Chapter 2 - Dragska-racska

"Can we talk?" Sybil Benson said to Nelson Greene. Nelson stared for a moment, then nodded his head. From the bridge, they walked over to the opening down to the creek. Nelson stared at the ground as he followed Sybil. "I should've told an adult while we were all there," he thought. They made their way past tall grass, bugs took bites of Nelson and Sybil as they passed, then came upon the opening. Nelson looked up when they arrived, "What exactly are we going to 'talk' about?" he asked.

"You know what we're going to talk about," she responded, stepping to the slope.

"So why aren't we going to tell anyone what happened?" Nelson asked, following Sybil down the slope

Sybil jumped off the remaining portion of the slope and said, "We should tell people, just not the adults,"

"What?"

"They're obviously hiding something from us,"

"I don't think they are,"

"No, they definitely are. Why else would they keep that a secret from us,"

"Keep what a secret? I think we both had no idea what was happening to Matt,"

"I think the adults do, and are keeping it from us,"

"Why do you think that?"

"The same soot was in the boarded up well,"

"Wait, really?"

"Yes, and the adults told us there was a dead body in it,"

"How do you know there's soot in it?"

"Me and Lewis looked in it,"

"Maybe they just thought that was-"

"No, they're hiding something from us"

"Why would they want to hide anything from us? Even if they were,"

"Think about it, Mrs. Estrada died of old age, at 37. 37 isn't that old, most people live to be around 55 to 60. Yet, they say she died of old age. Then, we send all of the bodies of the dead down the river,"

"Are you saying they killed her or something?"

"Yes, murder," she said, with a cold expression across her face

Sybil started to walk back, and said as she passed Nelson "Don't tell any of the children without the decision going past me first, got it?" Nelson ran toward her, and when he arrived he said "Yeah, sure," as he looked at the ground. They started to walk to the slope again, "Why would they murder Mrs. Estrada?" Nelson thought, as he approached the slope, "At the funeral, candidates-are they connected to candidates?" As Nelson reached the epiphany, he stared straight up, his foot on the step leading to the slope. "You realized?" Sybil asked him.

"It has to do with the candidates, right?" Nelson said, stepping on the slope

"Yes, it's probably a sacrifice," Sybil responded, following Nelsons stop up onto the slope

Nelson stared down at the slope, as he walked up it. The crunch in the leaves below him pierced his ears while he thought to himself, "Then why has mom not been sacrificed? She isn't contributing anything to this town, and is taking up resources." As he thought, he reached the top of the slope and looked out. He looked across the golden field, reflective of the sunset, and it was empty. "Where is everyone?" he asked aloud. Sybil reached the top shortly after him, and just stared straight. She stared directly into the bush on the other side of the field, she saw a figure of a man, a 30 year old man. The figure didn't move, even as Sybil stared at it. "What is it?" Nelson asked. "Nothing," she responded, "I'm seeing things," she thought.

"Where's Chris and Faye?" Nelson thought, sprinting to the west side as soon as he thought it. Sybil looked at him while he ran, and when she looked back to the bush the figure was gone. "See? I was seeing things," she thought, walking the opposite direction Nelson ran in, to her house. Sybil's house was the furthest east, and one of the two houses on the east side. Sybil reached the door, hesitating before entering, then entered the house. Sybil was shocked to find the house empty, none of her 4 siblings were in, nor were her parents.

When Nelson crossed the bridge, a large group of the younger kids ran toward the east side. "I wonder what that was," he heard one of them say. He saw Chris running and stopped him. "What happened? Why is everyone here?" he asked. "I don't know, the adults wouldn't tell us, they told Otis though," Chris responded. Nelson's eyes widened as he heard it, he started to slowly walk toward the bridge again, away from where the adults were. "Nelson," he heard it was Mr. Gibbs, Lewis's dad, behind him. "Yes?" Nelson responded. Mr. Gibbs signalled Nelson to come over, and he came. "It's not about the soot thing," he thought. He followed Mr. Gibbs past the Estrada's house, and past 3 other houses, before Mr. Gibbs past bushes. Nelson heard voices from behind the bushes, as he followed he thought "They're going to kill me." When Nelson pushed himself past the voices, he saw Otis and a small group of adults hovering over something. When Nelson came they moved away from the object they were huddling around, one younger man Nelson had never seen before then got up. An older man Nelson had also not seen before then noticed everyone else, then saw Nelson, then slightly moved himself to reveal Matt. "I'm so sorry..." the young man said, "...he seemed to be attacked by wolves earlier today."

Sybil shortly came after Nelson. She had heard what the young man said. She looked at the body, "There are bite and scratch marks across his body now, they're not lying" she thought. Nelson immediately ran back into the town, past the bushes again. "What happened?" he thought, "Are they trying to cover up what actually happened? What happened to him? Why does he have marks all over him?" Nelson thought, running away. As he ran, Otis ran behind him. Nelson kept running, until he came to the front of his house, and tripped on the root of a tree. Otis came up behind Nelson and opened his mouth to say something, but no words came to him so he closed it again.

Otis stood there, trying to think of what to say. "What is there to say?" he thought, as he moved his hand to scratch his head. As he moved his hand back down, Sybil came running. "It's not what you think, Nelson," she said. Nelson looked at her and Otis behind him, and got up. He dusted his pants off and asked "Then is that what really happened?" Sybil looked at Otis, then back at the ground, and responded saying "You know what happened, you saw it with yourself," she then walked away, to the bridge past Nelson's house. Otis then followed her.

As Otis passed Nelson's house, the door to his house opened. Nelson turned his head as soon as he heard it, "Is it Faye?" he thought to himself. In the doorway to the dark house, was Nelson's dad. "Hey Nelson," he said.

Sybil was making her way to her house, occasionally looking back to see Otis following her. "Do you need anything?" she asked. Otis stared blankly, Sybil stared back. They stared for a few moments, before Sybil looked forward and continued to walk. In front of her, she saw Otis playing with the younger children. She looked behind her again to find Otis, from behind her, gone and in his place was the figure she had seen earlier. The figure didn't have color, or visibility, but still had presence. The figure was only there for a moment before disappearing before Sybil's eyes, disappearing as fast as it had appeared. As it disappeared, Sybil heard "dragska-racska." Sybil continued walking to her house, "I need to eat something," she thought.

"How are Chris and Faye doing?" Nelson's dad asked, lighting a candle hung on the wall inside of the house, with a larger handheld candle. It had been 8 months since he had last seen them. He had been outside of the village, collecting items the villagers had requested and selling items the outside world had needed.

"They're just about the same," Nelson responded, as he continued to monitor the chunks of beef inside of a metal pot, making beef stew. Although Nelson had never really connected with his dad, due to him being gone most of his childhood, he wasn't trying to cut his responses short. Chris had always been one of the more wild kids in the village, and Faye had always been energetic but less wild.

Nelson's dad put the handheld candle on the dining room table when he asked, "And mom?"

"Her condition's gotten worse, she's started to have fits," Nelson responded, staring deeper into the stew in the pot. "She actually had one this morning, so I told Chris and Faye to stay over at someone else's house tonight," Nelson said, looking up at his dad.

Nelson's dad nodded his head, looking down at Mrs. Greene as he did. He walked over to the younger children's room, with a small cylinder of metal. When he went in, he walked to the candles he had lit earlier and put them out, one by one. When he walked back to the dining room he asked, "She has them repeatedly in one day, then?"

"Yes," Nelson said.

"Then why did you leave her all day," Nelson's dad asked

Nelson couldn't respond, he thought of the reason but couldn't think of the words to describe it. "I didn't want to stay," he thought to himself, "he won't be able to take that answer." Nelson continued stirring the stew as he thought to himself. His dad looked at him and asked "How much are you making?"

"Enough for 5 people, why?" Nelson said, still looking at the stew.

"Is it too late to make it 7?"

Nelson was confused, he looked at his dad and asked "Are you hungry, or are we having people over?"

"We have guests from outside of the village staying here,"

Nelson got up, out of his chair and asked "Wait, was it those two people near Matt? Where are they going to stay?"

Nelson's dad sat down in one of the chairs at the dining room table and said "Two people, the older one is Wood Kemp and he's brought a trainee, Warren Wheatly."

Nelson sat down as he said, "They're not staying here, right? There's not enough space for 2 more-" before he was cut off by knocking on the door.

Sybil opened the door to her house, which was completely dark. She found a handheld candle in her study, at the back of the house. She walked through the house, lighting candles as she went. In one of her sibling's rooms, she lit a candle and looked outside briefly. The grass in the field flowed with the find, the grass was illuminated by an orange sunset. Sybil only looked briefly, but as she moved on to light the next room she wondered where her parents were. Her mom and dad were very religious people. So all day they had been outside of the town in the nearby hills, where they were everyday. Although they were there, they would be back by this time. "Did they pray for too long?" she thought, as she lit the last candle hung on the wall. She then took the handheld candle back to her study, and put it on the desk. When she did she heard the door open, and she heard three sets of footsteps running along the floor. "I think there's a book on it in Sybil's study," said a child, one of Sybil's siblings. Sybil then heard knocking on her study door, "Sybil, can I borrow a book?" the child said. Sybil got out of her desk chair, walked across the creaky floorboards, and opened the door. In the door wasn't her sibling, but the figure.

The figure stood there, not moving. Sybil slowly walked away from the figure, the expression on her face was still unchanged, but felt fear climb from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head. As she moved, the figure stood still. Sybil slowly closed the door, hoping to put something between her and the figure. When she closed the door completely, her eyes darted to the pair of scissors on her desk. She jumped over to the desk to grab the scissors and jumped back to the door. She put her hand on the handle and mentally prepared to stab the figure. She stood for only a moment but then opened the door, thrusting the scissors in front of her to where the figure was. The figure had disappeared. As Sybil looked forward and saw the figure had disappeared, she heard the phrase "dragska-racska"

"I'm Woody, Woody Kemp," the old man in Nelson's house introduced himself to Nelson, and pointed to the younger man next to him saying, "and this is Warren Wheatly." Warren held his hand toward Nelson, waiting for a hand shake. Nelson shook his hand, staying silent and looking at his hand. Nelson brought his hand back and nodded his head. "These people saw Matt, they may or may not know what happened to him," he thought. As Nelson brought his hand back, the door slammed open and Chris and Faye ran through the house to the dining room, where everyone was.

Chris and Faye had only really connected to their dad as much as Nelson did. "Hi dad," Chris said. "Hey Chris, how's everything been going?" he responded

"Fine, I guess," Chris said, as he pulled a chair out from the table and sat in it. Faye did the same.

"Dad, who are these people?" Faye asked, taking a seat in her chair.

Woody adjusted his legs, from under the table, then looked at Faye and said, "I am Woody Kemp and this man next to me is Warren Wheatly, we come from outside of the village."

Chris and Faye looked at the two strangers in their house, when Mr. Greene walked away from the pot, in the corner of the room, with 2 bowls of beef stew. He put them in front of Woody and Warren, and went back to the pot to get more. Woody looked at the wooden spoons the Greene family had, and got out a metal spoon from his suitcase. Nelson, Chris, Faye, and even Warren looked at Woody as he did it. Woody put the stew in his mouth, when he looked up and saw everyone looking at him. Woody then left the house, as Mr. Greene brought stew for Chris and Faye. When Woody came back in, he brought 5 more metal spoons and handed them to everyone individually.

Mr. Greene sat down, when Warren asked him, "Do we have any bread?" as Warren ate a large chunk of meat.

"We only have bread for a generation ceremony!" Chris responded, as he put a spoon with only broth in his mouth.

"The only two families who consistently have bread are the Gibbs and Sadiq families," Nelson said. As Nelson said it he thought "That's why the Gibbs are as chubby as they are."

"Do you know why bread is so expensive here, Chris and Faye?" Mr. Greene asked them, as he put a spoonful of broth, vegetables, and meat in his mouth.

"Is it because bread goes bad fast here?" Faye asked, as she did Woody stopped moving his spoon from his bowl to his mouth. "That's an unusual answer from such a young kid," he thought.

Mr. Greene swallowed his stew then said back,"No, but that is a good answer. The reason it is, is because bread's grown across the country," as he said it Chris interrupted "It's in Tarrin!" he shouted. "Yes, and because of that it costs too much to bring over here," Warren said.

Woody used his spoon to split a chunk of meat in half when he said, "Technically, it's become Tarrin and Yarrin." Mr. Greene and Warren looked at Woody as he ate, while the three children looked puzzled.

As everyone finished eating, they brought their plates to the pot. First, it was Chris who finished. Once he put his plate back he asked "Can I go over to Oliver's place now?" The moment his father nodded his head, with a spoonful of stew in his mouth, the kid lept through the front door. It was dark out, but the kid was able to make his way over to a house only a couple dozen yards away. Faye finished shortly after Chris, and left the house as fast as her brother had. Nelson ate his food slowly, thinking about what Woody had meant when he said it was Tarrin and Yarrin.

"Hey, Mr. Kemp," Nelson asked, as Mr. Greene and Warren rearranged the empty plates near the pot in a neat stack, "Why is it Tarrin and Yarrin now? Did something happen?"

"That's a long story, I haven't the time or energy to explain it tonight. Remind me tomorrow, I'll be sure to explain it then," the man said, as he put the last piece of meat from his spoon into his mouth. Nelson looked at his food again, and drank the rest of his broth from his bowl. He walked to the pot, with his empty bowl and asked Mr. Greene "Dad? Do you need me to wash these?"

"If you don't mind, just get Mr. Kemp's bowl before you go."

Nelson put his bowl in the neat stack, grabbed the stack by the bottom, and made his way over to Woody to grab his bowl. Woody put his bowl on the stop of the stack, then said "Hey, do you think you can wash my knife for me while you're at it?" as he said it, he pulled out a small knife in the pocket of his dirty jeans. He handed it to Nelson by the handle, and Nelson put it on top of the stack of bowls.

Nelson left the house, and took the bowls to the nearby creek with a small towel. He set the bowls on the bank, when he took the knife out and looked at it. The handle was wooden, and the blade was metal. The blade was also covered in blood. Nelson looked at the blade for a moment, then heard "dragska-racska." He looked around to find where the voice came from, but couldn't find it. He then put the blade in the river, and used the towel to wash away the dry blood.