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The same beautiful dappling light hit her face as it did every morning since she moved to the top floor. Her siblings, wanting no part in this daily routine of her keeping her window open, encouraged her to do so once their great aunt had moved out and the upstairs room had opened up. Everyday she would watch the minute changes as the seasons slowly passed, noticing signs of seasonal change as the world would transfer from one season to another and would always be the first to know. The beautiful red tree, with a stout trunk that her family had planted many generations ago. The tree, now void of most green leaves as the autumn season hits.
Some bits of leaves remaining green as the rest of the old tree changed, branches running off into blocks of leaves in speckled patterns of red, yellow, and orange. Like a natural curtain, it’s leaves came to fall around her two brothers messing about in the front yard. The cool air of autumn having seeped into the large, hollow bones of the ornate house, driving her outside. Slipping down the bannister, she spots her sister, curled up on a cushioned seat as she plays with her new kitten. White paws batting against her fingers as she twists a small piece of silver twine around for the cat's enjoyment.
Seeing her sister so absorbed in playing with her kitten, Tali instead fixes her focus back on getting out of the house to play with her brothers. Imagining them to be daring each other to eat the rottenest acorns they could find, throwing apples across the lawn. Sloppily tying her shoes she races through the door to join the wind whipped chaos. Instead of running around her or throwing leaves, they stare at her, her two younger brothers seeming almost afraid.
No more music would grace the home in months, long stretches of silence shrouding the estate. Her only friend in these months being her younger sisters kitten, their brothers skittering around Tali’s presence like mice. One spring morning, Alder cooks pancakes, like he hadn't made in years, perhaps to draw Tali out of her room. Indeed they did come, the light spilling through from a blindspot in their curtain, preventing any further rest. Remaining in their white nightgown from the previous two days and nights, having outgrown their finery since the ‘growth spurt’.
Gliding down the stairs much like the ghost they feel they are in the house, haunting the space. The brightness of the world bathing every room in the house in a warm glow, following Tali throughout each room. At the breakfast table they find the usual set up, her younger brother and sister’s chairs pushed together on one side of the table and Tali’s and her older brothers are a respectable distance apart on the other. The only thing different being the presence of their parents on both ends of the table. Come home from a voyage they were only three months into, turning around before having reached their destination.
Meaning Alder must've sent a messenger pigeon after them, chasing after the insignia of their carriage. Pancakes turning to flavorless mush as Tali chews and chews, each chew a struggle against the moisture stealing bread. All of her siblings eyes quickly glancing from her and then to their parents and back once again. Darting out of the hall once her belly was full, returning to the refuge of her room. Only late in the night do they wake from her slumber, to the sound of her parents bickering drifting up through the air duct connecting the two rooms.
At the gold plated grate she sits, letting her eyes go unfocused on the floral moulding of the plate, attention resurfacing as their voices raise.
“A Kluhpar? When were you planning on telling me Marna!”
“Who’s to say it's my fault, what if it's your own faulty wiring? Maybe she's not even yours, those things can shape shift you know.”
“Let's just send her to the Amash school already and be done with it!”
Backing away from the grate they notice the whipping of the wind. Almost like the wind billowing under the curtain was causing it to wave to her. She decides she must leave tonight, the threat of being sent to Amash the final straw, attempting to open their window that had been left cracked for months. The elements over the months must’ve frozen the sliding mechanism, Tali’s spindly fingers being no match for it, they ultimately have to throw their whole weight on the window for it to creak open. From her fingers the dust easily slides off the smoothened skin, new swirls on her palms catching the dust in place of her now nonexistent fingerprints.
Stepping out of the window, she takes a moment to let the warm breeze run over her, many nights she had wished to float away on this breeze. Momentarily they have a childhood fantasy resurface, living in the wide and spiraling tree they have. Catching herself attempting to see if any branch near the roof appeared sturdy enough to hold their weight, although only one scraggly branch was close enough to reach. The brambles climbing from the slanted side of the house proving a good ladder downward to the rose bush garden. The scent of kicked up dust causing old memories to resurface, when the garden used to be a back exit.
Sometimes when playing hide and seek Tali’s older brother would go missing, sometimes for a few hours and sometimes for the day. On rare occasions he went to the market when he went out, carrying back snacks and treats for everyone.
From the rusted back gate of the house to the grains of sand pressing into her feet they’ve been in a daze since the moment they left the property. Guzzling the bitterest of seaweed, having to pull clumps of it from her mouth, trying not to gag at it's slimy texture and snapping at the occasional fly. With each foot fall, each heartbeat pumping blood throughout the body causing each thought to echo the last “one more step, one more step, one more-”. Some attempt to come to their aid, only for Tali to push past them with a blank stare, reacting as if she hadn't heard a thing. Other passersby ignore them, or pull away as if she were a flaming ball of gas.
Keeping at this routine for months on end, one sighting of her in particular waiting to haunt her future. The sighting of her by one William Buckford. He had reported seeing her eat, having seen a rustling in the tall grass and expecting to bring home a dinner of deer for his family. Tali jumping up so quickly to catch the dragonfly mid air in her mouth that William couldn't even identify what had happened for a moment. Absorbing it all as he watched dark blue blood drip down Tali’s chin with a sickening crack as their teeth tear through the bug's exoskeleton. Their body could not take this for much longer, passing out as she nears the dock, a fuzzy figure approaching in the corner of her vision before she lost consciousness.
The next time they awoke they awoke to the ocean breeze running over their face, the wind carrying the scent of mothballs to her nose. Sitting at the foot of the bed is a plump and stout woman who appears to have been living by the sea for many moons. She introduces herself, regaling Tali of the story of how they had been transported there. The old woman was the wife of a fishmonger, having come out on a stroll through the boardwalk to her husband's stall to give him a sack lunch. Before she got there however, she nearly tripped right over Tali’s unconscious body, having insisted her husband help carry the poor thing home.
Dusting her apron off she prepares to leave the room, only then letting her name slip, Denise. Tali would stay with this dock-couple for years, becoming a fisherman themself, aiding in catching fish for the monger to prepare. There she would remain for a good portion of the rest of her life, only leaving for a couple years to try out a life on the sea. Tali loved it but ultimately came back, deciding that little hut she had awoken in was where their heart had stayed.