From Shadows to Starlight

Wanted

Chapter Fifteen

You have driven me out from the face of the earth; and from Your face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and it shall come to pass, that anyone that finds me shall slay me. ---Genesis 4:14

Wanted

Many years ago, as a small child, Erik often walked the streets alone. He was very young at the time, but he had explored every inch of the town he lived in, staying in the shadows and keeping his distance from everyone else. At times though, he slipped up. Occasionally people saw him, most of the time when he wore his mask. But the crude cloth mask was uncomfortable and rough across his face, and sometimes he took it off. And sometimes people saw him. Men, women, and children would catch a glimpse of him, and they would be afraid. Sometimes they would cover their mouths and back away, unable to speak. Sometimes they would scream, and sometimes they would shout insults at him. He’d learned long ago to avoid the other children--they were the worst of all. He hated coming in contact with other people, but he also hated staying in that dark, dirty apartment, alone or with his mother.

His favorite place to visit in that town was a big stone building that had a tower with the shape of a cross on the top, and huge windows of colored glass. Erik never went inside, because he knew there were people in there. At particular times, as he sat outside the building he could hear them singing, or playing music. They were beautiful songs, and he wished he could join the people inside and make music with them, and maybe show them some of the songs he liked to sing, too. But he was afraid of the people on the inside. Sometimes they would come out, and see him, and they would stare at him or drive him away.

A few years later on a cold, rainy day, thanks to a careless mistake by his master’s son, who had left the door open for more than a split second, he’d escaped from his cage at the fair and run away. He was in an unfamiliar town and had no idea where he was running in the dark, but he ran until his bare feet bled. He threw the stupid sackcloth shroud his tormentors made him wear into the mud. People jumped aside as he passed by, their faces shocked and appalled by his, but he ran blindly through the rain, unaware of anything except his own pain and his desperation to get away from everything around him.

Along the way, something made Erik stop. He was standing before a large stone building, with a steeple and windows of colored glass, much like the one he had visited when he was smaller. Though the doors were closed, he could hear music and people singing on the inside. He stopped to listen, closing his eyes and letting the music wash over him like the rain and drown out all the hurt. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and took a step forward. This would be the perfect place to live. He could hear the music, and hide from the gypsies. Surely people like them would never be able to find him in a place like this. By now the music had stopped, but he continued to walk slowly, cautiously toward the entrance. He was about to open the big doors when they opened themselves.

A flood of people rushed out, hurrying through the rain to get back to their carriages parked alongside the building. There were a few screams as people caught glimpses of him. Erik put one hand to his face to hide his hideousness from them, and kept trying to fight his way through the crowd, but everyone was bigger than he was, and they pushed him back further from the door. Then he bumped into someone his own size.

“Devil’s child?” Big dark eyes looked at him in surprise mixed with disgust, and little olive-colored hands moved up and down, left and right, in the shape of a cross.

Emilian and his mother, escaped from the fair as well, gone to take refuge in this great building from the other crazy, stupid people with the circus.

“Emilian! You and your mother grab hold of him!” a harsh voice shouted. His master. Erik spun around. There were some of the gypsies pushing their way towards him. Emilian’s dark hands grabbed his left wrist, and his mother seized his right, but to their surprise, Erik was stronger than both of them, and he jerked free of their grasp.