Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

                        When I woke up I saw the floor. I don’t know why I woke up all twisted up again, but I did. That night would be my last night staying there. I got dressed in my sundress again. I brushed my hair, and packed my things. I took a good look behind me to check that I didn’t leave anything. I made it to the lobby, Michelle was sleeping on her desk again. Funny, she yelled at Dylan for sleeping during work hours. I had caught her hypocritical once again. I approached her.

            “Michelle, It’s time I leave.” She opened her eyes along with a faint groaning sound.

            “Yah leaving already kiddo?”

            “Guess I have to, I can’t afford to stay another night.”

            “Well I can understand that, darling.” I heard footsteps behind us. It was Dylan. He gestured to come to him so we can talk, but what for?

            “Excuse me, I’m being paged.” I went up to him, and suddenly his arm pulled me into a closet. He closed the door, and it was pitch black. He turned on, as I coughed at the smell of mothballs.

            “How much money do you have?”

            “Well after paying for everything here I have $45 left.” He stared at the amount that I’d put out with my hand. He reached in his pocket, and pulled out the twenty I gave him the fist day.

            “Here’s your money, that should be enough for your horse.”

            “I can’t take this from you!”

            “Sure you can, it’s easy. Watch!” He opened my hand and slaped the money into my palm. “See?” He smiled, and I was still staring at him. Oh come on, that’s it, what’s the catch? “Yah don’t have to take it, I just thought it would help.”

            “On second thought I’ll take it, thanks.” I shoved it in my pocket.

            I made my way out of the closet, and back over to Michelle. She seemed a little suspicious about what just happened. I approached her with a devilish smile.

            “This should be all, I presume.” I scattered the money on her desk. She picked up all of it and counted it all out.

            “… You’re right… That’s all the money, even for the horse.” She rose her eye brow.

            “Yes, I’ll just be on my way.” I marched off to the barn. I meet Dylan, and he helped me to attach my luggage to the horse’s sattle He gazed over me.

            “So this is it kid?” He gave off a bright smile.

            “You ware a good friend… thanks for everything.”

            “You’re welcome.”

            I went around the house at a slow pace, since Dylan wanted to “walk me” to the end. I started off.

            “Courtalia, wait!” I turned around. It was Markus, and Angela, and Michelle. “You leaving so soon?” asks Angela.

            “Well yes, dear, she is.” explains Markus.

            “Yep, good luck kiddo, you were a good girl.” Michelle gave a witty smile after saying this, and she placed her fists on her hips. “We be seeing yah soon?”

            “I hope so, you’ve all been so nice to me. I would love to come back.”

            They all smile to that. 

            “Hold out your hand, miss.” Markus gave that ear-to-ear smile of his. I held out my hand, and he placed a long rolled up piece of paper, and a case of come kind. “It’s a map and compass, it should help you.”

            “Thank you Markus.” I put the map into my bag that hangs from the sattle. “I’ll be seeing you all in the near future. Good bye.”

            “Bye.” I rode off, following the road that seems to never end. I was fast like the wind. We made dust from the dirt, the horse and I. I then noticed that I had never named the horse. I chose to name him or… her Dali. It was a colorful name in my opinion. The wind wove though my hair like the thread of a loom. It whipped my hair strait back. I had everything: the cool air, a never-ending road… Dali.

             As the day went on, the sun set higher, and the air became denser. I checked the map often, to see how long we had to go. I’d lost sight of The Emerald City. I was almost there… I thought… It had been hard for me to concentrate because I’d been thinking about that dream I had a while ago… about that boy… and that strange place… there was something weird about it I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Oh well, I guessed that didn’t mater so much because I’d only had that dream once.

It was kind of easy to get lost in thought out there. All I could hear was the tapping the horse’s feet made when they met the ground. What were weird though were the patches of grass I saw. We just kept going. It was just Dali and the road. It felt so good to be alone. Without thinking twice, I started to sing. I sang for a long time. It wasn’t even a song, it was just notes.

We went on for what seemed like the whole day. I looked around; a vast field of grass surrounded me. I saw a blur the size of my thumb coming closer really slowly. There it is. The road.  When evening came I saw it. Minosis. It was beautiful; the rims of the roofs gave off a metallic gleam. It was so small, so simple, but it was what I traveled to see, and I couldn’t ask for more. I got off the horse and walked Dali over.

            The sun was behind us, and Minosis was in front. The Leona plain was like a sea of bright green grass. After walking off the road we finally met with the stone paths. The path seemed to fade into the grass like an old cut that had slowly healed. All was silent, and all was calm. I looked behind me and thought to myself:

              It’s only the beginning.