Kitty awoke at the sound of the cock's crow the early in the morning. She groaned and rolled over in her straw-mattress bed, trying to ignore the sound so she could sleep just a little while longer, but she knew it was futile. Within moments her mother would be bursting through the door telling her of what a nice day it was and how she was not going to waste it lying in bed. Kitty could immediately pick out two things wrong with that sentence alone. For one thing, it was not a nice day; she could feel it already. It was going to be a damp, dank, gray and cloudy day with a very good chance of rain. And second of all, she would be able to waste it all in bed, even if she wanted too. There was too much to do around the house, chores and the like; Kitty knew that she would be on her feet from the moment she got out of bed until she was allowed to sleep for the night. But so was the life of living on a farm. Deciding to save her mother the time, she rolled off of her mattress.
She was right, as could see as she looked out her window. A storm had moved in during the night, just as her father said it would, staining the sky a murky shade of gray that did nothing to improve her mood. With a sigh, she walked over to her chest that held all of her clothing and after rummaging around in it some, pulled out a pair of brown breeches, cream blouse and a forest-green vest to wear over it. If it was going to rain again today, then it would be pointless and downright dumb to wear a dress. All it would do it absorb all the water on the farm with its hems and make it twice as hard and take twice the time to finish all of her work. And, because of the rain, there was guaranteed to be a lot.
When she was fully dressed, Kitty made her usual attempt to pull her chestnut-brown hair back into its tradition pony-tail as she tried to open the door to her room at the same time. She had gone through the same routine for years on end, a never-ending cycle, but there was…something different this morning, she could feel it, as sure as she was when she felt the storm moving in the night before. For some reason she was having a hard time locating the doorknob. It felt awkward for Kitty when, for the first time in years, broke the daily ritual to let her hair full back onto her shoulders, ponytail-less, so she could see exactly where the doorknob was. Not surprisingly, it was right where it should have been. Maybe she was just tired. She never did sleep real well when there was a storm moving in. But still…it was strange. Frowning, she let her hair stay where it was as she reached for the doorknob, gave it a twist and pushed the door open to the rest of the house.
The home that Kitty and her family lived in was like any other; a two-storied farmhouse, excluding the fruit cellar and attic, capable of housing seven comfortably. That would include her mother and father, grandfather, sister, two brothers and finally Kitty herself, the youngest of the family. The bedroom that she shared with her sister was on the second story, right next to her brother's bedroom. Well, soon to be her one brother, anyway; Jeremy was getting married in a mere matter of months, and then he would move out into the house that he was building personally for him and his fiancée, to whom Kitty was still feeling indifferent to. It was a little hard to warm up to someone that constantly treated you like a child. Her mother and father slept downstairs in the master bedroom downstairs and their elderly grandfather in one of the house's smaller rooms near the back door.
Besides a missed doorknob, it seemed more and more lately that everything was breaking the comfortable rituals that Kitty had grown accustomed to. It also looked as if Christopher, her second oldest brother, was looking at becoming a husband as well. He and his lover had been together for about three years, and for most people that was more than enough evidence of commitment. And then there was Sarah…As much as she might love her brothers and sister, Kitty felt as if she was the black sheep of the family. It seemed anymore that the room that Kitty had once shared with Sarah was now more of her own, since Sarah was never home these days. And the reason? She was in town, flirting and conversing with all of the handsome sons of merchants and shop owners. Unlike Kitty, Sarah was a tall yet still buxom young woman with curly blonde hair that made her almost irresistible to the young and (ironically, Kitty would think bitterly to herself) wealthy of the town.
But Sarah was not the only attractive one of the children. Both Jeremy and Christopher were handsome young men, Jeremy with his shining black locks, like their dad, and Christopher had their mother's gild-spun curled hair, as did Sarah. Her brothers were also tall and had very muscular builds that made women swoon over them where ever they went. All three of Kitty's older siblings had to beat back their suitors with a sick, but no one said that they did not enjoy every moment of it. Kitty was surprised that any of them had decided to settle at all. Well, maybe no so much as Sarah. She was still relishing in the life and luxury of being the most popular bachelorette in the town, and she milked it for everything that it was worth. There were so many fine and expensive gifts piled in the attic that Kitty was afraid that the roof would one day cave in on them.
Kitty, in other words, sometimes felt as if she got short-changed on her brothers and sister's fortunate good looks. She was not unattractive, that was for sure, but she had none of her sibling's radiance. All in all, Kitty was rather – to put it bluntly – plain. Her chestnut-colored hair was at times unusually straight and boring, which seemed to be emphasized when she pulled it back into her traditional high ponytail. She was the shortest of the family, which sometimes really grated on her nerves, and had a very small and modest build, even for being fifteen years old. The only thing that was not plain about her compared to her older brothers and sister was her eyes; while theirs were dark brown, all three of them, Kitty's were a breathtaking blue-green, so it was something nice to run into their faces every now and again.
Exactly where Kitty got her looks from, she was not sure. She thought this to herself every morning when she passed the silver mirror that was set right before the staircase that lead to the lower level of the old wooden house. Not only did she look anything like her siblings, but she also looked nothing like her parents as well. This morning they were all already downstairs and situated around the round kitchen table. Kitty found herself as fortunate to wake up when she did. If not, then chances were that she would have tipped off her mother on a sour note that morning. Her mother, like everyone else in the family, was tall, even by a woman's standard, slightly plump but nonetheless a very attractive woman, even with the wrinkles that touched at the corners of her eyes and mouth and the slight white hue to her sunny hair. He father was the tallest of the family, a sender man but all the years of hard work showing clearly, although his jet-black hair was already streaked with gray. Both of her parents were hard-working and honest people and Kitty loved them with all her heart, but she sometimes felt as if she was not meeting their expectations.
She shuddered at the thought. The expectations of a farm girl. To be married off to a well-to-do man as soon as possible, usually at the age of sixteen. Kitty was now fifteen, and her birthday was nearing soon. When Aignéis rose from over the horizon, within three-quarters of a years' time. As soon as that happened, her parents would immediately try to match her up with the first approved suitor. Damn the life of a woman.
This morning, Kitty was feeling even less like her usual good-natured self. Perhaps it was the weather to blame, or the reflecting on her sister's superiority over herself, or the thought of being married off to some stranger to become a child-bearer and housewife until she died. What ever it was, seeing Sarah absent from the table did nothing to improve it. Kitty sat down at the round table, in between Christopher and her grandfather, and said without her standard "good morning," "Where's Sarah?"
"At a friend's house in town." Jeremy said around a mouthful of eggs. Kitty rolled her eyes. Great. That meant that she had to do both her chores and Sarah's today, in the rain. But, then again, even if Sarah had been here, she would have been stuck doing both anyway. It seemed that the more popular she became around town, the less her parents wanted her doing any work that might strain her "fragile beauty," and Sarah agreed to it as being a good idea. Kitty had told her outright that it was the lamest excuse for an excuse that she ever heard.
"What's wrong with you this morning?" Christopher asked, taking notice of his youngest sister's tone of voice. "It sounds like you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." He did not even wait for an answer as he began to wolf down the eggs and sausage that his mother put on his plate. It seemed like the speed at which her brothers ate their meals anymore was increasing each day, but it was no mystery to why they were doing it. It was so they could get done with their chores and see their sweethearts all the sooner.
Kitty shook her head in response to her brother's question. "You're not sick, are you, dear?" Her mother asked as she set the frying pan down and crossing the dining room to her daughter, placing a hand on her head. "You know I keep telling you to not leave the window open when you go to bed, or you'll catch your death. If Sarah was here, she would make sure that it would have stayed closed…"
"I'm not sick, mother." Kitty said, pulling away from her mother's hand and grabbing for an apple. Mostly she did not want to talk about Sarah at that moment. It would only put her in a worse mood than she already was. Taking a bite into the apple and walked over to the back door, well aware of the eyes of her family watching her every move, but she ignored it as she took off her heavy rain cloak and put it around her shoulders.
"Kitty, where are you going?" Her father asked from over his normal morning cup of tea.
"Out to do the chores, where else?" Kitty called over her shoulder. "No sense in waiting. I mean, the rain can only get worse once it begins."
"Oh…all right, dear." Her mother began. For a moment it seemed as if she was done speaking and was going to let Kitty do what she was about to, but Kitty knew her mother than that. "But…Kitty…do you insist on wearing…well…those?" Kitty turned away from them to hide the roll of her eyes. Right on time, her mother had to find something about her to criticize. Today, she had homed in on the breeches Kitty was wearing. "I mean, they can just be so…un-lady-like. A dress won't kill you, dear…"
"Oh, come on, Elizabeth, let the girl go." Kitty's grandfather said, speaking for the first time since Kitty got down to the table. "Your mother and I never criticized you on what you wore, so you shouldn't do the same to Kitty."
"Well…Dad, it's just I…" It was no use. Kitty's mom was at a complete loss of words. "Well, I guess she has a good reason for it. God ahead dear, but be careful out there. The ground's very muddy."
"Yes, mother." Kitty said obediently. Once again, she knew her own mother better than she thought. Under her breath, Kitty could nearly hear her say something about the thought of wearing pants over a dress would have never entered Sarah's mind. The mere thought made her angry, whether she had heard it or not.
"Kitty, come here before you leave. Give your old granpa a hug before you go out into the cold." Her grandfather beckoned to her, and Kitty obeyed immediately. He pulled her into his wiry embrace and peaked a quick kiss on her cheek. Then he pressed something into her hand and when Kitty risked a quick glance down she saw that it was a pink and white peppermint stick. "Save that for later. Don't let them get to you so much. At least you don't have to win the approval for others by worrying about how good your hair looks." Despite her sour mood, Kitty nodded and a smile appeared on her lips.
Good old grandfather. The only one who was the first to pick up on her bad moods and was always the first to make an effort to cheer her up, usually by giving her treats from his own personal stash that he kept under his bed. Even though she was not a child anymore, the occasional peppermint stick of lemon drop always did a bit to improve her mood. And it was nice to know that out of his four grandchildren, it always seemed as if he treasured her the most out of all of them. Good, sweet grandfather, with his snowy white hair, weathered face and thin, bony frame, sometimes seemed to be the only person on the whole farm that seemed to understand her. Kitty pocketed the candy stick and left the house, her spirits slightly lifted from their earlier glum mood.
It seemed to be just her lick that the first few drops of a soft sprinkle began to fall as soon as she stepped off the back porch and headed for the barn. The large, dark red structure loomed against the dark clouds, cold, wet and alone. The ground had been churned to thick, black mud from last night's rain, making it particularly hard to walk to the barn without effort. Audie, the family's sheepdog, lifted her shaggy head when she saw Kitty emerge from the house and was at her heels almost immediately. Like her grandfather, Audie seemed to favor her youngest master over all of the other children. Perhaps it was because that when Audie was a puppy, Kitty was also a child and spent most of her time playing with the dog in her free time while everyone else was at work. Well, everyone but Sarah, but Kitty's older sister, who never seemed to take a liking to the dog. Kitty scratched the sheepdog affectionately behind the ears as she walked, pulling her hood up as the cold raindrops splashed onto her face. She took note of how wet Audie was and felt bad that she had to stay outside all night in the rain. As much as Kitty desired to bring her into the house, thought, she knew of the fit her mother would have and decided that it would have been better for the both of them that she did not risk it.
Straining against the rust that had collected that had collected on the hinges of the heavy bar doors, Kitty grit her teeth as she was able to pull them open just enough for her to squeeze in, Audie not too far behind. The bar was still dark and colder inside than it was outside, with weak gray light filtering in through the cracks in the wall and the windows near the peak of the high roof. At one of the far corners, the horses pawed at the ground with the sudden disturbance of the silence, and the cows rattled their brass bells. In the rafters above, Kitty could hear the pidgins take flight among the eves. Being in the barn alone, especially when it was dark, always gave Kitty the creeps so she begin to sought out the oil lantern that hung from the hook near the door right away. She only stopped once when Audie took the opportunity of a dry place to shake the water from her long, shaggy fur.
"Oh, Audie." Kitty said as she shielded herself from the flying water. Normally, she would not have minded the dog's harmless actions, but right now she was making an effort to stay as dry as possible, even though she well knew that in a day like this it would have been impossible. "Thanks, girl. I really didn't need that…" Audie, sensing that she had done something to upset her master, pushed her cold wet nose into Kitty's hand and received another loving scratch behind the ears as a motion of forgiveness. After some groping Kitty found the lantern, struck a match from a small stash they kept hanging on the wall next to it, and soon a warm, golden light flooded the majority of the barn, leaving the rest to still sulk in inky black shadows.
The horses and cows blinked at her through the, what must have been for them, blinding light after the darkness of the storm, shifting in their stalls. Tall bales of hey were stacked all along the walls along with the various supplies of farming tools, and even more yellow straw was piled onto the hayloft a story above Kitty's head. A yellow cat that she had simply called Scratch was asleep on one of those bales. It opened one of its bright green eyes when she had lit the lantern but it did nothing but yawn, showing its long, ivory-colored canines before falling asleep again. The only reason why they kept the cat around was because it kept the numbers of mice in the bar under control and out of a barley. Sarah was allergic to cats, which was why Kitty was never allowed to have on of her own.
Kitty went about her chores within the barn quickly, trying to keep her mind off of her issues with her family, but anything else there was to think about was not any better. Every now and then she would think about her future and how her life of freedom, even as limitless as it seemed sometimes, was coming to a quick close. When Aignéis rose, then she would officially be an adult woman and, like all other adult women, would be married off as soon as possible. A disgusting life, she thought bitterly to herself when she threw some hay over to a few of the family's milk cows. Women might as well have all been sows.
Kitty knew what it was she wanted, but it was an impossible. More than impossible; it was completely absurd. What Kitty wanted to do with her life was live. She wanted to travel the land, meet new people, experience and interact with the world, as women usually did not do, unless they happened to be married to a merchant. Once again, that was not what Kitty wanted. She did not want to be married to anyone. Well, not now, anyway. Not right away, not when she would have finally been old enough to finally travel on her own. With a sad sigh, Kitty stroked the muzzle of her beloved Palomino horse, Tabby, before placing pitchfork back onto its hanger and walking back to the front door of the barn. She blew out the lantern and replaced it, but did not feel quite ready to go back into the house yet. With another sigh, Kitty leaned back against the wall.
She leaned back
And back.
And back.
She did not realize that she was falling backwards until she landed with a bump on the other side of the barn wall.
For a few moments, Kitty could recall any logical thought process that may have passed through her head. One moment, she was leaning against the wall of the family barn, and the next moment, she was on the outside without walking through the door. Not only outside, but on the ground, the water soaking through her clothing, mud splattering her body and cold rain dripping down the back of her neck, but she did not mind to any of them. It was as if she had leaned back against something only to have it not there.
Had she…fallen through the wall?
No, that was impossible. She could not have fallen through the wall unless she merely passed right through it. Maybe…she had leaned back against the door? But it was a stupid excuse. The door was a full three feet to her right, and Kitty had fallen straight back. An icy cold feeling washed over her body. There was no logical explanation for it.
Shaking all over from head to foot from nerves and from the cold, Kitty rose to her feet and took a few quaking steps towards the wall of the barn. The wood was whole, unbroken. Taking a deep breath, Kitty reached out and touched the wood. It sure felt solid. She began to run her hands along the wall, not worrying about splinters, looking for loose boards that may have given away when she leaned back. There was none to be found. Kitty frowned, trying to remember what had happened right before she fell, but it had happened so fast that she could not really recall anything. Then a new memory did come to mind. A feeling…a feeling that washed over her body and spirit right before she fell. It was a feeling of…nothingness. It felt like the situation that she got right before she fell asleep at night after a hard day's amount of work, but was still awake enough to be aware of everything that was happening around her. It had always felt as if she was floating on a sea of nothingness, so quiet, so peaceful…
Then she remember as well. She had felt the exact same thing when she missed her grab at the doorknob in her room that morning.
Focusing on that feeling, she closed her eyes and reached out a trembling hand to the wall of the barn. She reached out, extended her arm further and further, but was not touching anything, and she was certainly standing close enough to touch it at one time. The feeling of nothingness had consumed her entire arm, slowly creeping its way up her shoulder and to her mind, making her feel peaceful, but Kitty forced her eyes open and gasped at what she saw.
Her arm had completely disappeared into the wood. She was…reaching through the wall of the barn. Her heart pounding and her mind racing, Kitty withdrew her arm and clasped it to her, the nothing feeling vanishing as her arm become hole when she pulled it back.
I must be dreaming. She thought to herself, massaging her hand. That couldn't have been real. I did not just put my hand through the wall; it's impossible! Isn't it…?
Once again Kitty reached out but this time not thinking about the sensation, and when her fingertips made contact, they hit solid wood. Narrowing her eyes, Kitty then focused on the sensation of nothing, the mere thought of being able to pass through a solid object, and her hand slid into the wood and to the other side of the barn as easily as if she had put it into water.
A smile appeared on her face and Kitty forgot all other events of that morning. Taking a deep breath and still focusing on what she was doing, Kitty began to walk forward, watching in fascination as her arm passed through the wall further and further, until she herself passed through the wall. Kitty found herself standing on the other side of the wall, inside the barn, without the aid of using the door. Her smile grew wider and she turned around, focusing her attention, and ran back out, passing through the wall as if it had never been there in the first place.
This was incredible! She felt so light, so free…it felt so good! But her good mood vanished like smoke when she saw her grandfather standing outside, standing in the cold rain without a parasol or his raincloak, looking very pale and forlorned. There was no denying it or bothering to hide it; he had seen her pass through the wall. "Gr...Grandfather!" Kitty stammered, thinking of a good way to explain what she had just done but drawing blanks all around. "I…I mean, that is…I didn't mean…"
Her grandfather only held up her hands, signaling for her to be quiet as he came closer to her. "It's all right , Kitty. You don't have to explain yourself." He draped a bony arm around her shoulder and began to draw her towards the house. "Oh my dear child, I was hoping that this day would not come so soon. Do not fear, we will explain all this to you."
"What's wrong, Grandfather?" Kitty asked, feeling an overwhelming amount of panic growing in her stomach. "What's happened? You're…I'm scared, what's wrong?"
The old man shushed his granddaughter, her arm tightening around her shoulders. "Don't worry, honey. There's a man inside who will explain everything to you. Just be calm, and nothing bad will happen."
Nothing bad? Kitty though as panic began to seep into her mind. What does he…
By then they were both inside the house, walking soaking wet into the dining room, where the rest of her family was. Kitty's heart sunk when she saw that all of them wore the exact same expression on their faces as her grandfather did, including Sarah, who must have returned home just a little while ago. But she was not the only new face in the room.
There was a man sitting at the table, his riding clock still wrapped around him tightly, and big enough to snap her father in half with no effort. He looked at her from under the deep, dripping hood with a grim face that looked as if it had been carved from solid stone.
"Aignéis." He said gruffly when his hard eyes fell upon her. "At last we meet."
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To be continued…
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A/N: Sorry it was so short, guys, but I wanted to get the next part up soon. It will get better in the next chapter, I promise! ^.~
