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Elpitha
Apr 14, 2006 14:00:01 GMT -5
Post by zinovia on Apr 14, 2006 14:00:01 GMT -5
Elpitha: Chapter 33: Guilt and Hidden Blame
A/N: I don’t know if you would call this a cliff-hanger, per se. The music festival arrives at last! Just to keep things straight, when I say “Ellen,” I’m referring to the past, young Elpitha, and when I say “Elpitha” I am referring to the present Elpitha.
The summer days were gone. It seemed as though the summer sun had just began to bake the bricks on the paths leading through the town when a cool wind announced the arrival of fall. Elpitha had all but forgotten the Harvest Goddess’s ultimatum, fear and denial pushing it to the farthest corners of her mind. It was quite a shock to her, therefore, when the preparations for the music festival forced her to confront the problem. The warning the Harvest Goddess had given was unclear. She had said that she had until the music festival to confess, and yet she had not specified a time. Elpitha was on edge, worried that at any moment the Harvest Goddess would appear before the town and announce Elpitha’s secrets. It was just before noon, and a flustered Elli was dragging Elpitha towards the church.
“Don’t be silly. All the single girls participate in the music festival. Heck, I’m not single and I’m still participating!” Elli cried, exasperated.
“I know, but I really don’t think…I can’t even play an instrument!” Elpitha replied anxiously.
“Never mind that. It’s just an ocarina. You can learn the song quickly enough. It’s only a few notes that are used and it’s a simple instrument to play.” Elli said as though she were pacifying a frightened child. “Besides, Carter needs your help to make this a success.”
Elpitha sighed. “I don’t mind helping out with the decorating and setting up, but I really can’t perform. I… I don’t think I’m even going to come to the festival. I’m… not feeling well.”
Elli turned to face Elpitha. “Now, that’s enough, missy. I see nothing wrong with you that a swift kick in the rear end won’t fix. Carter needs you and so does the town. You’re going to be there and you’re going to perform.” Elpitha looked away and Elli got a glimpse of just how pale she was looking. “It’s not just stage fright, is it?”
“You have no idea.” Elpitha replied quietly.
“Is it Jack?”
“No. It’s more than that. It’s everything. I just can’t explain it. You’d think I was crazy if I told you.”
“Why don’t you try me?”
“I can’t…”
“Oh, Elpitha. I wish you would trust me.”
“I trust you…”
“Then why can’t you tell me?”
“It’s just that… I… I’m going away. I’m leaving town… for good.”
“What?! Elpitha, no!”
The wind was picking up and storm clouds were gathering. Elpitha felt a raindrop fall on her hand.
“I like this town and all, but… It’s just time for me to move on. Things have changed. I need to move on.”
“You’re running away!”
“I’m not…”
Thunder sounded in the distance and rain began to drizzle.
“You are! Come on. Let’s get out of this rain.”
They were passing the clinic and Elli dragged Elpitha inside.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I’m not letting you out of my sight until you tell me and I manage to talk some sense into you.” Elli said when they had gotten inside.
“If you knew, you’d want me to leave too.”
“That’s not likely.”
“Look, you just don’t understand. I have to leave. I have no other choice.”
“You’re not going anywhere!”
“Why are you getting so angry? I’m not trying to hurt you or anyone else. I just need to go. Can’t you understand that?”
“No, I can’t. What I do understand is that something’s spooked you and you want to run. Well, you’re through running. I’m angry because I’m your friend and you don’t trust me enough to tell me what’s wrong. I’m angry because you want to leave the people who care about you behind. Honey, I see how upset you are and I really don’t want to yell at you like this, but you just don’t give me any other options.”
Elpitha’s eyes were glistening. “I don’t want to leave you all behind! I never wanted to run away! There are just things you don’t know about me! There are just things you don’t understand. I love it here. It’s peaceful and everyone acts like your family. I don’t have a family of my own, remember? I feel like I have to leave it all again. I feel like I’m twelve years old with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.”
“You have people to turn to. You have me and Mary and Karen. Don’t you understand that?”
“I don’t really have you… You think I’m someone else. You don’t know what I’ve done in the past…” Elpitha watched as the sky outside darkened and rain began to fall in earnest. A line of lightning flashed in the sky.
Before Elli could reply, Zack burst through the clinic doors. ‘Whoa! That’s quite a storm building up out there! I just cut my hand helping the last ferry shove off. The waves and wind destroyed the dock. I let the captain know not to send any ferries the next few days until we can repair it. Not a big deal. It’s not like anyone’s going anywhere, right?” He slapped Elpitha on the back. “Do you have a bandage I can use, Elli? It’s not deep.”
Elli disappeared behind a curtain and returned with the bandage. Elpitha continued to look out of the window. The Harvest Goddess obviously wasn’t taking any chances.
Karen blew a few notes on an ocarina. “See, Jack? Simple! You’ll be fine!”
Jack took the ocarina apprehensively. “I thought the festival was for single women. I don’t see any other guys performing.”
“No, no! It’s um… something new!” Karen cried cheerfully.
“Maybe we should stick him in a dress just in case…” Mary whispered as she walked by. Karen elbowed her and gave her a warning look.
“You’ll see. It’ll be a hit!” Karen continued.
“Ready down below?” Carter called.
“Ready!” Mary cried.
Carter stood on a ladder in front of the pews and had just finished hanging an end of a large white curtain to a hook. He let the curtain drop to the floor and it stretched from one end of the church to the other, completely hiding the back wall. The curtain had to be stretched in order to fit, and instead of falling loosely, was pulled taut.
“It looks like more like a movie screen than a curtain.” Mary commented.
“I know, but that’s as much fabric as I could afford.” Carter sighed.
“It’s fine!” Karen said dismissively. She turned back to Jack. “Just practice your music and you’ll be all set by tonight!”
Elpitha became very quiet after she heard that the dock was destroyed. She knew that there was no escaping fate now, and had stopped resisting Elli. She even practiced her music for the festival. Maybe it had all been a dream. Maybe nothing would happen. Time seemed to be bewitched. Every moment seemed an eternity, and yet the hours flew by. Before Elpitha knew it, the entire town was assembled in the church waiting for the performance to begin. The doors had to be secured in order to keep the wind from pulling them open.
“OK, everyone! It’s time! Mary, you sit at your organ. Karen, stand at the other end, there. Elpitha you stand over here, and Jack, you stand… hmmm… where to put Jack. Oh! I know! How about next to Elpitha?” Elli called. Elpitha didn’t even bother to scowl.
The performance began with Mary who played the introduction on the organ. It was a pleasant melody, gentle and sweeping. It made the people congregated there forget about the raging storm outside. Elli joined in with her flute, adding a soft undertone to the music. It was like a playful zephyr or birds in flight. Elpitha and Jack came in next, strengthening the music with their notes and complementing the melody. Finally, Karen began to sing. Her sweet voice was a perfect match to the music, rising and falling with the notes as they took the audience away from the stormy town. The audience was on their feet, cheering and stamping as the last notes of the ocarina died away. The performers bowed and grinned at one another. Elli put an arm around Elpitha.
“See? Now was that so scary?” She laughed. Elpitha grinned sheepishly. What had she been so worried about?
The townspeople went silent as the lights suddenly blacked out.
“What is that?”
“A blackout?”
Everyone’s attention turned to the curtain as it slowly became illuminated by a faint green glow. The light bounced back at the townspeople as though it was being projected by a movie projector, though none existed in Mineral Town. Suddenly the Harvest Goddess appeared on the makeshift screen. Elpitha wasn’t sure if it was her nerves or some power of the Goddess’s, but she found herself unable to move. The townspeople gasped.
“Hello. Would everyone, with the exception of our lovely hostess, Elpitha, kindly find their seats?”
Jack, Elli, Karen, and Mary settled down in one of the pews. Everyone was silent.
“I would like to take you all on a trip to the past.” The Harvest Goddess continued. “I hope that in the end, things will be illuminated once more.”
The screen went blank, and everyone sat for several tense moments in silence and darkness. Suddenly a movie was playing on the screen, and Elpitha saw her home town as it once was. She saw herself as a girl, as Ellen. At first, short scenes flashed by.
Little Ellen sat with her mother, who was writing a poem, and pretended to do the same in a sketch book covered in scrawls. Little Ellen chased her baby sister around their backyard. Little Ellen sat on her father’s lap, laughing and wearing his fireman’s helmet. Little Ellen pushed little Jack into a pond. Little Ellen cuddled on little Jack as they slept under a tree. Little Ellen slipped a wriggling fish into little Jack’s pants as he leaned over, trying to pull in his latest catch. Little Ellen and little Jack laughed as they rode on the back of the fire truck, each wearing their fathers’ helmets.
Finally, the scene shifted to a hallway that Elpitha recognized as the one connecting her room with her little sister’s. Cries echoed down the hallway from a room at the end. A door creaked open further down the hallway, and Little Ellen poked her head out of it. She tiptoed down to the room at the end of the hallway and slowly opened the door. It was dark inside, but in the corner of the room, she spied a crib. Something was wriggling inside of it. She crept as quietly as she could to the crib, peering over the side. The baby was sleeping still, but restless, tossing and turning.
There was a hush in the church as everyone watched the screen. Jack had a pale bewildered look, staring from the screen to Elpitha and back as though afraid to believe what he was seeing. There was another peculiar effect caused by the Goddess’s magic. Despite the fact that little Ellen was not speaking, they could hear her thoughts clearly.
Ellen continued to peer of the edge of the crib, watching the baby with apprehension. Within seconds, however, her expression changed from one of worry and curiosity to a determined scowl.
The brat’s still asleep. Good. We wouldn’t want to wake up “the baby,” now, would we?
Ellen’s eyes raked the room, searching for something.
Where are those candles mom always uses? They always shut her up. After all, we can’t have “the baby” being restless, now, can we? Never mind that I might lose any sleep!
She found four votive candles and placed two each on dressers on either side of the crib. She found a book of matches and lit them, sticking the matches in her pocket afterwards.
“The baby” doesn’t want to sleep in a bed! She’s five! They wouldn’t go through so much trouble for me! I was scared about getting a bed when I was little too, but they didn’t care about me! But oh, no. “The Baby” needs to stay in her crib until they can convince her. Let her sleep in the backyard, I say! That way I could get some sleep!
Ellen looked at the candles anxiously.
Daddy won’t like that… He always makes mommy blow them out before she goes to bed. It might start a fire… ...but I don’t care! It’s the only way to shut her up!
She crept out of the room and slammed the door behind her. She shuddered at the noise and held her breath, listening to see if anyone was stirring. The house was silent. Her ears caught another sound, however. Had something fallen over? It was probably just her imagination. Her nostrils caught the scent of the candles.
That does smell nice… It’ll definitely get the brat to be quiet. I can’t sleep. It’ll be more peaceful by the lake, in my tree. Don’t want to disturb her highness, after all, with my restlessness. Heh… maybe I’ll be lucky and a candle will fall into her crib. Then I won’t have to worry about “the baby” anymore.
Ellen turned and ran down the hallway towards the stairs. The sky was beginning to show signs of light when she finally made her way back from the lake. Despite this fact, however, the sky was smoky, as though a factory was releasing its exhaust fumes into the atmosphere nearby. She caught the scent of ashes on the air and began to run. At first she was alone and could only hear her own breathing, but as she got nearer to home, she heard sirens. People began to pass her, running in different directions, but no one took notice of her. There were shouts and the hum of a crowd. She was pale and ran as hard as she could despite the fact that her body had long since run out of energy.
It can’t be! It can’t be! Oh, God, please, don’t let it be! Mikri… I didn’t mean it! Please, God, I’ll do anything, but I didn’t mean it! I take it back!
It was like a dream. She stopped on a hill before the entrance to the town. She could see all the houses in the distance. She could see the crowd gathered around her own house, the fire trucks, the streams of water hissing as they landed on what looked like a giant cloud of smoke. She looked away and ran.
It’s a mistake. It has to be. They must have figured it out. They had to get out! Daddy knows. He would know that there was a fire. He could get them out. He could save her and mommy. Please… Oh God, please…
She pushed through figures in the crowd, tall obstacles that swayed as she brushed past them. A fireman tried to stop her as she neared the ruin, but he recognized her and called to the chief instead. Suddenly, there was Jack, wearing a fireman’s helmet and suit that was too big for him. He looked ecstatic when he saw her, but the relief quickly changed to sadness. He ran up to stop her, to catch her in his arms before she got near the remains of her home. Ellen saw him as he was only a few steps away and had a vague idea in her mind of avoiding him as she desperately tried to get near the house. Someone else grabbed her before he could, however. A rough, shaking hand, grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. A stinging slap across the face struck her and would have knocked her to the floor had not the other hand been holding her up. Foul breath that stank of whiskey assaulted her as she tried to recover from the blow.
“You! You lousy little tramp! I might have known! Candles in the baby’s room. Who else could it have been?!” A wild-eyed, disheveled woman cried. She shook Ellen as she spoke, while trying stupidly to keep her balance. She had the pale, sickly look of a person suffering from malnutrition, in this case caused by drinking too many meals.
“Aunt…Aunt Bertha…” Ellen whimpered.
“Let go of her, you crazy witch!” Jack cried.
“You were always jealous of her, weren’t you? Well now you got what you wanted! Now you’ve done it! They’re dead. Burned in their beds! I hope you’re happy! Murderer!” Aunt Bertha cried, shaking with rage.
“No… I didn’t…” Ellen whispered, her eyes glistening.
“Shut up! Ellen, don’t listen!” Jack yelled. He tried to pull Ellen from the woman, but she shoved him away.
“They were burned! You can’t even imagine the kind of pain they endured. You don’t know what pain is, you worthless, unfeeling sack of crap! But it should have been you! It should have been you, but it wasn’t. You snuck away. You got out before they were burned. Couldn’t even stick around to watch your handiwork, eh? Coward! Worthless!” She threw Ellen to the ground and took a step towards the fallen child, but Jack stepped in between them.
“I said back off, you crazy drunk! You touch her and I swear, I’ll…” He cried. A fireman who looked like an older version of Jack pulled his son back.
“We’ve heard enough, Bertha. Get out of here or I’ll have you arrested.” He said calmly, but with force. He turned to his son. “Never mind, Jack. You have someone else to look after while I take care of this… disaster.”
Jack turned immediately and reached down for Ellen’s hand. He pulled her, one-handed, into a tight hug and held her. She leaned against him, her face in his chest, but there were no tears.
“Don’t listen to her, Ellen. No one believes that of you. You hear me? No one. Your father was one of the best firemen this town has ever seen. No kid of his would be stupid enough to leave candles lit. It was an accident, plain and simple. No one believes that you would wish your sister dead or that you left candles burning on purpose. Don’t you listen to them, ever. I believe in you, Ellen. I believe you.”
Ellen pushed him away. She turned and looked at the charred ruins of her house, turning away and staring into space afterwards. Jack eyed her with concern.
“Ellen? Hey, Ellen? Say something!” He said, uncertainly. “Mom! Hey, mom!” A woman came running.
“What is it… oh…” She said, spying Ellen. She put an arm around her and crouched down to her level. “Sweetie? Sweetie, can you hear me?” When no response came, she shared a worried glance with Jack. “Honey, let’s get you inside, OK? Come on, dear.” She began to usher Ellen away from the crowd, and Jack followed.
The church was silent as a tomb, and Elpitha could not see any of the expressions of the darkened faces in the crowd. Jack was also out of Elpitha’s eyesight. He sat with his face in his hands, finally realizing his role in Ellen’s disappearance. Meanwhile, the scene changed to later on that evening…
Until next time…
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