Along this dirt road sits a farmers cottage.
The small cottage sits on the edge of the dirt road with pride. The house has two windows facing the road with white drapes pulled back on the inside. The door is a crisp white with a cheery gold lettered welcome sign on its center. It has four rooms, a kitchen, a dining area, and a den. The next house is a few miles away and merely brown with a grey roof, with no den and only two rooms. The neighbors where always envious of the lucky man who owned the house. A small family of five lived in the house. The farmer Jon, his wife Jinnee, their two sons Chris and Kyle, and a girl of fourteen year old girl named Ash.
A man with a large brown coat with many pockets walks down the road to this small cottage. In his right hand he holds the reins of his grey horse and the other is rested on the hilt of a large broad sword strapped onto his belt. As he approaches the house he notices a young girl on a hill to the right of the house. She dances in the grass her face raised to the high sun. Her simple gray dress twirls around her so you can see her bare feet and her knees. A charm on an anklet glittered at she spun. Her long brown hair waves as she dances. Sheep sit and graze around the twirling girl watching her with curiosity. A smile is spread across the girls face.
As the man nears the house Kyle the oldest of the brothers walks out of the house. He watched the man grow closer and sticks his hands in his jean pockets. The man noticed the dirt stains on Kyle's former white shirt around the same time Kyle notices the shinny silver clips on the mans coat. Kyle narrows his eyes in suspicion. Why would a man be wearing a coat in the middle of summer during the middle of the day and who the hell carries swords about?"
"Can I help you?" Kyle says sharply.
"That girl…who is she and were did she come from?" The man says not taking his eyes away from her.
"That's Ash. She just showed up here a year ago. She was covered in bruises and cuts. Her clothing was ripped and she had a dagger gripped in her right hand. When dad touched her to bring her in from the cold, because you see it was winter and their was feet of snow on the ground worst winter iv ever seen! Anyway when he touched her she lunged at him with the dagger and almost killed him. So mum walked out and ushered the girl inside and she went in with out a fight. We warmed her up by the fire and she decided to stay." Kyle took a deep breath and continued.
" After a month here she finally told mum she had been living with a man who one day tried to rape her. She had fought back, and hard. She said she killed the man. She always keeps that dagger of hers with the cat eye on it in her the sleeve on her dress. She often wakes up screaming. She hardly ever speaks and wont let me, Chris, or pops touch her. If we do she flinches and tries to carve our eyeballs from our head. Unless we are having fun playing tag or other games. If you try to sneak up on her she knows your there and will jump around holding that dagger of hers. She goes off into the woods all by herself twice a day. I don't know where she goes." Kyle said pointing to the forest that lined the backside of the hill.
"Hum." The man said still looking at Ash.
"She also randomly disappears at night. Like as soon as it gets dark she's gone! Oh yes and she has the weirdest little anklet with a small black broken heart on it." Kyle said.
Ash abruptly stopped spinning and locked gazes with the man. The man shivered and looked away. Ash herded her sheep around to the pasture behind the house.
"May I meet her?" The man asked finally looking at Kyle.
Kyle stepped back. The man had the same navy blue eyes that Ash did.
"That depends sir on weather or not she will meet you." Kyle said stepping out of the way to the man could pass through.
I watch as Kyle and the brown man walk through the door. I say nothing and put a kettle on the stove and pull out cups for tea.
"Ash where is everyone?" Kyle asks after moments of silence. I motion to the door and touch where the list of things we need used to be. "Oh ok."
I poor the water into the white cups, add sugar and take a sip of mine. Kyle grabs the other cups and gives one to the brown man.
"Ash I-I'm your brother." The brown man says a bit hesitantly.
I know. My thoughts whisper.
I had seen him in dreams before he was here to take me to my real parents. I stayed silent and no emotion showed on my face.
"When I was seven and you where three we were playing in the woods and you disappeared! Father searched for you for days but you where gone. Now teen I decided I would go look for you because it was my fault you fell in the well because I wasn't watching you close enough. So I jumped down the well and ended up a ways down this road with a horse…"
I sighed.
"You haven't told me you name yet."
Kyle started. He had never heard me speak before.
"Jake." He said relived.
I tilted my head look and looked at his neck. A small silver string hung there. I walked over and pulled the end out. Half of a black heart hung on the end.