Page 30 of The Harbinger
“Catch me if you can.”
My sister runs across the backyard toward a blue garden shed. Her thick braided hair, with beads at the end, swings around and hits her face.
“Don’t go so fast.”
She’s faster, my chest rises and falls quickly, the flowers release their intoxicating scent into the air, attracting the bees.
I stop at the seven-foot-tall lilac mom planted three years ago for my sister’s birthday.
“Lilacs are my favorite.” Her innocent voice rings out with a giggle.
“You think I don’t know that by now, Lex?”
I press my nose into the flower and inhale deeply. My eyes flutter close but burst wide-open when the sugar sweet turns to decay and mildew.
“Oh, God.”
My hand falls away from the globe of flowers. White wriggling maggots ooze from the center as I rush backward.
My sister is gone, and the sky darkens with rolling gray clouds.
A storm.
This isn’t right…
This isn’t how it happens…
A high-pitched whistling struck my ears like a bird screeching for dear life. Wind rustled through the leaves as I pushed myself up from the ground into a sitting position.
Tears fell from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, wetting them with my sorrow as my shaking breaths sucked in my lower lip. The pain in my head subsided, but the ache in my heart intensified.
She was so close I could’ve touched her.
I wiped the tears with the back of my hand, glanced around for anyone who may have seen the spectacle, then stood and brushed the dirt off my knees.
My stomach turned sour, but the memory of her beautiful brown eyes had me taking a step forward.
A shadow of a man moved beyond the trees, his brawny frame gliding to the left. His dark brown hair, coupled with a long full bushy beard, accentuated his round face.
I rushed behind the lilacs and peered around the flowers as the six-foot-tall man wearing overalls picked four apples, then continued on.
Did anyone else see him, or had I started hallucinating?
I glanced around when another silhouette caught my eye.
Sacha’s intimidating frame stood at the edge of the window, his hand in his pocket as he stared down at me. The intensity of his dark gaze sent a chill racing through my blood, then he turned and walked away.
Had he watched me collapse to the ground? Wouldn’t he have come to see if I was okay if he had?
Wishful thinking.
I scoffed at the idea that he’d care enough to come all the way out here for me and followed the man with apples towards a barbed wire fence at the end of the fruit trees.
Each step toward the forbidden trees made my heart race a little faster. I hadn’t broken his rules.
The fence line I’d stepped through sat adjacent to the fruit trees, not beyond it, and if he were a stickler for detail, he’d see it my way. But knowing that fact didn’t stop the hesitation with each step.
The tall man walked toward the side of a red barn, picked up a silver metal bucket by the handle, then scooped up grains and dropped them into the bucket with a turbulenttink.