A New Dawn

Questions

Anna

I’m so confused of what my dad is talking about. Who is this kid anyway? Who the heck is this Freidrick guy?  Why did my dad know his dad? And what is he talking about shadows? He’s just grabbing his head and weeping. Poor kid, wish I could tell what he wants to say. He’s just there, pouring his eyes out. Maybe I could teach him how to talk again, that would work right? It’s not like he’s stupid or anything, just mute.  “I think we should just rest for the night so everyone could be refreshed. Then we could ask more about Harvey” I hold my dad’s shoulders and shake my head. This kid must be unstable, he’s been alone for a couple of years now, maybe longer than I think and seeing new people might have jumbled his thoughts. Also adding to his confusion is what my dad’s been blabbering about. I’m tired of all the events that happened today and I’m not wasting any more time talking to some stranger instead of me getting some sleep. Maybe tomorrow might be a good start; maybe tomorrow something better would happen.

I wake up all wet and woozy; sleeping on floorboards is not fun. My back hurts, I feel like my left arm is asleep and I can’t find my dad. I CAN’T FIND MY DAD! Where the heck is that old man? I stretch a while from my odd position and force myself to get up. For a fifteen year old, I sure have a hurting back. I walk out of the burnt ruins that looked like an old hut. Jeez, this kid sure is lucky enough to have something he can call home. “DAD!” I scream hysterically thinking this might work because it always does it’s a full proof plan. I hear scampering feet and a loud thud of what might have been a metal pail. “What?! What’s wrong!? Anna! Are you alright?! What happened?! Are you hurt?!” he looks flushed from running and a little bruise on his knee. Where did he get that? “I’m fine. I’m great actually! I didn’t have that much sleep since the last time we ever had stayed in a place. Only thing now is my back hurts a lot!” I grunted while I adjusted myself to an upright position. The kid walks closer to my dad holding a bucket of what seems to be fresh milk from the cows. “Wow. He has milk” I salivate on the idea of drinking milk. I haven’t had milk for a long time. Not like it matters though. I’m just dead tired of eating veggies we can scavenge, old rotting fruits, and sometimes food for domesticated animals. We’re even lucky we’re still alive and kicking from what we have eaten before. “Hey, can I get a sip of that?” I tried to reach for the bucket but my hand was smacked away by my dad. “Anna, be polite. Yes, this boy has offered us his house but you can’t just reach for something he worked on. And, we still have to filter that milk, we don’t know what the cows have been eating here” I hate it when my dad’s right. Sometimes I just wish he knows how we can bring back civilization so I don’t have to listen to him that much. I also wish this kid knows how to talk.

Lunch was to die for, yeah it was just a couple of veggies the kid plucked up but they were really tasty! A bunch of carrots, mixed with some spinach and lettuce, tomatoes, and he added something liquidy like a sauce but I don’t get into it much as my dad is always by his side helping him prepare our meal. Like, dad, just adopt the kid and be done with it. We finished lunch and we had a drink of the milk. Whatever the cows are eating, they should keep eating it. Their milk is sweet, almost as sweet as honey. What is with this farm? I remembered the idea of teaching the kid so I pull him out of my father’s grasp and sat him on one of the tree stumps near the barn. “I’m going to teach you how to talk again” I grin like a mad man. I know this excites him too because he’s smile is much bigger than mine while he nods furiously. “Let’s start with the basics. Alphabet! Say A” He opens his mouth and mouths the letter A instead of bringing out the sound of the letter. “No! It’s A, the first letter of the alphabet is A” he opens his mouth again and scrunches his face. I can tell he really wants to talk again, like he wants to say something, something incredibly important. “Ehhh..” Did he just say eh? I laughed uncontrollably almost falling off my stump. He’s upset; I can tell it by the way he scrunches his face again. This time only, he has his arms crossed on his chest. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at you. It’s just I said A not Eh.” I control my urge of laughter. It’s there just suppressed. If he ever repeats Eh again, I’m going to lose it. “Okay, let’s try again. A” this time he forces out the letter faster than usual. “A!” whoa, you didn’t have to scream it kid. He’s shocked. Maybe it’s the first time he heard his voice again. A little croaky but he can improve more. “Way to go kid! Now 25 more letters to go!”

The day just went by, me teaching Harvey the letters, while my dad learns how to till the soil, water the plants, care for the chickens, collect some eggs, and gather some dried hay to feed the cows. Before dinner, Harvey can recite the whole alphabet without stuttering and he can do it backwards. Tomorrow I’ll be teaching him greetings and other gestures he can use so we can communicate more.

I woke up by the sound of something sleek and small, a snake maybe? No it’s much quieter. It’s pretty close since I can hear it.  I focus my hearing to where the sound is coming from, near me, above me, near Harvey. The kid must be in deep slumber because he doesn’t hear it. My dad doesn’t too. I slowly rise from my sleeping position, cock my head into where the direction of the sound is coming from. There, behind Harvey, a small black thing. “HARVEY! WAKE UP!” the kid woke up and rose up from his slumber. Shaking his head from left to right, dad woke up too, only slower and more like feels going back to sleep is more important than saving Harvey. “Anna, what’s wrong now?” it’s gone, the black thing is gone. It was there a second ago. “Behind Harvey, there was this black thing waving back and forth. Making this sleek hissing sound like a snake, I swear it was really behind him.” Harvey looked behind him, even moved for me so I can see behind him clearly. Nothing. There’s nothing behind him, near him, or on him. Nothing. “Anna, there’s nothing there. Maybe you’re just dreaming of it. Go back to sleep dear.” Harvey gave me a disbelieving look and laid his head back down to the floorboards. But I saw it; it was small, like a tail. It was behind Harvey, it was behind Harvey. I kept repeating those words inside my head like a chant. A chant to make me fall back to sleep, finally I feel woozy again. It was behind Harvey… I try to keep my eyes open, straight to where Harvey is sleeping. Nothing. Still nothing. Maybe I was just dreaming about it. Maybe I’m just really tired. There’s no more sound of something sleek and small. Then I saw it again, waving back and forth behind Harvey, but I’m so sleepy. Tomorrow, ask him tomorrow about it; about that thing behind him. Why does he have it? What is he?

AU: Would you dare to find out what he is if you had the chance? Any comments? Violent reactions? Suggestions?