Light of the Unexpected Adventure

Chapter 5 Washing Up

Gabriella's POV

I huff out, slamming the bowl to the small counter in the kitchen area. I whimper to myself seeing the food my malnourished body needed, smelling amazing as it quickly cools while dripping further down my tunic, making my body shiver. Now, because of this, I have a lot of cleaning to do. I shake my head thinking about that as I start walking through the hut quickly before Merida instantly stops me. Her eyes are bouncing all over my frustrated features, probably showing what pure anger looks like.

The worry in her eyes is what gets my attention, making me want to talk to her about everything while knowing I can't without being heard by someone I don't want to hear. Her hands rub over the sides of my arms trying to calm me down, but that is not as easy as both of us would imagine. "What happened, Gabby? Are you alright?" she asks me seeing my obvious frustration as I am covered in food looking like I want to lash someone myself.

My mouth opens to answer her, but before I can I watch Merida's eyes land on something behind me with Mother Ann's shrill voice taking over the area and this opportunity to be the one to answer for me. "Poor little Gabby. She is clumsy and dropped her dinner all over herself. It's so sad knowing that was the last bit. I wish I had more to share with you. But we don't." Merida looks worried as her eyes bounce from behind me then back to me. She knows how much the mothers seem to hate me, and know that she does not mean well with these words that would maybe make you think otherwise, if you didn't already know better.

"I think I have an apple in my satchel from earlier, it was the one I found on the ground." She says quietly to me to try to help, which I appreciate but mother Ann had to be the one to answer next. "Oh that is so thoughtful dear.. But she can't take that right now, she has more important things to worry about, don't you Gabby? You should probably go clean that off before your clothes are completely ruined.. because if I have to get you another tunic, then it will be at the cost of a lashing, or you will have to work extra hard around this place.. No slacking off like usual." She snaps at me as I feel my teeth clenching even harder together as I hold my tongue, even though I want to yell at her.

My teeth are clenched so tightly together that I am afraid that the teeth might crack under the pressure. I look up seeing Merida's concerned eyes boring into mine, showing me I have to respond before I get in trouble. "Yes, Mother Ann.. I will wash this off and then be right back after." I say through clenched teeth before glancing back and behind me just to see that she is smirking before she states. "Oh, but just be warned, it is a little cold out there since it started raining and all.. So hurry it up just to try not to get sick. If you get sick, I will be furious and none of us want that do we." She says as I shake my head and flip around, I can feel Merida's hand squeezing my arm silently letting me know she feels for me in this moment and I do appreciate that.

I take this opportunity to get distance between Mother Ann and I before I lose all control over my emotions by just exploding on this woman. I quickly shuffle through the hut, using my hands and arms to hold every last little bit of food on my tunic so hopefully I won't have to clean more than just the tunic. I headed straight out the door and behind the hut. I notice instantly that the pouring rain starts working on getting some of the soup out as it drips further down my dress. I am able to let my arms drop, allowing the rain to help get some of the food off of my arms as well.

The rain is incredibly cold with the help of the wind, so I pick up the pace to get away from the hut and to clean this as soon as I can. Especially since the pond she spoke of for me to clean this tunic is directly in front of me with not much to get in the way of me getting to it, but is further out. So, with the fury of her actions fueling my soul and feet, I quickly making my way out towards the pond, taking in many deep breathes and hoping I will calm down soon before I do what I have always imagined to Mother Ann.

Which would not be good since it would probably put me on the beheading block next time around, so I can't do any of that, no matter how badly I may want to. I shake my head, getting madder the longer I think about how she treats me without a second thought. I easily imagine other scenarios of things I could have said or done to get Mother Ann back, but I know I would never have the guts to do that knowing the response I would get for something like that.

My consuming frustrations take me further than I expected without having to even look around. I huff out getting to the edge of the water and looking around for anything that is not normally supposed to be here, even though this is the normal pond that many come to clean their things at. It is just not a normal time or weather that most do this in. So something out of the ordinary should be easy to spot I would imagine. And no matter how mad I may be, I still have to make sure I am safe in this moment that could be considered quite vulnerable.

My head swivels around, looking at everything glistening under the drenching droplets, but nothing that I can see says threat. It's all the plants and rocks which I don't mind at all. So luckily for me, there is no one around, which is good because I would rather not deal with anyone else at the moment. I feel I have dealt with enough for today, if I can help it. I huff out, letting the cool air flush through my body, cooling it down on straight initial contact.

After a couple of these deep breathes in and out, I am starting to feel as if I could go back to that hut and not explode when seeing that woman that has made a permanent home under my skin, like some sort of parasite. I can't get carried away with that idea though, since I don't feel completely better yet. That will take time. So, I keep looking around, not seeing anything as I assumed I would, until I finally give in and just let me guard down.

Many ripples cover the water's surface, so I instantly look up, then closing my eyes, just letting the rain cover my face, dripping down my neck and drenching every last bit of me that is exposed at the moment. I try to use this to calm myself down even more, but it doesn't help as much as it usually does. I have a weird feeling about being out here by myself and I cannot imagine why. My eyes open, still staring up, noticing the darkness covering the sky while the storm is taking over the area. So with the storm right above me, showing lightning flashing about in cuts across the sky, it's hard not to feel uneasy right now.

The lightning storm is beautiful, there is no debate about it, but I was hoping, with the help of the abundant light, it would show me the reason for my anxiousness, but I cannot find a thing. It's really starting to make me feel as if I am worrying about this for no reason at all. Maybe it is just the pent-up frustration that Mother Ann had created earlier, and it is having a strong hold on my anxious self. But who really knows?

All I know is that I need to calm down, but that is easier said than done at this rate. My eyes ping around the area looking for something as if there should be someone right by me, but as I look around I see nothing, just the flashes of lightning covering the skies and exposing just the normalities of this area, like the fish or bugs. Huffing out is all I can do when thinking of how silly I am being. I am just letting my mind get to me, since I cannot see any reason why I should actually be worried while being out here on my own.

My orbs ping around the area quickly, spotting the rings of water constantly being created by raindrops, then to the bugs hopping from one plant to another. Light reflecting off of the water's ripples gets my attention. I look up to see the moon is now barely shining through the clouds. I hear ruffling beside me as I quickly glance over just to see that it's the leaves fluttering in the wind. One leaf after the next is taken quite easily in the gusts that shoot through the branches. But luckily for the trees, they are incredibly thick, only letting thin streams of moonlight and wind seep through.

I can barely see the long stems of light making it through the leaves before clearly seeing it reflecting on the rippling water. The wind screams past me, causing me to flinch as it sends a chill through me and my soaking wet tunic, reminding me of why I am here. I slowly strip every last layer of my clothe off. Letting the rain cover my body with its light pattering over my soft skin, soothing every inch of it almost instantly as if it is magic.

I let out a deep breath before I glared down at the stained cloth in my hand. I shook my head, realizing that the soup had seeped through every bit of cloth it came into contact with. I take my hair out and let it fully drape over my shoulders because it got just as much food in it as my tunic did. But at least this stain is a task I should be able to complete on my own. So, with a tiny bit of confidence within my mind, I look at my next task at hand.

Extending my leg, I instantly dip my toes in the cool water, before letting the rest of my foot easily drift in. The touch of the cold water on my bare skin is shocking to say the least, but maybe that is just what I need to really ease my mind and calm me down before I do something I will regret. So I slowly drift down into the water letting the ice-cold stream numb my body as I shiver and wash what I can in this. My hands frantically scrub the cloth together, taking out one bit of stain after the next. It should be gone soon enough.

The cold stream is shocking and incredibly breathtaking while pushing me around as I feel every last inch of me freezing under the water as if it is turning my entire body to ice. I use my hands to quickly rinse my hair and body while I am in here since the stain seems to be mostly gone. I use my feet that are on the ground to drift me over to the edge of the water that I entered in at, just to sit on the side of the stream. I sit up with only some of my upper body out of the water, getting a better look at my clothe. I am looking at my tunic seeing the food is not all out so I use the rocks and water to properly be able to scrub it.

It takes much longer than expected, I was almost afraid that it wouldn't come out, but luckily it did making me feel better because that is another fight I would hate to have to deal with after everything I have gone through today. I feel a wave of relief hitting me knowing it is finally gone and I can head back, before I hear something in the distance. I stop the splashing of my washing hands just to look around. I don't see anything, so I continue on until I hear something again. I stop washing letting my eyes pan around the trees and bushes, wondering if I am hearing things even though my heart has jump started from that sound alone, almost bouncing out of my chest with straight nervousness shooting through it.