Life Without You

Chapter 10

    "Dora! Dora! Look at what I found!"

    Dora's long, slick black hair whipped around her face as she turned to face her little brother. She sat down on her knees as Gale opened his little hands to show her the scraps of gold.

    "I paned them myself!"

    "Good job, Gale!"

    Gale's fleshy pink face flushed redder with pure joy.

    "Are you going somewhere?"

    There was a small brown backpack on Dora's dusty green bed, along with some dry food, a canteen, and a silver knife. 

    "Yeah. I'm going to explore the northern area to see if there's room to expand the town."

    "Are you gonna be gone long?"

    "Nah. I should be gone for about a week...two tops."

    "Are you going alone?"

    "No - Étain, the blacksmith's son, is coming too. Some girl named Melena...and..."

    A dark blush creeped up Dora's tan cheeks.

    "...Paja. He's...coming too."

    "Your booooyfrieeeend?"

     "Quiet, you!"

    Dora picked Gale up and swung him around in her arms, laughing. Thunder shook outside. 

    "Look, Gale!"

    "What?"

    She pointed out the window, into the dark, wet sky. 

    "If you look at the sky when it's raining, you can see the other side of the rainbow, and if you see it, then you could spot an angel, who will grant your dearest wish."

    "Wow..."

    Gale sat down on the windowsill, and watched the rain as Dora packed. 

><><><><

    Paja was waiting outside the front door.

    "Hey, Babe! C'mon! We're leaving."

     Dora rushed out of her room and tried to sneak downstairs quietly, only to find Gale waiting for her at the bottom.

    "How long have you been up?"

    "An hour. Were you going to leave without saying goodbye?"

    "We said goodbye last night, remember? With Mom? She made a cake, you've got to remember that-you tried to eat half!"

    Tears glittered in the six-year-old's honey-gold eyes.

    "Promise you'll come home."

    Dora rustled his hair, laughing somberly.

    "I promise."

    "Promise you'll marry Paja when you get back?"

    "I'm leaving now."

    Gale leaned out of his window and watched his sister walk away, hand-in-hand with the pretty boy that had wooed her so. That was the last time she was seen alive-happy, young, and in love.

><><><><

    Six months later, news reached the small town. Paja's body, mangled, and almost unrecognizable, was found, less than three miles down the road. He was still holding Dora's left hand. A diamond ring, dull with blood, was on her left hand.

><><><><

    It was raining on Gale's seventh birthday. He didn't leave the window in his sister's room once, trying to spot an angel. Étain, the blacksmith's daughter, was found, hanging from a makeshift noose in a tree the next day.

><><><><

    "Hey, Gale! Did ya hear, did ya hear?"

    A little girl with red pigtails ran up to him and whispered in his ear:

    "They found Silvie Charles's older sister, Melena, buried in the ground a way down the road-but get this! She was buried headfirst, with her feet dangling in the air! Isn't that freaky?"

><><><><

    Gale had had enough. On his eighth birthday, he packed a bag and went down the brick road, determined to find his sister himself. He walked for four days straight, before coming to a pond. It wasn't obvious what was wrong at first, because it was dawn, and the whole sky was blood red. Wading into the pond, Gale picked up a soggy backpack a few yards off the coast. He scanned the area, making a full 360 turn, until he was staring back into the center of the pond. There was a dark figure in the center of the maroon water. Which was strange-the sun was well up by now, why-

    The water had not changed its red color. the edges were a subtle pink, the center a pure, dark crimson, with Dora's body laying at the bottom. 

    Gale returned in three days. People in the town talked a great lot. They said it was a miracle that Gale had made it back at all. What or who killed those innocent children? It must've been something more...it must've been a witch...

    Gale watched the rain. I wish for my sister back. I wish for my sister back. I wish...I wish...

    I wish to avenge her.