Chapter Text
Chapter 7
I blinked. “You’ve lost a child?”
“Not me,” Robert said. “The widow Jane. Works here, on the farm; her daughter’s gone missing. May I bring her to see you?”
“I… all right.”
I sat there, confused, as Robert left the cob house. Forget my missing memories, all my questions were making me dizzy.
I pressed the pigeon to my cheek. “At least I’ve got you,”
I paused at the sound of blankets falling. I looked toward the cause of the noise and saw the Moppet looking at the bird in my hands, her face full of curiosity and fear.
“Would you like to see her?” I asked gently. I took a risk and stepped towards her, placing the pigeon by her feet before darting back to my chair.
She looked at me with a mix of curiosity and fear again before reaching out a grimy hand, palm up.
The pigeon cooed and hopped onto her open palm. The girl brought the bird to her chest, gently stroking her feathers and nestled against the bird. She stayed like that, eyes closed, head down; perfectly content.
Well, look at that, I thought. Perhaps the pigeon was the way to get the girl to speak.
________________________________
As I went underneath the deerskin, I wondered. The man, or boy if I was being honest, looked nice . He genuinely wanted to know me. But it could all be a trick , I thought.
The people had kept speaking strangely so what was I supposed to believe? Then I saw the bird. It reminded me of the ones back home, the ones I used to feed, alongside Mama.
I couldn’t resist when I decided to take a peek at her and the boy must have noticed me. I tensed at the moment, what was he going to do? , but he had given me the bird and space.
Maybe.
Just maybe, I can trust the older ones again.
Or maybe not , I thought when I heard the older women screaming garbled words at me.