Tranquil Darkness

Lovestruck And Distracted

As Kerrin lay in bed that day, she knew that she should feel terrible about the attack, but she did not. All she could think of was the boy. Her mind was full of him once again. She could almost see him in her mind as she closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep and dreams of him.

The next evening, Kerrin awoke. Preparations for the Tilting Festival were once again underway. She arose and joined the people of The Dark gathered in the clearing. The elders were assigning jobs to the rest of the people.

"And where is Kerrin? Ah, there she is," said Evangeline, the youngest elder, as Kerrin entered the clearing. "Kerrin, your job will be to pick Darkenberries with Alese."

Kerrin groaned inwardly. She had never liked Alese, who had always been unkind to her and her friends.

"Come on," Alese grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the clearing. "What are you waiting for?"

She pulled Kerrin's arm the whole way through the forest.

"I know the best place to get Darkenberries," she bragged. "I'm sure you and your friends haven't discovered it yet."

Kerrin ignored her and tried to focus on thoughts of the boy.

"Here we are!" Alese stopped abruptly and dropped Kerrin's arm to spread her own arms out wide.

Kerrin truly was amazed. She  had never seen so many Darkenberries in one place! 

"Wow," she breathed.

Alese slapped her. "Be quiet," she snapped. "Let's get to work."

And so Kerrin and Alese began to fill their basket with the deep purple Darkenberries. But Kerrin was finding it hard to focus on the job at hand. While Alese was working, Kerrin stared out into space, dreaming of the beautiful boy from The Light.

"What are you doing?" Alese was constantly saying. "Stop dreaming and get to work!"

And so Kerrin would begin to pick Darkenberries, but it wasn't long before she was distracted again.

When it was time to return to the clearing, The basket was full of Darkenberries, but almost all of them had been picked by Alese. Evangeline took the basket from them and asked if they'd had fun.

"Kerrin was useless," Alese complained. "She just stood there dreaming the whole time, and left me to do all the work."

"Why is this?" said Evangeline. "Kerrin, why did you not help Alese?"

Kerrin felt terrible.

That morning, Kerrin slipped into bed again. She regretted not helping Alese, but she couldn't help but think of the boy. I cannot go on like this, she thought. I must see him again.