Encroaching Darkness

Chapter 3

Four years later

"C'mon, Dev, we're going to miss it!" Blasa tore through the house, yanking her favorite blue button-up over her arms as her bare feet pounded down the stairs. She skidded through the living room and nearly tripped over Once's leg as she was speed-demoning her way through the house.

"Easy there, child," Once laughed, taking Blasa by the arm to slow her down. "You might hurt yourself. Will you not slow down?"

"I can't slow down, Gramps," she cried, bouncing on the balls of her bare feet and wiggling her arm impatiently.

Once chuckled, ever amused by the fact that Blasa had picked up Tam's nickname for him and had started using it seriously. "And why not," Once asked.

"Because," Blasa huffed, sounding impatient, "the fair is starting in town, and it's the first one I've ever seen, and Dev and I want to be there for all of it!"

"Blasa, the fair does not start for another..." Once craned his neck to look at the grandfather clock and calendar in the corner of the room. "Four hours. It does not take the two of you more than ten minutes to walk into town. It is probably not even fully set up yet."

Blasa huffed, dragging her bangs away from her eyes. "That's why we're going! To see it get set up! And there's a parade tomorrow, and we want to see that too!"

Once laughed. "You did not mention the parade, Blasa."

The almost-thirteen-year-old crossed her arms. "Yes I did. Just now." Her grumpy facade crumbled away and she plopped down on the couch next to Once.

The old man wrapped his arm around the preteen, smiling as the kid rested her head on his chest. "Are you waiting for your parents, too?"

Blasa nodded. "Mama and Daddy are out in the barn. I don't know what they're doing."

"Working, most likely," Once says. "You know that they work with horses out there."

"Yeah, other people's horses." Blasa frowned. "Once?"

"Yes, child?"

"Can we talk about what happened to Mama? She and Daddy won't talk to me, and Aunt Basil always says she doesn't know. You were there, right? When she got hurt, I mean."

Heaving a sigh, Once subconsciously wrapped his arm tighter around Blasa's shoulders. "I... It is not an easy thing to remember, Blasa. Or to talk about."

"But..." Blasa looked conflicted, and she looked down at her hands in her lap. "Think about not talking about it, right? Wouldn't it be better for both of us if you got it off your chest and I learned what happened? Once, it's been four years, almost five, and we've never talked about it. I don't even know what happened."

Once sighed, rubbing his chest with the hand that wasn't on Blasa's arm. "I do not know everything, Blasa."

"But you have to know something."

Once didn't say anything, but he did continue to rub at his chest, right where his scar from the violent fight would remain for the rest of his life. "I will admit," he said, finally caving under Blasa's pleading stare. "That I know a small amount."

"Will you tell me," the girl asked quietly, "please?"

Just as Once was about to open his mouth to possibly answer her questions, the front door swung open and Adelia and Tam came into the house, covered in dirt and laughing. Tam picked a piece of hay from Adelia's hair, flicking it onto the porch before the door shut behind them.