the journey of the shadow child

1.

She walked the same path every day. She always did. She greeted the same people, but they did not answer. They never did.

She arrived at the river, where some children were playing in the mud. She tried to ignore them and sat down to wash some of her few clothes.

As she did so a small child fell over her basket and all the clothes fell in the cold river.

'Hey!' The Girl shouted angrily but the children just continued playing without even looking at her.

The Girl tried to get the clothes out of the river and almost fell in herself. Then she put them back in her basket and walked home, to hang them up to dry.

Her parents were home. Her mother worked as a basket maker and her father was a Lumberjack. When the were home, they always fought.

The girl could already hear their screams and the mean things they called each other. She always wondered why they were still married.

After she hung up the clothes on the Clothes line, she entered. "I am home" she shouted, but not even her parents seemed to notice her.

Her parents cooked a stew made out of potatoes and pork but they only placed two plates on the dining table so the girl got herself a third plate and ate silently.

Like every evening after dinner she went into the near forest. There she climbed a tree and watched the animals. After a while she got thirsty and walked to a near river.

As she bowed down to drink, she froozed in place. There stood a wolf, just a few steps away. Panic started to grow in her. What should she do? The wolf would eat her.

No one would miss her, not a single one. Maybe it would be best if the wolf just ate her.

But the wolf just walked past her and left. She started to cry. Even death seemed to ignore her.

When she got home it were already night. She was not afraid of any trouble she would get. Her parents didn't even realised she were gone at all.

She sat down in her room and waited. Silence. It was a familiar sound. Normally, she would cry but there were no more tear to shed.

After a few hours she fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next day, the girl woke up early in the morning to loud church bells ringing. They were not the ones she knew. Those were louder, almost agressivly.

The girl did not remember of ever hearing the church bells this way. This were not the sounds used to tell the time or to call the prayers; this one was a warning sound.

Even her parents were awake and for once not fighting but rushing out of the house frightened.

The girl got up and put some clothes on. It got pretty cold outside as autumn once again rushed closer.

She followed her parents to the market place where all the people got together whispering curiously what the reason behind the warning sound might be.

A man stood at the steps to the church. His voice was booming over the entire market place
"SOMEONE GOT MURDERED THIS NIGHT."

The crowd gasped in surprise. A small child in the arms of a woman started to cry loudly. There wasn't a murder here since ages.

The girl looked over to the gallens. The ropes were old and unused but still in good condition. If the murderer was to be caught, he would be hung on the market place.

The man continued to talk.

"A young child, just five years old was found strangled today in the near forest. She was already dead a few hours. We need to find the murderer and hang him!"