Exodus of the Greenman

Page 6

She turned and began packing again.

“Like hell you are! After everything I’ve done for you, you bitch.”

“I don’t care what you’ve done. You haven’t done anything that gives you the right to treat me like this. I didn’t put up with it from my stepfather and I’m not putting up with it from you.”

He was across the room and had her by the hair before she could react. Tears ran form the corners of her eyes as he forced her head back and glared into her eyes.

His eyes were drug-wild and filled with a brutal hate.

“You ain’t ever leaving me bitch. I’ll kill you first”

He hauled her to her feet and then shoved her into the wall. He pulled his buck knife from his pocket. With a quick flick of his wrist the blade was open and locked into place.

“Allen, stop it you’re scaring me!”

“Stop it, you’re scaring me.” He mocked her.

Carrie’s heart pulsed like hummingbird wings. She thought of how wolves circle their prey.

“I’ll stay Allen, just put the knife down. Please....”

“I don’t think so, you ungrateful bitch. You’ve got to learn your place first.”

Carrie found the sock with the soap in it in her pocket and drew it out.

Allen closed in and she took a back handed swing at him, like she was throwing a Frisbee. The bar of soap connected hard with the side of Allen’s head. He dropped to his knees. She wanted to hit him again, but she knew it would make her the same as him.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!”

Carrie stood for a moment, shocked by what she had done. Then she took her chance and ran for the door. She wasn’t fast enough, Allen managed to get to his feet and plant his blade into her side. They locked eyes for a second, both dismayed by what he had done.

Carrie turned and ran out the door clutching the wound in her side. She could see that she was losing a lot of blood and knew she would die if she didn’t get help. It was so late that no one was out, no one to help her. She managed to stager to the park a block away and fell. She couldn’t move any more and she was getting very cold. She could still hear Allen’s voice yelling “You bitch!” She found those words strangely satisfying. She thought about who might find her body there in the park. A bag lady maybe, or some poor kid, or who knows. She thought about her family, how she had run away from one abusive person only to be abused by another. At least it was over.

“Oh, my sweet changeling.” a familiar voice said to her.

She rolled onto her back and looked up into Silas’s green eyes and his loving face. He was crying for her again. Her heart blossomed with hope.

“I thought you would be safe when we left you here in this world.” What he was saying made no sense to her, but she was glad to hear his voice.

He knelt down by her side, rolled her Alice in Chains shirt up over the wound, and placed his hand on it.

She could feel her body starting to warm up again and she felt giddy and light headed. She felt calm and at peace, she knew that somehow Silas was going to make her all right. She didn’t know why but he made her feel safe, like she was in the presence of something old and great.

“Are you God?” She asked.

He smiled and said, “One of them, yes.”

He passed his hand over her eyes and she slipped off into sleep. While she slept she dreamed. She dreamed of old forests, filled with oak trees. Among those trees she saw a strange man. He had a beard and long hair filled with leaves, his legs were those of an animal like a satyr, and he had antlers jutting out of his forehead. Around his neck there was a snake with horns like a ram. What she noticed most where his eyes, his green eyes. She knew it was Silas. Then she saw this other version of Silas in the room she had when she was really young. There were other people with him. Small people with wings like moths or dragon flies and little brown furry people with sweet brown eyes. One of the furry people picked a blue-eyed baby up out of the crib. It started to cry, but Silas touched it and it smiled and stopped.

“Don’t worry little one, you’re going to be fine. You’re coming to live with us now.”

Silas placed another baby in the crib. This baby had beautiful green eyes, like Silas. Then he past his hands over the baby’s face and they turned blue.

He spoke to the little people around him, “This is for the best, she’ll be safer here.”

"Fair well my child, never forget my love.” he whispered and went away with tears in his eyes.