Young Writers Society

Abbie

Abbie blinked. "Can't you talk?" she asked quietly. Abbie shook herself suddenly. "I apologize for my rudeness, dear, you just caught me unawares."

The girl nervously moistened her upper lip. Abbie felt a small frown take shape on her lips. "Can you write?" Abbie asked after a moment of thought. "I have some paper and a pen, if you'd like."

The girl hesitated for a long moment. Dimly, Abbie wondered if she was foreign. She seemed to understand English well enough, but Abbie couldn't be sure. Out of the corner of Abbie's eye, she saw the girl jerk her eyes down quickly, in an almost imperceptible nodding gesture. Abbie smiled warmly at the girl.

"Wait here a moment, I'll go get it," said Abbie, reaching out to pat the girl's forearm. The girl flinched, running into the tongue of Abbie's wagon. Abbie drew back her hand sharply and quickly stepped into her wagon to hide her confusion. Hopefully Abbie would be able to understand the girl better once they could communicate. Abbie had never met anyone even vaguely like her.

Abbie reached into the linen trunk, lifted her fabrics aside, and pulled out her stationary box. Abbie slid out of the wagon and opened the box to set the paper, pen, and ink in front of the girl. Abbie smiled at her.

"Let's start at the beginning, then. What is your name?"

Anna

I gingerly grabbed the pen and looked down at the paper. The girl urged me on. There was no way they were getting my last name. I dipped the pen in the ink and wrote in four neat as I could manage little letters;

Anna

I hoped she would be able to read my horrible handwriting. She inspected the letters carefully and nodded, smiling brightly.

"That's a pretty name darlin'." She poked my nose playfully.

Much like how some mothers had when I was a child. I had seen Cindy's mom do that. I frowned, thinking of my once best friend. I shook my head and looked back up to the nice lady, who smiled down at me with kind eyes.

"Now, why were you hiding like that?" she inquired, with a look that seriously wanted to know.

I swallowed hard and gripped the pen until my knuckles looked white as a ghost's. I couldn't just lie to her, and I wasn't in the position to just not tell her either. Perhaps I could just be vague.

I ran away from home.

I wrote slowly.

*So sorry this is as short as it is.*

Humility

"My dear lady, please excuse me," he mumbled, his eyes fixed on my face. I blinked and stared back. Had he not noticed my stutter? No, maybe he just had more on his mind. Or maybe he hadn't heard me at all. Either way, I wouldn't risk a chance to [i]not[\i] be considered disturbed. I smiled at him and nodded, stooping to pick up my scattered branches. After a few moments, he squatted beside me.

"May I have your name?"

I paused. It's only one word, I told myself. One word. You cannot fumble on one word. "Hu... Humility." Apparently, you can. I sighed, giving up. "I-ironic, isn't i-it?"

Sebastian

*sorry so late*

How could she have been so okay with him sneezing in her face? He shook his head in amazement.
"With good reason. Yet another dead, who shall be next?" Emily asked.

Sebastian could hear her voice crack just a little bit. She was scared he realized. His brother would crack a joke at a moment like this, but he wanted to comfort her with kind words to make her feel safe. He wasn't sure he could do either, since he had never been good at witty remarks and he was slightly afraid himself. He decided to try both however.

"Maybe I'll sneeze myself to death. Sneeze while on the wagon and fall off to my doom."

She let a small smile cross her face, but he wasn't sure if it was genuine or she was humouring him.
"As long as you don't sneeze to death on me," she said.

Sebastian smiled a little. His joke seemed to have done its job and calm her nerves, but none the less he went for the comforting words too.

Anyway I'm sure we will all be fine. I think the rest of our trip shall be smooth.
"I hope so," Emily said.

The making group talking about the situation had broken up as a new problem seemed to take up precedent.
"It looks like they found a little girl," she said her voice softening. "I wonder if she's okay."

Sebastien wondered the same thing, but he knew better than to just rush in and see what was going on. The girl was more than likely scared and being surronded by new people would not help her much. He decided that it would be better to let Anna and the others deal with it. He also still felt obligated to make up for sneezing in Emily's face.

"Abbie and the others seem to have it under control." Sebastian said. He looked away from Abbie as she helped the girl to one of the wagons. "Have you eaten today?"