"Timeless" - Narnian Autumn Writing Challenge - Oneshot Collection

"Pretend For A Day"

Then she directed her piercing blue eyes to Cordelia's level, "And who might this sweet little thing be?"

Giggling shyly, she half hid behind her uncle, "My name's Cordelia. I like your eyes, they're pretty." Compared to her mother's dull eyes, this woman had prettier ones and she was so much more cheerful than her mother.

Why couldn't she have had Uncle Dale and Amy for a mother and father? They would've let her have all the candy she could ever imagine. And maybe they'd tuck her in, or even, say good night.

"Thank you," Blushing slightly, Amy turned, getting a napkin out of a box to select the apple Cordelia had pointed to.

Uncle Hall grinned teasingly at Amy as she spun around with the apple folded away safely in a paper bag that crinkled when she moved. "I agree. You do have pretty eyes."

Giving the bag to Cordelia, Amy shook her head, "Scurry along now, you don't want to miss the hayrides over there." She pointed a long finger in the direction of the pumpkin patch and the large wagon stuffed full of hay and lined with benches for the little ones to sit on.

Jumping up and down, Cordelia clapped her hands together and imagined the bumpy ride going all through the festival- with her and Uncle Hall in the front, smiling happily.

This day kept getting better and better!

She bit into her candied apple, her mouth slipping a bit at the waxy surface and she was surprised at how hard it felt. And while it was delicious, it was sticky and messy, getting all over her fingers. After a while, she handed it over to Uncle Hall and made a face, "It's too sloppy."

He nodded and put it back in her bag.

Hand in hand again, she and her uncle made their way down to the spot where the hayride was, arriving just in time to get on with the rest of the kids and their parents.

Her stomach sank a little bit at the sight of another little girl and her mother, holding hands and laughing. Happy.

How could she make her mother laugh like that?

Was it because she had red hair that her mother didn't like her? Did that make her ugly?

But then she looked around again, twisting on her stack of hay, and she saw a little red-haired girl, about her age, with both her mother and father. And they were all laughing. Together.

Maybe it wasn't the color of her hair that her mother and father didn't like- but maybe it was just... her.

"Are you ready?"

She whipped back around to see Uncle Dale sitting next to her on the hay, hands in his lap.

"Yes."

"Make sure to turn around so that you can see the whole festival and the pumpkin patch when we ride past."

She hadn't realized she was again staring in the direction of the red-haired girl and her family, and she nodded, situating herself by the side of the wagon, overlooking the whole festival grounds.

"Ginger?" Uncle Dale asked, leaning nearer to her, "You seem distracted, are you alright? You keep gazing at the other people. Are they making you nervous? Do you want me to ask the driver to stop?"

Her belly hurt. Yes, they made her nervous, but just because she could not figure out why they were happier with their parents than she was. What did they do to please their parents? They probably weren't beaten or slapped if they didn't listen- or if they made too much noise, or were, just in the way.

"No." Shaking her head, she put her hands on the side of the cart and felt it begin to roll over the pathways down to the pumpkin patch.

She shouldn't be complaining about her life, or, at least verbally to anyone. Mother would flip out if she told anyone that Father beat them. He didn't mean to. Mother said it was only the effects of drinking. Yet, Mother sometimes drank and she didn't get as bad as Father.