chapter One

   Weightless, insignificant, she floated. The currents surrounded her, their cool fingers caressing her tender skin with the boldness of an experienced lover. She knew them well. They had become her comfort, her only sanctuary against the bitter reality of her life.

    Her lungs began their familiar ache but she stubbornly held to the root which kept her submerged. She wished to remain a little longer in this world and she had yet to complete the objective which she had come here with. Just one more, she needed only that much.

   She felt it, just to her right; a slight disturbance in the current. It moved ahead of her with aching listlessness. She waited, still as the root with anchored her. Finally, it stalled, coasting in the current just ahead of her. Reaching forward with deliberate patience, she let her fingers gently tickle its belly, no more than a passing leaf might do. It ignored the touch, allowing her to slide her fingers a little farther up its body. The growing burn in her chest urged her to hurry but after she had come so far, she could not simply ruin it with undue haste. She inched her way along its  stomach until she could cup its body within her palm. With a might heave, she surged to the surface, throwing her prey onto the bank before it could slip free of her hand. Her lungs rejoiced as she swallowed large gulps of air down a raw throat.

   Resting her arms on the bank, she laid her head on her hands, allowing her body to remain submerged. She never enjoyed parting with the river. But, at least she knew that no matter what happened, she could always come back...so long as her visits remained a secret, at least. She wished she could just stay in the river. She would never have to leave; never have to she him again. However, her body could not remain in the water for long periods. Already, her fingers looked more like prunes than the ordinary appendages they should have been.

   Sighing, she hoisted herself onto the bank, careful not to allow too much mud to cake her skin in the process. If he found out that she had gone down to the river again, he might just snap this time. She still bore the scars from the last time she had let him find out.

   Ringing out her raven-black hair, she tugged on her dress; a rough, unflattering garment she had sewn together from scraps of old blankets. She had kept this garment for as long as she could remember, simply sewing and adding new pieces whenever she outgrew the size she currently wore. She could not remember who had taught her to sew in the first place, though she rarely thought of such things anymore.

   Gathering up her most recent catch as well as one she had stashed in a nearby tree, she trudged into the woods, her bare feet whispering among the fallen foliage. She enjoyed the company of the trees; they often reminded her of giant, gentle guardians, keeping watch over her lest her secrets be discovered. Their residents even seemed to welcome her intrusion, often chattering and singing, even as she passed just under them. The fact that they did not fear her gave her pause for a rare smile.

   Her smile quickly faded, however, when she reached the edge of the wooded patch. Just before her lay an old, worn shack; the wood of the walls and shutters had begun to visibly rot; the old thatch had sunken in to become more of a bowl to hold rain than a roof to repel it; and the door swung and creaked in the afternoon breeze, hanging by the single hinge that stubbornly clung to the frame. Grass in the yard had long ago grown to camouflage the state of disrepair, making it seem little more than a pile of dead wood within a sea of green.

   An alarming creak rent the peaceful babble of the glade as she stepped inside. The floorboard shuddered as though to shake off her sudden weight and, failing to do so, sank a bit below its neighbors. She hurried past, a trill of apprehension snaking its way down her spine. This place always set her on edge. But it was the only shelter she knew of in these parts and she could not simply sleep in the forest without protection. The animals had become increasingly edgy at night. She had attempted to discover the source of their unease but had so far been unsuccessful.