Reaper

Chapter 2

When we arrived home, Father unhitched the horses while I went inside to tell Mother that we were home. She was sweeping the floor and humming a song that I vaguely remembered from my childhood.

"Hello, Mother." I said happily. She stopped sweeping to turn and smile at me.

"Hello, dear. Was town fun?"

I nodded. "Yes, it was."

"Did anything interesting happen?"

I paused. Dare I tell her about Aria Ravencroft and the blue wisp of light in the town street? Would Mother think I'd gone insane? I silently argued with myself over it for a second then shook my head.

"No," I said, a smile still gracing my lips, "Nothing interesting happened."

"How are Mr. and Mrs. Clarke doing?" she asked, changing the subject. I was grateful that she hadn't pressed.

"They are doing very well."

"That's good. They're such nice people. Mr. Clarke almost didn't move out here, though."

"Really?" Mother and Mrs. Clarke had grown up together in Connecticut and the Clarkes had moved to Illinois shortly after Mother and Father had. "What happened?"

"Well, Mary fell ill and John wasn't sure that they should be travelling while she was ill. He was right, of course, but Mary insisted that they come out after she got better. It took her almost a month to get rid of the illness completely." Mother shook her head. "It was horrible seeing Mary like that. We thought that she'd never get better."

"Katherine, I've got the flour, sugar, beans, and rice for you." Father said as he came into the cottage.

Mother smiled, as if she hadn't just been talking about her closest friend almost dying from an illness. "Thank you, James."

Father set down the sacks that held the food and sat down in his rocking chair near the window. "John and Mary are doing well and they send their hellos to you." he said to Mother.

"I'm glad that they are well." Mother said. She set her broom against the wall and we all chatted as she started to set the table for dinner. I helped her and soon, we were sat down, holding hands as Father said a prayer. As I ate, I half-listened to the conversation going on in front of me.

"Aria and her mother were in the store today." Father said, making my attention turn fully to the conversation. I was curious as to what Father would say about Aria. I knew that he didn't hate the Ravencrofts but he didn't socialize with them much either.

"Did you speak to them at all?" Mother asked.

Father shook his head. "No, I was speaking to John and Mary."

Before I could stop myself, I asked, "Do the Ravencrofts go into town much, Father?"

Father and Mother exchanged a quick look then Father looked back at me. "No, they don't. Many of the folks in town don't care much for them so they stay in the forest most of the time."

"Why? Have they done something wrong?"

"They have been accused of being witches in the past." Mother said.

"Are they?" I inquired. I had to admit that my curiosity had been piqued. Aria hadn't seemed like a witch when I had talked to her but of course, there were surely ways of hiding things like that.

"No one knows for certain and it has never been proven. However, when one is considered to be evil, there is little that can be done to be seen as good." She let out a small sigh. "Even though it's been many, many years since the horrible events that happened."