AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I only wanted to say good morning,” I say. “I’m gathering eggs for Alesoun.”
“Good,” the woman says. “Idle hands are the devil’s play tools. Particularly wise to keep your hands extremely busy.”
There’s no missing the implication in her tone and words. This group are like the mean girls in school, a clique that you try to be nice to because everyone wants to be in, but I’m the outsider. The nerdy girl who doesn’t fit in.
Which I don’t. At all.
“I agree,” I say, trying my best to not flee their scrutiny. I’m here; I have to make the best of it while I figure out how to get home. Be agreeable. I can’t have them judge me as a witch. “Best to keep busy.”
“Aye, well ya best be to it,” she says, before taking up her churn and very pointedly ignoring me.
The rest of the women huddled with her look away from me almost as one. I’m clearly dismissed without even so much as a goodbye. Pressure builds in my chest and head.
I will not get angry. I will not.
“Right. Have a good day.”
Not one of them responds. They don’t even look up. I walk away holding my head high until I’m out of sight around the corner of the house. I grind my teeth, clench the basket tighter, and do my best to not shout my frustration.
What does it matter how they treat me? I don’t belong here. I need to find my way back. That’s all that matters. But it does hurt. What did I do to deserve this? I’ve got to find my way home. Back to my time. They don’t want me here and I don’t want to be here either.
“Ach, the way she acts, all right and fine.” One of the women’s voices reaches me from the other side of the house.
“I know,” another voice says. “As if she’s not what she is.”
Suppressed anger is impossible to contain. The pressure in my head builds until tears burst free. I can’t hold them back. I press my hands to my mouth to keep from sobbing or screaming.
“I don’t know,” another voice says, “she seems nice enough.”
“She’s a witch and ya know it,” the gravelly voiced woman says.
Silence follows her proclamation.
I’m shaking and I don’t know if it’s anger, frustration, or grief. Maybe it’s all three. Furious, I dry my eyes on my sleeve. Fine. They hate me. Maybe Alesoun will be able to help, advise me on something I can do. If they declare me a witch, if Chief Johnne believes it…. It’s too terrible to contemplate.
I don’t have any answers but I do have a job to do so, I resume looking for eggs. When I think I’ve spotted some, I kneel and move the blades of grass aside. The white eggs sparkle in the sun. I grab the first one then something hits me in my backside.
I’m thrown forward and faceplant in the grass. I yelp around a mouthful of highland grass. Before I can roll over to see what hit me, there’s a braying sound and laughter.
“Are you all right?” Duncan asks, still laughing.
“No,” I say, pushing up on to my knees and looking around for what hit me.
One of the goats stares imperiously. It brays again, tapping one foot on the ground. Duncan pushes the goat to one side as he passes by it. He holds out a hand to me. I take his hand and let him help me to my feet.
“She’s just playing,” he says. “Did she hurt ya?”
“Only my pride,” I say. “Oh no, the eggs.”
I held onto the basket but all but two of the eggs I’ve found are no longer in it. I crouch to find them, keeping the goat in my line of sight this time. Duncan crouches and helps me search. When we find the missing eggs, surprisingly, none of them are broken.
“Here you go,” Duncan says, placing the last egg in the basket at the same time I’m putting one in.
Our hands brush against each other and we both stop, staring at our hands and that simple, innocent touch. He doesn’t move his and I don’t move mine. I don’t breathe.
A loud buzz rings in my ears. A crow caws, breaking the moment and I involuntarily jerk my hand away.
Duncan pulls his hands away too. I look around, flushing as if my mom walked in on me touching myself.
