Modern Medievals

Chapter 1

 

     Elle walked on the street with her head down, looking at her feet instead of where she was going. She fingered the gold chain that hung loosely around her neck, then felt the flat, heart-shaped charm that hung from the chain with her thumb. She turned abruptly to the right and commenced walking down a side alley, her tennis shoes thumping against the pavement.

     The neckalace had been given to her by her mother. It was her favorite, and she wore it everywhere. She still remembered the words her mother had said when she had first put it around her neck, "Remember, little one, that this heart will lead you wherever you need to go." At first Elle hadn't known what she meant. She was only about seven at the time. But now, 8 years later, she thought she had it figured out.

     The charm was faulty, or so she had first thought. The heart rarely stood upright on the chain, as it should have. Instead, if frequently leaned lopsided to the left or right. One day, during her freshman year, when Elle was walking home from school, she stopped and fingered the heart. The heart's tip was pointed to the left, down a dark alley. Normally, Elle would have avoided that alley walked straight to the next bus stop and arrived home in a couple minutes, but that day, she dicided to follow the her heart. Literally.

     She found, much to her amazement, that following the heart's tip had lead her through a maze of alleys straight to her back door. Ever since that day Elle had been testing the heart. She now trusted it more than she did any map.

     Suddenly, Elle heard a loud clanging noise and looked up from her thoughts. The heart had never lead her here before. She brushed her blond hair behind her ear and took in her location.

     She was standing in front of a small, whitewashed house in one of the quieter parts of the city. Flowers adorned the front porch, and hugged the sidewalks and the sides of the house. They were scattered throughout the yard as though a very, very bad landscaper had used this house to test his abilities. And failed.

     Elle stopped and listened for another beat, waiting to hear the noise again. It had sounded like something familiar, but she couldnt quite place it. Then there it was again. It sounded like metal grating against metal. Maybe someones sharpening something, she thought, and then out of habit fingered the gold heart again. It was pointing to her left, down the side-yard of the white house. Confused, she looked down the street, looking for a side road the heart was leading her to take. But there was none. The street was perfectly straight for as far as she could see. Weird.

     Elle was tempted to move on down the street, but she had always listened to the heart. If it told her to go left, then left she would go. She turned to enter the yard of the white house. Then hesitated. Would she be tresspassing? Could she get arrested? She snorted. That would be ridiculous. Ignoring caution, she stepped onto the lawn and started slowly walking down the left side of the house, the wet grass squishing beneath her feet as a result of the rain that morning.

     The air was thick with the heavy scent of the flowers, which, as far as she could tell, formed a colorful  perimeter around the whole house, and not just the front. Following her ears, Elle snuck around to the back of the house, careful not to step on any of the many flower heads overflowing from their gardens.

     When she got to the back yard, she noticed that the flowers were scattered all over here as well. Groups of them were planted in small, cirular beds placed randomly around the yard. Suddenly, she gasped and quickly jumped into the nearest flower bed on the side of the house. The leaves rustled as she cleared them from her vision. Sweat began to bead from her forehead.