White

“Another Chae leaf please,” Eleanor’s mother asked without looking at her daughter. She simply held out her hand; palm up, while keeping her gaze on the elderly woman lying in the bed in front of her. Eleanor stood up from the rickety wooden stool she sat on and ventured out of the room. She walked down the dark narrow hallway of her home and turned into the kitchen. She quickly glided past the lit fire in the stove and slid open the pantry door. She stepped inside, studying the shelves that rose to the ceiling on either side. Each shelf was full of either un-eaten food or a variety of medicines. She spotted a tin container high on the top shelf and reached for it. Placing her hand on another shelf to steady herself, she lifted herself onto the tips of her toes. She still wasn’t quite high enough to grab it, but she could touch it with her fingers. She used her fingers to twist the tin in a full circle, bringing it closer to the edge. Now she could grasp it in her hand. She grabbed it and fell to her flat feet. Eleanor turned and left, closing the pantry door behind her. She dashed down the hall and into the room her mother was in.

                “Here you go, mother,” She said handing the tin to the woman sitting in front of her. Her mother turned to face her, her pale blue eyes on the tin. She moved a loose strand of her brown curls behind her ear and took the tin, opening it carefully.

                “Thank you sweetie,” She smiled, Eleanor could tell something was on her mind. That was one of her mother’s infamous fake smiles. Her mother turned back to the bed and placed a leaf over the large bloody slice that spread across the elderly woman’s face. Eleanor sat back down on the stool beside her mother.

                “What’s the matter?” She asked, tilting her head.

                Her mother let out a short sigh as she placed another leaf on the unconscious woman’s face. “Nothing sweetie,”

                “You’re lying,”

                “It’s nothing, dear,”

“Mother, I know something is wrong, I can see it in your eyes.” Eleanor’s mother tilted her head away from her as if hiding her face. “Don’t try to hide it from me; I’m sure I’ll find out eventually,” Eleanor didn’t like how her mother was always so secretive when she was upset about something. It made her feel like she didn’t trust her.

                Her mother seemed to think for a moment. “I suppose you’re right... Well, someone else disappeared last evening, during the white-out.”

                Eleanor let out a gasp. “Again..? That’s the third time this week,”

                Her mother didn’t respond.

                “Who was it? Was it a white-crawler, or did they get thrown away in the wind?”

                “What do you think Eleanor?” Her mother snapped, turning to face her daughter. Eleanor sat up straight, biting her bottom lip.

                “Oh,”

                “I just don’t understand how so many people are being attacked by those things. They’re as black as night, with eyes that glow in the snow. How do people not see them?”

                “Well mother, you know better than anyone that during a white-out you can barely see your own hand in front of your face. How do you expect to see one of those creatures prowling in the snow?”

                Her mother paused for a moment to think, then turned back and placed more leaves on the woman’s wound. She picked up the red knit blanket at the foot of the bed and spread it over the woman’s body, tucking it around her neck. She stood up. “Come on Eleanor, she needs time to rest,” She whispered, ushering her daughter out of the room. Her mother slowly closed the door behind her then started walking down the hall to the kitchen.