Young Writers Society

Stolen? Mason thought. She hadn't remembered anyone taking her shoe... but mind you, she couldn't remember much about the whole thing. Stolen seemed a bit drastic though. But that's what was in the legends; folks that had their left shoe stolen had little to no memory of the event. Losing your shoe was bad enough, because – if you believed in those sorts of things – your family would be doomed to poverty for the rest of your life. But no one really cared about that detail since most people had poverty to begin with. However, it was still looked at as a highly disgraceful thing to do to your family.

Mason tried to remember what would happen if it was stolen, but she couldn't seem to.

Regi stared at the floor, gnawing on the side of his lip.

“Please?” Geor said.

They sat in silence for a long moment, and then Regi spoke. “Okay. But I need something from you, too.”

Geor sighed in relief, but then a look of confusion came over his face. “What do you need from me?”

“I need something from both of you. I'm not just going to make a new shoe. That is actually a very bad idea; you need to find the old one.”

“How on earth are we going to find her old one? I thought you said you were going to help us?” Geor said.

“I am going to help you. I'm going to help you find your shoe.” Regi said, he was looking at Mason now. “We have to deal with these shoe thieves before it gets out of hand.”

“It's just a shoe though...” Mason said. “I'll be fine, really, I'm sure. It can't be that big of a deal.”

Geor stared at her in disbelief. “Do you not know what exactly this means?” He asked.

Mason shook her head.

“First it's shoes, then it's pots and pans, then it's apples, then it's chickens- the next thing you know they'll be snatching children left and right! If it gets out of hand-”

Regi nodded along to what Geor was saying.

“If it gets out of hand,” Geor repeated, “it's going to be an epidemic!”

“Well, who stole my shoe that's going to be stealing children?” Mason asked. It seemed a little odd that it would escalate so quickly...

“Not sure.” Geor replied. “Could be anything... Ogers, gnomes, trolls...”

“You know what I think it is?” Regi said, with a hint of a smirk. “It seems more like Korrigans to me. They probably didn't like her stumbling about at night.”

Geor tapped his nose thoughtfully. “That would sort of explain why they stole her shoe... warning enough but small enough that you might just think you lost your shoe.”

“But I did just lose my shoe!” Mason said. She was beginning to find this discussion annoying, and neither of them were elaborating.

"Doubtful." Geor said.

"Why do you say that?" Mason asked, "No one took it from me... I would have seen if someone had taken from me. How could someone have stolen a shoe off my foot?"

"How could you lose a shoe while you were wearing it?" Regi asked. "Even better!" Regi exclaimed, "How could you lose  your shoe and then not remember anything about the incident? Don't you think you would have remembered stepping on all those sharp pebbles?"

Mason wiggled the toes on her left foot, contemplating his words, and not wanting to give them the satisfaction of proving her wrong. "But... wouldn't I remember someone stealing it more than simple losing it?"

Regi sighed, "Not if they were messing with the little friend in your head." he said.

Mason looked to Geor, but he didn't meet her gaze, instead he fiddled with the hem of his coat. After a long moment of silence, Mason finally spoke:

"Why did they steal my shoe, whoever 'they' are?"

"Sadly we'll just have to wait to know the answer to that." Regi said.

"So what was it you wanted from me?" Geor asked. He still wasn't looking at Mason, but he didn't have that grave look to his eyes.

Regi tapped his long fingers on his leg. "It's not so much something I want, but something I need in order to... in order to help you."

"Oh?" Geor said, mildly interested. "What is it then?- I'm so curious now."

"I need your..." Regi glanced out the window, trying to coax the words from within him. "I need this lovely lady's..."

"For the sake of pies, tell us already!" Geor said.

With that Regi got up and walked over to where Geor sat. Then he bent down and whispered in the fellow’s ear.

"That's not fair!" Mason said, confused and anxious as to what it could be that he needed. "You have to tell me too." She stood up, but didn't know what she was going to do. She was too paranoid now that there were some sort of terrible creature out there just waiting to cause mischief, so she wasn't going to try to go home; not at night. And besides that, she was exhausted from the day.

Geor sighed. “I think it’s best you get some rest for the night, darling. Wouldn’t want you to catch a… what are those things you catch again?”

“A cold?” Regi suggested.

“Yes.” Geor said. “A cold.”

“I’m sorry but I’m not going to sleep after all this.” Mason said. “Can you please tell me what’s going on? And what do you need from me?”

“Fine.” Geor said, but he wouldn’t look at Mason. “What’s going on here is a mystery to the lot of us, but it’s no good whatever it is, and we need to take a sample of your foot so that we can get a better understanding of the whole happenings which are going on.”

“What kind of sample…?” She asked.

Regi shifted uncomfortably. “Just a… maybe you’re little toe- OR something, not quite sure yet how much we’ll need yet.”

“My toe?” Mason said. She pushed the chair slowly out of her way and started walking backwards towards the door. “you know what?” she said. “I think I’ll just buy a new shoe. I’m sure my mother has some coins for emergencies.” she showed them her most confident smile she could manage, hoping it didn’t show the terror she felt instead.

“Where are you going?” Geor asked, sliding off his chair.

“Home!” Mason said the word with more excitement than she’d ever said it before, and laughed nervously.

“Now?” Regi asked in disbelief. But she was already out the door.

“This is very important!” Geor called after her, but she just ran.

Muddy water splashed up her legs and all over her dress which had started to dry in the warm hut. That would be a pain to wash.

She passed house after house, the rain pounding even harder. She ran with the speed that you only have when you know something’s behind you. At some point the lights started to thin out, the way they do on the edge of town, but she didn’t feel like she’d been running that long. She felt like there was still so much space she wanted to make between her and that smithies. I can’t have reached the edge of town yet… she thought, but the unmistakable feeling of pebbles and twigs told her otherwise. Reeds, tall enough to tickle the bottom of Mason’s chin surrounded her, and her feet sunk into muddy clumps of moss slowing her down tremendously. Then trees hung over her, spreading their arms, and pushing fingertips with each other, as if they were working together to keep the rain off Mason. It was a nice gesture, but she was already damp enough to keep the fields growing for a month.