Artifacts

Emma and Seth concluded it would be best to go back to her parents' home to pick up a few things like food, water, and maybe a weapon before heading out with the excuse that they were going to the creek that they had frequented throughout the Summer before school had begun the previous September.

They never swam, but they liked to skip rocks. That's how they originally met. Emma recalled back to that day. It was a dismal day, and she had escaped her father on the "disguise" of her accepting being sent on an "important errand" for him to his acquaintance Terry from the library. He wished for her to deliver some ancient artifacts that he had discovered when he was reorganizing her grandpa's home after he had passed before they auctioned the house in May.

She was curious what the artifacts were. Her father had ordered her not to unwrap them. Naturally, she did the contrary, and resolved that for "scientific purposes," she would take a quick peek and then wrap them back up again. Certainly, her father would never catch what she had done. She knew she would be in substantial trouble if he knew what she was doing, but she was impulsive and tended to not think matters through before doing them.

She decided that she would go sit under the bridge that spanned the creek by the small wooded area by the park. She loved the creek because it was fun to explore and her parents didn't know about her secret place, so she was protected from prying eyes.

Her knapsack was heavy from the tablets, but she heaved them to the spot she wanted to go. It was marvelous there, there was something about the melody of the water trickling down the rocks that soothed her and made her not want to fidget as much as she ordinarily did. Dark green vegetation lined the banks and the bridge, but not so much that she couldn't force her way through when she wished to get to her spot.

She had marked the path that she had made 3 summers ago with a pink bow that she had gotten from her mother's clothing store. Her mom was an accomplished seamstress. People came to her when they desired custom clothing designed and her family lived well because of how much coin she made at her shop. Still, Emma detested her mother. She was not kind to Emma. She made harsh remarks about Emma's appearance and choice of clothing more often than Emma would prefer. She told Emma that young ladies aren't supposed to dress like little boys, that they should wear dresses, like the ones her mom made for the wealthy girls at her school. Ugh. She despised those girls, just like she despised those dresses. They were uncomfortable and didn't allow her to do the activities she enjoyed, like climbing trees and dangling upside down from monkey-bars. She regretted the time she tried the latter, it ended horribly.

Emma had been bored on the playground, disturbed by the fact her mother forced her to wear the dress she had made. Emma was too lanky and skinny for the dress, she hadn't developed yet though she was in middle-school like some of the other girls had. She shuddered at hitting puberty, but realized it was coming, and soon she would be of age to wed. Emma was merely 12 then, but behind the wall, elderly men were known for taking an interest in young women as young as 14 years old. It creeped Emma out when she saw a man old enough to be her grandfather with a girl that was virtually the same age as her.

She didn't understand why the young girls agreed to it, but she heard ‌they didn't make their choice of husbands. Forced to marry the men in order to assure their family and their future. Her father said that soon, they would pick a husband for her to wed. She refused to think that she could be married in two years to someone that was 3 times her age. She loathed life behind the wall. It was dreadful, Emma thought as she sat on top of the monkey-bars dangling her feet in the chilly October air.

To get the distressing thoughts that were churning inside of her head to stop, she resolved she would flip upside down and hang by her knees for a few moments; this would undoubtedly do the trick. Without thinking, she hooked her ankles under the bars and flipped backwards. That's when catastrophe struck. Her dress slipped over her face, exposing down to her knickers and everything else that she was not in the slightest bit ready for anyone to see.

Suddenly she heard several of the children laughing at her, making fun of her as she was stuck upside down with her dress over her head. She had never been more embarrassed and when she struggled to break free so she could remedy the situation, it got worse.

THUD! She fell from the monkey-bars and landed precisely on her face, adding injury to insult. When she lifted herself out of the mud, Sara Beth was waiting to kick dirt in her face. "Loser," Sara Beth laughed at her as she kicked up sand and small pebbles into Emma's eyes. Emma was furious, so enraged that she doesn't recall what took place afterward but from what she could piece together from the stories she heard while walking down the hallways later on, she had jumped up and punched Sara Beth so hard that it broke her nose. The children said that Emma's eyes had turned completely black like "the Devil's" when she jumped up. Sarah Beth never came near Emma again. Three months later, she changed schools.

Suddenly, Emma snapped out of her memories and remembered where she was and her mission. She sat down on the smooth surface of the immense, gray boulder ‌she liked so much and, with a substantial grunt, she dropped her knapsack in her lap and exhaled with relief. Finally,

Emma suddenly felt a slight anxiety as her fingers brushed against the zipper to the backpack. "I shouldn't be doing this," she thought to herself. Despite her moment of hesitation, she remembered it was for "scientific research" and mustered up the courage to unzip the backpack, pulling the bundled relics out of it and sitting them on the boulder in front of her.

They were wrapped in fine silk, bound with twine. The silk was beautiful. The twine was an odd choice to her, however. As she unraveled the twine from around the black silk, she suddenly got light-headed. Danger. A sudden sense of dread engulfed her as she reached to unwrap the silk. Then she heard footsteps behind her.