Lonely Little Me

* Chapter 8 * — The Journey —

— The Journey —

Six hours! That’s how much time it took Judy to get out of the towns vicinities. She had never walked that far and that much before so it was a first for her. Her legs were hurting and she did not know how to soothe them but she was glad she wore long pants covering her skin otherwise she would actually be bleeding.

The town was Encircled by vast fields on one side and the other, by a flowing river. And, at the present moment, Judy was walking through the field covered path. Since she never got out nor saw any further then the town’s square, she just went straight Est of her house, never turning or looking back. When she first started noticing the green fields and was going across one of the last few houses the ginger had thought nothing of it, thinking it was just some small grass. But she knew she was wrong when she arrived in front of it, she wanted to go back but it was already too late, the sun had risen and people were already awoken therefore she had no chance to enter the field if she wanted to go unnoticed.

The tall grass was really long, it came to her shoulders and almost covered her entire body... Or maybe she was just short on the height of her 5’6 feet. Even though her legs were safe, her arms were not and she had small cuts all over them.

In her long pants and corset top, walking among the long green grass, everywhere around her with no end Judy was not able to not only see in front of her but also where she was setting foot so she was praying not to fall or walk on something. She was so afraid she was starting to regret ever leaving and not listening to her parents. But then she thought about Clay, waiting for her return with good news and counting on her with all the little bits of life left in him.

“I have to go on” she would say to motivate her “for Clay” “I promised” she would add until finally, she got past the fields after 6 hours of nonstop walk.

Once she was out of the field she collapsed on the ground as if it was the best thing that had happened to her.

Judy was woken up by the strong heat around her, she felt like a sausage on a grill pan with fire slowly rising higher and higher. Unable to bare it any more she runs to look for cover but there are none, unless she goes back into the field.

“ no way I am going in there, my body still remembers the pain” she thought when she came back in front of its end. She then balanced using her hands to weigh “cuts and a bit of shadow or sun burns and heat” she decided to go back to the fields, after all they did protect her against the sun and she does not know just how far the dried land goes to. She thought it would be best to wait for nightfall in the fields before trying to move on and she would take a rest in addition to shelter.

So there she was now, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, she was taking care of her cuts. They weren’t as much as she thought but they were even less visible and some had even stopped bleeding already. After all her wounds were treated Judy took a sip of her water being very careful not to finish it all since she did not know when would be the next time she would come across a river. She then proceeded to eat an apple she had brought.

In the afternoon the weather was still so hot but the sun was burning less then before but still burning she was so impatient that in the end she didn’t even wait for the sun to come down before taking her way again.

Judy had packed once again her stuff and was on her way again, she set foot on the hard dried ground and despite her boots, she could still feel the heat emanating from it. She knew her feet would be all red when she would remove the shoes she just hoped it would not melt.

Despite the night, the heat was unbearable the girl tried to fan herself with her hands but it was not use the sweat coming out of her could reach l****s if put in a bottle. She was having a hard time indeed, she never thought it would be this difficult. For her, she would just be walking down the road skipping and singing her way out until she found the werewolves pack house. She had no idea she would have to cross kilometres of high grassed field and now she was facing kilometres of dried desert heavily heated as if on fire. She even wondered how the others could go out of town every day like that when up against these harsh and extreme environments.

What Judy did not know though, was that there was an only road to and from the town on the other side of it. This road went straight to the town square making it easier for merchants to come and go as they wish. If she had taken that road, she would not be having all these difficult situations but she would be passing in the middle of the town and would meet people since it was a frequently used one... Which she did not want so she had to put up with it.

Back in town, things were getting more and more complicated. It began to decline when Lady Mcrell, after going to Judy’s house still did not find her there went back to the church to see Father George the next day.

“Lady Mcrell you need to stop storming in MY church as if you own the place” Father George had told her when she came to see him.

“I have gone to her place like you suggested, she is nowhere to be found!” the veiled lady replied “now I am sure she is missing” she added.

The father was receiving some followers, thanking them for their loyalty and gifts he had no time for the old lady with her absurd disappearance story that was attracting attention from others, people were even glaring at her but it mattered not to her. Seeing this, Father George just gestured for her to sit and wait for him as she was disturbing others but this only angered the woman even more, why would he attend to others and ask her to sit in some corner.

She went straight to them again and told the guests the session was over, pushing her out and saying that it was other’s turn.

“are you mad” the Father ended up asking her, exasperated by her attitude.

“now there is no one to attend to but me, so let’s get to it, I don’t have all day you know” was her answer to him. Father George was out of words, but he was now obliged to hear her out.

“I can see only one explanation” he ended up saying with his hand under his chin as if seriously thinking.

“which is?”

“you must be possessed” he bluntly let out. Mcrell was now the one out of words. How dared he say that of her.

“why you rotten little priest!” she screamed offended. She started arranging her things to go home when he stopped her.

“hear me out would you” Father George quickly said trying his best to hold her “just ask yourself, if it was the old you, would you have worried yourself this much that someone disappeared” but the old woman was already long gone and his voice was only an echo for her.

Being possessed was a serious problem in their town, she decided to keep the Father’s words for herself but little did she know they were heard already and soon they wouldn’t be the only ones.

In the afternoon of that same day Mr Sentiola, Lady Mcrell’s nemesis and old neighbour made his way through out the town looking for a a certain someone but in the end they came back to the scene of the crime, like they say “the culprit always comes back to the scene of the crime!

The person made its way into Lady Mcrell’s garden, searching for something but nobody knew what. The witness then decided to patiently wait for the moment they would be out. Because he could not go into the garden himself because of his history with the owner.

It was a couple of years back when everything was still going alright with Lady Mcrell, they were good friends despite their frequent arguments, they were like cat and dog especially at the annual crop festival when they would compete against each other to know who had the best crop. Right before the competition her garden had been ravaged over the night, Mr Sentiola being her first serious rival, she immediately accused him and forbid him of even entering her garden or her house ever again. He on the contrary had vowed to survey and be aware of anything that ever happened in her garden and to have proof of his innocence next time she would accuse him again. It was true, after that event, she could not enter the contest anymore and was inconsolable she did not even want to hear his explanation let alone him for quite a while. After that, anything that was related to him angered her and since then, she had been chasing his cat. Finding any reason do harm the poor animal just because it was his and she wanted to hurt him the way she felt.

After some while Mr Sentiola got tired of waiting so he decided to go back to his business when finally the person acted as if going back. He got out of his house and crossed the road waiting for his target.

“I hope you found what you were looking for young man.” Mr Sentiola calmly said with his arms crossed and standing like a wall in front of a young man we all know too well.