Well here's chapter three... enjoy!
BlueSun91: I tried to make this chapter a little longer! Lol yeah I know you're the only reviewer so far, but thats okay.
Chapter Three
A man riding on a wooden cart. A shadowy figure hiding in the back ... the driver was unaware of his presence. But what was he doing there in the first place ... ?
A woman arguing with a man. The man becoming angry, the man lunging toward the woman ... but what became of the woman?
Mei Li was haunted by her memories. Memories of dreams, or were they dreams of memories? Her six-year-old self had made no sense of these dream-like memories, but her sixteen-year-old self was wallowing in the mystery and pain they left behind.
She suddenly found herself sitting at the table in her own home with her aunt. Her aunt's eyes were red with crying. The lady who had brought Mei Li home was also sitting at the table, talking in a comforting tone to the both of them.
"My husband is with the authorities, ma'am. Some experts examined the body, and they concluded that he died of a heat stroke." She paused, letting the information sink in. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you of this. Your daughter seems to be very shaken up by it."
"My daughter?" Li's aunt asked, confused. Her daughter had moved out of the house years ago and had a family of her own already. "Oh, you must mean Mei Li." She said, motioning towards the silent girl. "She is my niece."
"Oh, I see," said the lady. She took a deep breath. "Once again, I'm sorry. Oh, here's the money he was holding when he collapsed." She withdrew some bills from her pocket and laid them gently on the table before Li's aunt. "If you need anything, you can always come to me." With that she took her leave.
Silence ensued, except for the meowing of the farm kitten. Mei Li sat in the same position, expression unchanging. The more she thought about her dream the guiltier she felt. Finally, she could hold it no longer.
"Aunt," she burst out. "It's all my fault."
"Oh, no..." her aunt started to say.
"But it is. I left him alone in the heat for too long. If I had come back sooner, we could have started going home and none of this would have happened."
"No, dear, then he would have just collapsed on the ride home, and the cart probably would have crashed. Where would I be then, without him or you?" She sighed before continuing. "Besides, I was the one who forgot to remind him to take his medicine this morning. He's usually so good in the heat. Without his heart medicine, though, I'm sure he stood no chance."
"But there's more," Mei Li whispered. Her aunt stared at her, waiting for her to continue.
"Last night I had a dream. And, in it, he died. Just the way he did today. And I rushed to him, and there was nothing I could do ... I had forgotten about it until seconds before I found him dead, but I still knew. I still knew it was going to happen and I didn't do anything about it."
Her aunt stared at her with a pale face. After a long pause, she said, "When did you start talking like this again, Mei Li?"
Mei Li stared back at her. "What do you mean, 'again'?"
"Well, you were very young. I suppose you don't remember." She paused, but then abruptly continued, not allowing Mei Li to say anything. "But that's in the past. It doesn't matter anymore." She stood up from the table, taking on a sense of duty. "Come along, now. I suppose we ought to continue chores around here as usual, at least until the funeral." Her aunt started to walk away. Mei Li knew she was trying to be strong, but the young girl noticed a single tear fall from her face before she disappeared into her bedroom.
Mei Li lay in her bed, examining her locket. She wondered if it said anything on the inside. A vague memory came back of her, at five years, opening the locket and asking her father what it said. He laughed and started to read. But she couldn't make out the words he was saying. Very delicately, she placed her fingers on either side and started to pull apart. It didn't budge.
Her thoughts went back to the day's incident; her uncle dying. Despite the facts and statistics, despite what her aunt had told her, Mei Li could not help but feel an overpowering feeling that his death was her fault. There were so many ways in which she could have prevented it. And to think she even knew it was going to happen, but she let something so important as life or death slip from her mind.
She was suddenly filled with the desire to move. Not just to get up and walk across the room, or even to start jumping up and down, but to move away from it all. To get away from the death she'd caused. Besides, for her aunt, she was just another mouth to feed. She'd probably end up being the cause of her aunt's death, too. She'd always wanted to go out and see the world ... why wait any longer?
She got up off her bed and took the blanket that lay on top of it. Gathering up some clothes, she placed them in the blanket along with some personal necessities, and her sketchpad and a pencil. Leaving the blanket in her room momentarily, she snuck out to the table, where the money her uncle had earned from Lei Lei was still sitting as the lady had left it. She took all of it, hoping her aunt wouldn't mind. Returning to her room to wrap up all the belongings she was taking with her, she paused, thinking about where she would run to. An idea crossed her mind, a clever one, but she decided to wait until night to execute the plan. But not before hiding her rolled up blanket in the barn so that she could make a quick getaway.
Her hands involuntarily reached up to toy with her locket. Was she really going to run away? Yes, a voice in her head answered. You have to. You can't stay here; you killed him. What is left for you here, anyway? Nothing, she answered, absolutely nothing. The tears started flowing from her eyes, and she lay down on her pillow and cried herself to sleep.
She woke with a start. Something had thumped. She looked around in the dark with caution, waiting for something to move, or another noise to erupt from the night. Nothing happened.
She sat up from her awkward position in bed and looked around. It was dark alright, maybe about two o'clock in the morning. She must have slept straight through dinner, and her aunt didn't have the heart to wake her up. Oh well, it was better this way. Since she had gotten a few extra hours of sleep, now she was wide awake and alert enough to make her move.
Tiptoeing out of her bedroom and through the house, she exited by use of the back door, toward the barn. She went to where she hid her blanket full of belongings, pleased to see that it was still there, untouched. By use of some rope, she tied the blanket together and looped it around her shoulder.
Should I take the horse? She thought to herself. No, he'd only make more noise. Besides it'd probably be easier for someone to track me if I had a big horse with me.
The silver moon shone down on her, wishing her luck as she ran in the soft mud toward town ... toward where the gypsies would be making camp in a few hours.
She knew they would be there by the time she arrived. Though it took her several hours, and she was exhausted by the time she reached their camp, she was glad she made the decision. It was about six thirty in the morning now, and no doubt her aunt was already up and worrying about her. But she would be safe with the gypsies.
They had already set up and were probably inside their caravans, sleeping. She knocked on one of them, waiting for a reply. A few minutes later, some rustling was heard, then the door opened a crack.
"What do you want?" the woman at the door asked.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to travel with you until you could drop me off somewhere." Came Mei Li's reply.
"Where?"
"I don't know, anywhere far away from here."
"How much do you have?"
"Not much, just this bundle." She said, holding up her blanket for the woman to see.
"No, I mean, how much in payment? We're not just going to take you somewhere for free."
"Oh, um, hold on a second." She fished through the blanket, pulling out a couple of coins she had saved and stored in her dresser at home. She decided it probably wasn't wise to spend all her money at once, so she kept the bills from her uncle hidden for the time being.
"This much," she said, holding out her palm to show the woman. The woman eyed it, and said, "That'll get you about two hours from town."
"Two hours?" Mei Li gasped. "I need to be at least two days from here! Preferably even farther, maybe two weeks from this town!"
The woman scoffed. "To get two weeks from this town with us gypsies would cost you a fortune. But hey, we need to make a living, don't we?"
"You get enough money from your shows, woman." Mei Li said bitterly.
The woman ignored her last comment, and instead focused on Mei Li's locket.
"What's that shiny piece of metal you got hanging from your neck there?"
Mei Li backed a step away. "It's a locket, that's all. And I know what you're thinking, you can't have it. It's special."
The woman shook her head and feigned disappointment. "Pity. That would have gotten you at least two weeks from this town." She started to close the door.
"Wait," Mei Li said, reconsidering. "You'd take me with you for two weeks if I just gave you this locket and the coins?"
"Not even the coins, missy. Just the locket." The woman said, opening the door full length.
Mei Li thought about it. It was her only connection to her father. He had given it to her for her fifth birthday, it was special. It may not have been worth much money, but it had a sentimental value. But then again, the gypsy was willing to take her away, far away, for such a small price. It's just a piece of metal, like the gypsy said. Mei Li told herself. It's for the better. She felt like she was giving away a piece of herself as she undid the chain from around her neck and handed it over to the gypsy. The woman snatched it up and started examining it, then Mei Li.
"How old are you, anyway? You look a little young to be running away from home."
"I'm eighteen, if you're dying to know," Mei Li lied. "But why should my age matter? You got your payment."
"You can't fool me. You're not a day past sixteen."
"These coins say I am eighteen." Mei Li said, holding out the coins she had previously offered the gypsy. The woman eagerly accepted, and stood out of the way of Mei Li's entrance. "Welcome aboard." She said with a sweeping motion of her arms.
The woman led Mei Li to a small room in the back of the caravan. "You knocked on the right door. I used to have this whole caravan to myself, until you came. You can have this room. Mine's the bigger one near the front. All the other caravans have at least three people in them." Mei Li sat down on the cot in the room and put her blanket down next to her.
"Thank you," Li said. "My name is Mei Li, by the way."
"Cai Lang," answered the gypsy woman. "And remember, Mei Li, you're only with us for two weeks, whether we're moving or not."
"What?" cried Mei Li. "You said you'd take me two weeks out of town!"
"Did I?" Cai Lang answered casually. "Oh well. You'll have to make due with what you get." She paused before she left the room. "By the way, there are two other people staying with us gypsies. They're supposed to get off in two days, though. They're much older than you, though; early twenties."
"Wait," Mei Li said. "Aren't you doing a show here for two days? Wouldn't that mean that they're just going to get off in this town?"
"I guess so," Cai Lang shrugged. "Whatever, it's not my problem."
Mei Li suddenly realized it was her problem. She couldn't stay in this town for two days, not even two hours would be safe! Everyone would be out looking for her, and the gypsy caravan is probably the first place they'd look. What was she going to do?
What is Mei Li going to do? Who are the two other people staying with the gypsies, and why are they there? They will be familiar faces, I promise you that!Find out in the next chapter!