A Young Snowdrop

A boy runs from his tormentors, only to find himself trapped in the creepy house with no-one to talk to...except her.

A Young Snowdrop

 

The garden was a stark contrast to the ominous height to which it was attached. Higher than the highest forest and as sharp as a needle, the building ruled the land. Inside was dominated by a spiral staircase, where it went was unknown, it seemed. There were rooms but no doors, everything blended together �" sofas with fridges, beds with tables. It was the type of place in which a squeak of a mouse became the roar of a lion. Windows submitted the only source of light, the sun accentuating the vastness of the interior. Looking up, a ring of sky bordered by the walls which brought you back down to earth with a bang.

Back outside, dew sprinkled the summer grass and tiny trees whispered peacefully with the wind. Along the rim of the house grew the relaxing lavender and the bashful daisies �" seemingly not bothered by their master looming above them.

She watched as the boy sniffed and ran inside, not caring about the magnificent terror surrounding him.

She watched as a group of assorted long hair swathed past, their giggles grating her nerves.

She listened as the wind whirled past her, understanding at once why this boy was trespassing.

She listened as the sobbing rose to her, understanding at once why she hated children.

Shading the steps of the stairs, the sobbing grew louder and louder until she was ready to turn back and spend more time with her plants. She missed her plants when other nature called �" they were always there for her. Twisting, growing, surviving was a continual cycle that they shared and she loathed to be parted from the bond.

Overseeing the stuttering mess of a boy with his back to her, she slowly wandered over and settled her hand upon his shoulder. He did not react in anything but a tiny shudder waving through him as a piece of silk would be smoothed over one’s skin.

“For what does one, so young, weep?” This time the boy leaped out of his seat with a yelp. Suddenly the world turned upside down. When she looked at him properly, she saw not his blotchy cheeks and youthfully sad eyes, but his strange tunic and even stranger breeches. His fiery hair shocked the walls and re-energised the place, like throwing more wood on the pyre.

The boy searched the area but noticed nothing, he tried to use his ears and hear that strange voice again but he couldn’t, but it couldn’t have been real.

“Is someone here? I didn’t mean to walk in on you, promise. Those girls, so bitchy, so, so bitchy. I hate them! They sent me in here, practically herded me into this dark, oh so dark! I’m sorry.” To this day, she only vaguely remembers the boy’s mouth moving but �" if asked �" she will always relay the story of how this boy spoke. The words, the tone, everything! She had never heard anything like it! Astonishing.

“You cannot see me? Look harder, here I shall move to and so follow me with your eyes,” Slowly she flowed in until her nose was almost in direct contact with his.

“I think I see you, but not…I see a slight shape, I suppose like a woman’s…are you…?” He teased his fingers out in front of him and stroked her hair. Flinching back, the boy’s eyes betrayed fear as a cold wind blasted through a window behind him.

She, on the other hand was positively joyful! The wind seeped through her like a book to the reader, and she absorbed every word.

“For what were you weeping?” She wanted to know, she needed to know.

“Huh? Oh, just some girls that were teasing me, it’s fine now. I’m used to it now…” He looked up, as if to shyly ask a parent for something one should not have, “My name is Thomas-“

“Tómas?”

“No, Thomas, Thomas Duncan. Son of the great Pear finder! No, I don’t suppose you have heard of it. It’s, ugh, internet?” He stood silent for a moment, sensing, if not seeing, her disgruntled face, “I don’t suppose you have heard of that either… So, what’s your name?”

“Excuse me?” Her eyes flashed up to…Thomas. She shook her head, the name was too familiar.

“Your name. I told you mine, it’s only fair.”

“It’s. One’s name is…I am Terra,” Thomas looked down, thinking he heard a slight splash �" as if a rain drop had fallen on top of a rose in the dead of night. He looked suddenly dismayed and fumbled about with his pockets, holding out what looked like, to her, a rough handkerchief. It was a flimsy thing, not worth her emotion, and yet she still felt a slight tug at the corner of her mouth. Slowly the tug turned to an all-out pull and she was smiling.

“It’s been so long. I thank you, Sir �" Thomas Duncan, Sir Thomas Duncan! Ha! A smile, it has been painted upon my face! By you, you wonderful child, oh I wish-” Her jovial words halted with her entire body as the memory washed over her again. The iron and chains, wooden shields crashing into one as stand in front of their children, spears, bows, axes and swords. Oh Lord, the bows! The whistle of an arrow piercing the air, the gasp as it flies, the last desperate gasp for air as he watches his children cry and wife thrown back into the home, never to leave.

“You wish? Miss?” Thomas tried hard to see a hint of this Terra’s face, but the air remained impenetrable. Nothing could be seen and if an outsider had stumbled upon them as Thomas once had seemingly long ago, they would see nought but a young, snivelling boy staring dumbly at a never-ending staircase.

After a long second, a whispering started, slowly getting louder and louder and louder until Thomas had to muffle his ears with his boy-like hands. He started, backing away the direction he came in, eyes fixed to the middle of the room.

The air was spinning, screaming through the windows, the staircase and the ring of sky above. A terrible wail passed through him, the air was stifling and yet, the lady stood still. He knew it, he just knew it. When later asked, he could never say how, he just knew that she was standing still, staring at him with those sad eyes.

Terra turned back, ghosted up the stairs again and stood over her subjects once again. However, this time, a new flower had bloomed in the duration of her absence. A solid green stem supported the drooping white petals, the brightness putting all other flowers to shame. Terra smiled, the song was sweet.