She is Real

Earl II

Earl pounded on the rickety door in front of him. Almost immediately, it swung open to reveal the old woman he had seen Eli exchange with at the market. Earl had left the market in a hurry. He was confused and hurt at why Eli would be accepting money from other people besides him and why Eli would have spare change and objects to begin with. Earl had always made sure Eli never carried extra change because as soon as that happens, you become a target for pick pockets and burglars. Earl didn't feel mad towards Eli, merely confused and disappointed. This is what led him to confront the woman who had given Eli money. As the door swung open the voice of the old woman spoke quietly,

"Hello? What is it you need?"

"Hello," Earl replied, "I believe you are acquainted with Eli. I am Earl, his guardian. I'd like to speak with you about the money you gave him."

"Oh," the woman said, surprised, "come inside then I suppose. My name's Jane." Jane opened the door wider as to allow Earl to step inside.

"There's no need for that," Earl grunted, "I won't be staying. I'm just letting you know that I do not require nor appreciate handouts from strangers. Eli and I are just fine I believe and I personally, think,it's dangerous to have spare change lying around. It makes you a target.What I would like is an explanation."

"Well," Jane started, "as you probably know, Eli is a very sweet boy. He offered me a card he got from a fortune teller when he noticed I was feeling sad. He offered this because he said his fortune had turned out to be false. He said it might apply to me. I wanted to praise him for his kind actions and so I offered him a small sum. I thought his intention was to give it to you, but I could have been wrong."

"I understand," Earl said, " I think I may have judged the situation too quickly. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go find Eli and sort things out."

"It's no problem, Earl. And I promise that I won't provide Eli with any more spare change. For safety reasons, as you mentioned."

"I suppose a small gift every now and then couldn't hurt...," Earl chuckled, "Good night, Jane."

"Good night," Jane replied. As Earl walked off he thought of what he could say to Eli. He would have to explain why he stormed off and then apologize for poking his nose inside Eli's business. As Earl began to near the market site, he could see the various stands beginning to close down for the night. There was no sign of Eli and so Earl decided to check at home. Earl followed the stone path that bordered the road where a few wagons bumped along in the night. When he reached the end of the street he crossed over into the small neighbourhood where he and Eli live. He passed the small houses, similar to his own, and picked out the few that still had lights on and tried to guess what they might be doing at this hour. Earl approached his own dwelling and realized there were no lights on. Perhaps Eli has already fallen asleep, he thought. Earl unlocked his front door and stepped inside his home, out of the cold.

"Eli!" He called. No answer. "Eli!" He repeated in case he hadn't heard him. "Eli?" He said once more, beginning to question if Eli had in fact made it home. Earl quickly realized that Eli wasn't home, he checked all of the rooms and continued calling Eli's name with no response. Earl began to worry as he looked around for a note that explained why Eli wasn't home. He found nothing and so began to panic. A fire started to rise in his chest as he became short of breath. He didn't want disappointment to be the last feeling shared between him and Eli. Their story couldn't end here. Thoughts of kidnaping, murder, robbery and other crimes whirled through Earl's mind while he attempted to make sense of his situation. Earl started to put his jacket to go outside and search although he was still in panic and short of breath. The shortness of breath became more frequent when he stepped into the night and started to look around. Earl felt his heart start to speed up and hammer in his chest. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe at all and realized that his heart had reached an unrealistic speed. His head began to throb and so he stopped midway down his front staircase. Earl tried to get rid of the spots in his vision by shaking his head to no avail. His heart continued to speed up, a fire started to sear his lungs, his limbs went numb and the spots in his vision moved together and created total darkness. Earl felt himself collapse onto his staircase, overwhelmed by an uncontrolled sensation. As one, two, three bones snapped from the fall Earl lost consciousness and became the victim of total darkness, pain and cold.

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