Desire of the Soul Part One

Fire crackling in the stone fireplace was the first thing four-year old Elena Beckham heard when she scampered inside, stomping snow off her black boots.  Her frozen nose welcomed the warm forest scent in the air that mixed with the caressing one of hot chocolate.  The lights in the log house were dimmed enough for the fire to be the primary source of light glowing off the wood walls.  The black and white dog was curled up in front of the fire with its head on the ground, eyes focused o her.

"I'm gonna go back outside; my fingers are just cold." The slight lisp she ad was due to her missing front tooth.  With numb fingers, Elena took off her jacket and ran to where she saw her favorite sight: the couch.  Her dad was sitting on the brown leather couch with her mom curled into his side, her head tucked into the crook of his neck and a cup of hot chocolate in her hands.  A brown and white quilt was covering their laps, the slack sprawling on the floor.  They were just about the same person and she liked the way they always laughed together.

Elena crawled into the small gap between her parents and put on hand in her mom's and the other in her dad's so they could warm hers up.  She opened her mouth and stared at the cup in her mother's hand until she was given a drink.  With her mouth full, her rosy cheeks were puffed out as she looked at her dad when he pulled her hat back.  It was her favorite hat, considering that her mom made it for her, and she wasn't fond of others touching it.  The long tail of the purple fleece stocking hat went down past her lower back; the loose brim slid down over her face, hiding the pale green eyes she inherited from her dad, as a way of hiding her face from people she didn't know.

"Mommy, in ten minutes come see my feet in the snow!" Elena jumped off the couch and ran to her pink jacket.  She bent over and put her arms in the sleeves and then straightening up so she could swing it over her head.

"Okay sweetie."

"Ten minutes.  You gotta wait." She gave her mother a serious, wide-eyed look before backing out on to the wrap-around porch, pulling the door shut.

The air was crisp, stinging her nose when she breathed.  A few snowflakes were falling, nearly blending in with the light gray sky.  The top few steps were snow free thanks to overhang, while the bottom ones were exposed to the falling snow.  Taking one step at a time and holding on to the rail with both hands, Elena carefully stepped into the snow.  She didn't want to mess up her prints so they'd be perfect when it came time to show her mom.  The first few were perfect but when some of the next ones were not satisfactory, she'd brush them away and make a better one.  She made a trail of perfection around the yard, around and under trees, along the fence of the horse pasture, and along the road.  Her quiet version of 'Jingle Bells' was interrupted when a black car pulled up and stopped, the passenger window rolling down.

Inside

Elena's mom stood up and set her cup of hot chocolate down in order to put on her boots.  Her husband just looked up at her, grinning when she took the quilt from him.

"Takin' that outside with ya?" He reclined along the length of the couch with a loud sigh.  His wife was about to say something when she looked out the window and saw her daughter talking to someone in a car.

"Who's she talking to?" She walked closer to the window as her husband sat up.  He got to his feet to go check it out when his wife rushed past him and to the door. "Jack, she's getting in the car!"

They wrenched the door open and sprinted outside, down the stairs, and towards the end of the driveway.  The dog was running behind them, barking, sprinting towards the car that was quickly starting to pull away from the yard.

"Elena!" They both yelled together, but the car was too far gone for them to be heard by the time they got to the side of the road.

The house Elena was brought to was old and small, made of aged wood.  The planks holding the overhang up were starting to slant and split.  The wooden stairs were starting to chip where the wind and water had eaten away at in the past and the grey roof shingles were being peeled back, some of them even missing.  A wind chime hanging above the rail swung gently in the small breeze, creating quiet trills that sounded like a dozen little bells.  In front of the house was a crooked tree with a tire swing hanging from it by an old, fraying rope.  To the house's right there was a high chain-linked pen with a large, dark brown dog jumping around, barking.

A woman came walking out onto the deck and as soon as Elena saw her, she let her hat fall over her face.  The woman was wrapped in an old blanket with slippers on her feet and her messy blonde hair kept down.  The woman walked down the steps and up to Elena, who just stood there with her face hidden.

"Hi sweetie." She crouched down to Elena's height but did not touch her. "What's your name?" Elena thought the woman sounded weird; her words sounded different than how her mom and dad spoke, and even different compared to how the man spoke.

"It's Elena," the man answered.  The woman shot him a hard look for answering a question that was not meant for him. "She won't talk to you; she'll just hide behind her hat until she knows you."

The woman turned back to Elena with a smile and squeezed her arms.  Elena turned ad ran to the man that brought her there, burying her face into him.  The woman scared her.  She didn't know her and didn't like her touching her.  The man, however, she liked.

"Go inside with Marie.  She'll make you some cocoa or some soup and get you all warmed up, okay?"

Elena just stood there, staring up at him.  She didn't want to go with that woman - she scared her.  She just wanted to talk to the man.  But her mom always told her to do as she was told because it meant that people loved her and that, one day, following the rules will keep her safe.

"I'll be right in; I just have to grab Elsie." The man walked Elena over to his wife and gave her hand to her.  Once again, Elena's hat fell in front of her face as she walked with the woman up to the house.  The old stairs creaked under their weight and Elena had to rely on the woman's hand to get up them, for there was no rail for her to hold onto as she took one step at a time.  She looked over her shoulder when they reached the top of the stairs and saw the main opening the pen containing the brown dog, but she was pulled inside just as the dog started running at her.

The screen door slammed against the door frame, the loud noise causing Elena to jump and look behind her.  The screen was old and slightly worn from wind over the years, small holes tearing the weaves apart.  She was able to see the whole front yard when she looked out of it, nothing able to hide from sight.  That was too bad; Elena loved the game of hide and seek, and she was good at it too - she knew exactly how to cover her tracks in the snow.  The only problem was that her dog always found her, which led her mom and dad to her hiding spot.  Elena wondered if these people would play with her at all.

The inside of the house was small, the walls painted a faded green and the floor covered with a light brown carpet.  An old, small white couch sat in the middle of the room with light colored stains on the cushions and small rips in the fabric.  The TV was small and sat on a two drawer wooden cabinet, its antennas cocked in two different directions.  In the kitchen there was a small table with four wooden chairs seated around it.  Rust was starting to form around the handle on the fridge and there were a few spots where the paint was starting to chip.  Dirty dishes cluttered the small sink, overflowing onto the counter on both sides.  The kitchen floor was covered with white tile that had started to turn yellow with age, dirt stains scattered around unevenly.

Elena watched the woman walk into the messy kitchen, dragging her feet across the floor as she tied her hair back.  She didn't know what she was supposed to do; she didn't know if it was okay to go sit down, or if she was supposed to follow her, or if she was just supposed to stand there and wait.  It was a weird looking place and it smelled funny; it didn't smell like her house did and it wasn't as clean or as big as hers was.

"You can sit down if you want," the woman's weird voice made Elena look up at her from under her hat.  She smiled at her and then turned her back to find something to make, a pot already sitting on the stove.  Elena sat down and kicked off her boots, took off her jacket and then removed her snow pants; the only things she left on were her clothes and her hat.  She quietly made her way to the couch and crawled up onto it, sitting on the end farthest from the kitchen.  The cushion didn't give under her very much, allowing her to sit on her knees and see over the back of the couch enough to watch the woman as she worked quietly on stirring whatever she had in the pot.  It smelled good at least.

The door opened, and even beating the sound of the wind, was the sound of loud panting and metal clinging together.  Cold air from outside snuck in but it was cut off as soon as the door was shut.  Elena dropped down on the couch just in time for the brown dog from outside to jump up next to her and lick her on the face before laying down on her.  Its face was a little wrinkled around the nose and it had small, floppy ears.  Two of its big paws were white, the only additional color on it, and its tail was no more than a couple inches long.  With big brown eyes, the dog stared at Elena's face while it sniffed her clothes, wagging the tail it barely had.  Elena just patted it on top of the head and looked up at the man.

"Elena, meet Elsie; she's just about the sweetest dog you'll ever meet.  Wouldn't hurt a fly." The man leaned over the back of the couch and pet his dog with a grin, patting her on the side as she moved her nose to Elena's hat.

"No!" Elena's hands flew up to her hat, pulling it back down after Elsie's nose had moved it.  She stuck out her lower lip until she saw the dog drop her head onto her lap, her ears starting to flatten against her head.  Elena hesitantly let her hands leave her hat and find their way to the dog's broad head.

At first, Elena wasn't sure she should eat the soup, because the woman handed a bowl of it to her and not to the man, but she realized it should be okay after the man showed her it was alright by taking the first bite.  It did warm her up and she was able to feel her nose and cheeks by the time she was done.  But now, with a full stomach and a day of meeting new people, she was tired and just wanted to go back to bed.  She slid off the couch and fixed her hat before she quietly made her way towards the kitchen with Elsie sticking to her side like glue.  Elena didn't like to interrupt people's conversations so she just stood in the doorway and waited for one of them to notice her.

The man was cleaning the table and counter while the woman was doing the dishes her messy hair once again falling in her face, her sleeves pushed up past her elbows.  The way she was standing by the sink made her look a little stressed, which made Elena more unsure of walking into the kitchen, but when the woman looked at her, she seemed to relax a little bit.

"Hi pumpkin, what can I do for you?" The woman grabbed a rag and dried her hands as she walked towards Elena and knelt in front of her with a smile.  Elena ducked her head, causing her hat to fall over her face, hiding her eyes. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

"I...can I go home now?" Elena's voice was quiet, almost like a whisper, and the woman had to strain to hear her.  Elena thought the people were nice here, now that she got to talk to the woman a little bit she realized she wasn't so scary, but she wanted to go home and see her mom and dad again.  Elena looked up only to find the woman looking at her, her smile gone.

"Oh sweetie...you're gonna be stayin' here for a while."

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

This is my first time writing a creative piece in the third person and also in the 'POV' of a child instead of a teenager/adult.