As he rounded a tight corner, the stilted skeleton produced a bottle from beneath his heavy black greatcoat. He tossed his head back, taking a swig from the bottle, and then blew the liquid across the flame of his bundled torches producing a tremendous blaze which lit up evening sky. The young girl raised a hand to shield her face from the intense heat, and as she did so the towering skeleton somehow leaned down to within a foot of her, and a giant toothy grin spread across his sallow face. I could almost feel her heart leap, myself, as I watched her dark, almond shaped eyes dance with fear. The skeleton rose up to full height again, laughing maniacally toward the churning blanket of tumultuous grey clouds.
The carnival disappeared around a corner and the crowd closed in behind it, swallowing it up. The smaller children laughed and cheered as they trailed behind the older ones, running as fast as their little legs could carry them, splashing through the puddles of mud. I listened carefully as the music and laughter died away, as music and laughter are want to do, fading out as the carnival moved on. As I looked back to the young girl, she popped her head out into the rain, glanced to her right and left down the street, and ran across, disappearing down a darkened alleyway. I called out for her so stop, but she didn’t.
She needs help, I thought as I chased after her, reaching the yawning mouth of the alley just in time to see her slight silhouette disappearing around the opposite corner. I called her name again, to find my cry answered only with the sound of her fast-fading footsteps. A white moon peeked out from behind the clouds, flying with me overhead, as I bolted down the alley after the young girl, my footsteps echoing in my ears and my heart beating in my chest.
No comments:
Post a Comment