Quill

Chapter 4: Is Recovered

Rlyll became a legendary town the moment it gave birth to a Swan Candidate. A new hope for a path towards world peace for all. All in the town promised to help the one.

All have forgotten but one.

The young girl stood in the empty shoppe, the employees having left to enjoy the rest of their day. She attempted to rub new goosebumps off of her arms, staring out of one the windows at the brass swan fountain. She wondered what it was over there that made her uncomfortable.

Norman went over to his work stool, sitting down and going through the cash register. He organized the bills while the young girl looked around. She didn't get a good look at the shoppe the last time she barreled in.

Minutes later, Norman closed the cash register, everything brought up to speed. He looked over at the young girl, who was staring at a lower row of Collins drinkware.

   "You like those, do you," Norman began.

The young girl turned in his direction, nodding.

Norman stared ahead in silence for a few moments. "You know, whatever it was that spooked you out there, this isn't a place to live in."

She stood up straight, looking over at him, then staring outside again. Norman looked outside as well, looking back at her.

   "You have a home, don't you? Do you even live here?"

The young girl turned her head in his direction, nodding.

   "So, where is your home?"

She continued to stare at him. "...I don't know," she replied, looking back outside.

That was the second sentence she ever spoke to him, and still delivered the same shock as before.

The young girl turned around, sitting on the windowsill. "I lived in a lot houses."

   "A lot of houses," Norman corrected, bewildered that she was still speaking.

The young girl stared down, upset. "This why I didn't want talk. I forget how to."

   "How long?" Norman asked.

She looked over at him. "I don't want talk about it. The memories hurts."

The levels of the young girl's trauma seemed to go beyond what Norman could imagine. He decided he was going to let her go at her own pace.

   "I see," he responded, locking up the cash register with some keys from one of the drawers. "We don't have to discuss it."

She looked at him in confusion at his words, then coming to recognize it. "Discuss, one more word for talk."

   "Yes, it is."

She looked down at the floor, her feet lowly moving up and down. "I'm forgotten," she stated through a pained smile.

It took Norman by surprise. He looked over at her, as her eyes became glassy. She looked over at Norman. "You're not them."

He tried to piece together what she meant. She could see he didn't get her words, as she concentrated, trying to remember the right words.

She tried again. "You're...not, like them."

   "Oh," Norman understood. "The entire town turned their backs on you."

   "You too, at a point I sure," she snapped.

Norman's eyes flashed in anger at her, causing the young girl to flinch. "Be careful about tossing blame on things you have no idea about."

She looked at him, nervous, staring back at the floor. "Some people, too....took me in," she tried to remember more words. "But...it stopped, when I turned..." The young girl began to lift one finger up after the other. She stopped when she had both palms up, with a thumb tucked in on her left hand.

   "Nine?" Norman said.

She nodded. "Nine. No one, remember me. Swan emblems...all over town, all over walls, now worn out. I live on streets...with other kids. I a-avoid orphanage takers...for one...two, three years, a-and..."

Her tears began to fall, cascading down her cheeks.

   "A-and..." she placed her face in her palms, stifling her crying.

Norman walked over to the young girl, and sat beside her on the windowsill. "Hey..."

   "All left me," She looked at Norman with eyes full of tears. "N-now they're..tr..trying to kill me."

Norman couldn't think of anything to say to comfort her. There were no words of comfort for this kind of trauma.

   "I...just try to survive. But there's still...hate.." the young girl looked up at Norman. "What did...I do?"

Norman stared at the girl who spilled heart-wrenching words. "Nothing."

He placed a hand on her head. "It's more of, what did we do."

The young girl stared down. "That's why...I hid."

   "Where?" Norman asked.

The loud shove of a door turned both of their heads towards the entrance.

   "Ah ha! I told you he'd still be here!" Chester exclaimed, entering the shoppe, Warren and Rick behind him. "Mr. Stonelock, you work the hardest out of all of us every single day. And we've never gone drinking with our boss before! What say w-"

The three employees stood in shock at the sight of the feral girl. The same girl who they thought barricaded herself in their shoppe the night before.

Rick stared at Norman, in disbelief.

   "Please tell me you caught her, and that's why she's here," Warren said.

   "That girl is an intruder! She infiltrated the shoppe and probably even killed that swan in the stock room!" Chester joined in.

The young girl stared daggers at the men. Rick shot daggers back, intimidating the girl a bit.

Rick looked at Norman. "Why is this intruder here, Mr. Stonelock?"

   "If I were your employee, then you can talk to me like that," Norman snapped. He turned to the young girl. "Go sit down at the counter."

The young girl looked at him, nodding, as she walked over to the cash register, sitting on the work stool. Chester looked at her, then at Norman.

   "Mr. Stonelock, we came to invite you to the bar, since you work so hard, but, if it's really none of our business, we can g-"

   "You can. I'm staying right here, because this intruder scene is really interesting," Warren said.

Rick looked at the two, looking back at Norman in confusion. Norman looked over at the gentlemen.

   "Chester, I'm giving you a promotion. You're on full-time glassblowing drinkware duty."

   "Nice!" Chester cheered, ecstatic.

Norman looked over at the young girl, turning back to his employees.

   "Boys, say hello to your new cashier."