Fall From Grace (Slater #1) (8 page)

Laura tangled tightly her fingers into Thomas’ beard and heard him hiss in pain, but she needed to hold onto him, she couldn’t let him go.  Her eyes were wide in panic; they darted between her father and Aunt.  Thomas tried to untangle her fingers where they clung painfully.

“Please child” he said, pain edged through his voice.

“No” Laura screeched, her voice breaking, with fistfuls of Thomas’ beard she dragged her hands down to her waist. Thomas hissed loudly, as chunks of his beard released painfully from his face. “No” she screamed again, shaking her head.

Laura reached up to her face and began to claw at her cheeks. She felt the skin tear under her nails.  Thomas’ eyes widened as he lunged towards her, grabbing at her wrists trying to get her to stop gouging chunks of her face away.  Laura felt the dribbles of blood that ran from her cheeks and dripped down onto her chest.  She didn’t recognise the roaring that came from her lips, it sounded like a distant wild cat in the woods, but yet she knew the sound was emitted from her own mouth.  The pain in her cheeks brought her release and when the saltiness of her tears mixed with the wounds it eased the built up emotional turmoil that twisted her stomach and heart into knots.  Finally she stopped fighting Thomas and allowed him to pull her into his chest.  Her growling slowed to sobs which began to ease into shudders, until she was nothing more than a silent trembling body.  Slowly Laura could feel the darkness pulling at the corner of her eyes, edging her closer to complete blackness.  She no longer fought it and soon her whole mind was engulfed and she lost consciousness.

It was movement that awoke her, she couldn’t tell where the sound came from, a scratching; she could sense the movement as she slowly opened her eyes.  The room was dark, the full moon shone through the small grimy window of her room.  It was cold and she shivered involuntarily.  The scratching continued, Laura cocked her head to one side, trying to tune her ears into where the sound came from.  It sounded like it was directly under her small wooden framed bed.  When her eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the room, Laura moved silently to the edge of her bed, rolling the large girth of her pregnant belly so that she could bring her knees up underneath her.  Slowly she leant forward, careful not to let too much of her body to hang off the edge off the bed.  As her eyes cleared the edge, she startled when two round green and yellow eyes stared back at her.  Laura felt a scream forming in her throat, but slammed her hand over her mouth to stop it from escaping her lips.  She eased her feet onto the cold earthy floor and clamoured down beside the bed, bringing her face level with the eyes that stared back at her.

Laura knew somewhere in the back of her mind, that she should be afraid, but curiosity took over and she felt a new found boldness.  She and the eyes stared at each other for some time, before the mysterious eyes seemed to grow larger.  Laura realised that it wasn’t that the eyes were growing, but they were coming closer to her. They kept sneaking closer until she could feel a puff of breath on her face and a cold wet nose touch her own.  Laura moved back, sitting up straight on her knees as a fox emerged from under her bed.  Tentatively she reached out and stroked the foxes head between its ears.  It cocked its head to one side, an action that Laura mimicked.

“You have a message for me?” she asked quietly.

“One day Porter will return and then you can take the life he took from you” the fox replied.

Laura was shocked to hear the fox speak to her, in her own language.  She leaned closer to the foxes face and rubbed her cheek on the soft orange fur, running her fingers through the white fur of its breast.

“I should kill him?” Laura asked.

“It will be the only way” the fox replied.

Laura heard movement behind her; she turned her head to see Thomas standing in the doorway, his brow pulled tight into a frown.

“Who are you speaking to Laura?” his deep voice rumbled.

Laura turned back to the fox that sat in front of her; it had nestled onto her lap, and almost curled up like a cat.  She began to stroke its head and thought she could hear it actually begin to purr as its eyes closed and it settled in tighter.

“The fox Father” she said incredulously.

Thomas stepped forward and looked to where Laura pointed to the fox on her lap.  He shook his head, his face still pulled into a frown, his eyes unreadable in the dark.  He slowly eased his body down next to hers and put his hand on to the fox’s body.

“Laura, child, my sweetness, there is no fox here” he spoke.

Laura snorted in disbelief, how could her father not see the fox, he had his hand on its back?

“Don’t be silly Daddy, your stroking it as we speak.  The fox, he came with a message for me, I know what I need to do when I find Porter” she spoke happily stroking the foxes head.

Thomas reached up to Laura’s hair and smoothed it over her shoulder.  He stood and eased his way out the room.  Laura sat quietly petting the fox, while it purred happily in its slumber.

Chapter Thirteen

The fox came and visited with Laura regularly, it soon became her best friend, a friend that she could share her secrets and desires with.  She was never judged by the fox; no matter what she felt, it never judged her.  Her father too hadn’t left. He had stayed.  She often heard him and Aunt speaking in huddled whispers to one another about Laura’s state of mind.  She had heard her Aunt suggest sending her to an asylum.  But Thomas had shouted at Aunt and told her that he would never send his child there.  She had taken the conversation she overheard to the fox and told it she held fears that her Aunt would talk her father down and she would be sent to the asylum.  The fox had assured Laura it wouldn’t happen. 

Late one night she sat on her bed, the fox was curled up in her lap, when suddenly it lifted its head to her and cocked it to one side.  Laura looked down lazily and gave a smile.

“Laura you need to get your fathers gun” the fox said dryly.

“Why?” Laura asked.

The fox bared its teeth to her in a frightening way and Laura recoiled, unsure whether her friend was going to bite her.

“Laura you mustn’t question me. I know what is best for you” it spoke again, its voice deep and strong, which sent a shiver through Laura’s body.

She knew her father wouldn’t want her to take his gun, but she was afraid of what would happen if she was to disobey the fox.  She didn’t want to lose her only friend.  When she heard the deep rumbling snores of her father she snuck out the front door, closing it quietly with the fox beside her.  She crept around the side of the house and allowed the fox to lead her deep into the woods to where her father’s cottage stood.  The moon was high in the sky, but once they got into the middle of the woods where the canopy prevented any light in she couldn’t see two feet in front of her. 

“Just follow me” the fox said in response to her rising panic.

Laura adjusted her eyes so that she could see the flash of orange from the fox’s tale in front of her.  She continued to keep up with the fox until a small stone cottage seemed to rise out of the darkness in front of her.  Once they reached the small wooden front door, she pushed it and felt it release under her weight with a groan.  Laura held her breath unnecessarily as she knew that there was no one that could hear her.  The fox lead her into a small kitchen where on the wooden table sat a candle.  She lit the candle which with a flicker lit part of the room.

“This way” the fox called from her left. 

She turned to see the fox standing in the doorway to another room and she hurriedly followed him, her feet padding along the dirt floor.  As she entered the room she could see it was a bedroom.  Her father’s bed made of wood and hay sat in one corner of the room and beside that glinted the metal steel of a rifle with a small bowl of pellets.  She leaned forward and took the gun in her hand, feeling the cool of the steel under her fingers.

“Let’s get back before he comes looking” the fox spoke quietly.

Laura clutched the gun to her chest as she followed the fox back through the woods and into the waiting sunrise.  The cottage was still quiet when they returned; Laura followed the fox to the side of the house where he dug in the soft earth.

“Bury the gun here” he said.

Laura obeyed and pushed the gun down into the long grave that the fox had dug.  As the fox covered the gun with the earth she heard the creak of the wooden back door open and Laura quickly stood.  Her eyes darted between the mound of dirt that buried the gun, the fox and the side of the house.  The fox turned its head to her and sneered.  It casually trotted to the edge of the house with Laura close behind.  As she rounded the corner, she ran into the chest of her father.  She looked up into his face, but the morning sun that blinked over the top of the house blocked out her view.  She felt her father’s hands on her shoulders and realised that she was still in her nightdress and was cold.

“Laura, what are you doing out here? And where are your shoes?” Thomas spoke gently; concern seemed to be etched in his voice.

Laura looked down at her feet, she hadn’t realised she had no shoes on.  Her toes were caked with dirt and deep scratches were etched into her calves where they had run through the brush of the woods. She looked up at her father’s face again and this time could make out the deep frown that pulled his brows together.

“What have you been up to?” he asked.

The fox growled deep in its throat, threatening Laura not to tell the truth to her father. She looked down nervously at the fox; it bared its teeth as it crouched down onto its hind legs, its eyes narrowed and a growl emanated from its throat. Laura felt panic rise from the pit of her stomach, she wanted to stop the fox; her friend was scaring her.  Her eyes darted nervously between her father who looked increasingly worried by Laura’s behaviour and the fox.  Thomas reached forward and took hold of Laura’s hands that had begun to tremble.  With one hand he cupped her chin and gently caressed her jaw bone with his thumb.  Before Laura could pull Thomas away the fox launched itself and latched onto Thomas’ arm.  She heard Thomas roar in pain.  Laura reached up and tried to pull the fox from her father’s body, but her pulling caused both her and Thomas to fall. Laura landed with a thud on top of Thomas’ body.  The roars that had come from Thomas caused her Aunt to run from the house.  When Aunt saw the sight that was in front of her, Laura felt a hard slap in her face.  It was enough for Thomas to be able to push her off himself.  Laura fell back onto the cold earth with a hard thump.

Thomas sat up and moved out of her reach.  She could see his face was scratched and bleeding, he was breathing hard, his eyes had darkened and his eyebrows were pulled together in a deep frown.  Laura looked around for the fox but couldn’t see it anywhere; she glanced down at her hands and saw the blood that stained her fingers, her father’s blood.

“Now will you believe me Thomas” Aunt screamed.

Thomas sat staring at Laura; she noticed his hands trembled in his lap.  Laura looked between Thomas and her Aunt. Aunt was still yelling at Thomas, but Laura couldn’t work out the words she was saying.  In the corner of her eyes she could feel the darkness starting to creep in.  Her vision got blurry and she could hear her father call her name, before the darkness took over her body.

Chapter Fourteen

When Laura woke, she was in a clean nightgown in her bed, the room was light and she watched as the dust danced in the speckled sun that poured its way into the window.  She looked over and could see her father sitting in a hard wooden chair next to her bed.  His head was bent down into his hands and he appeared to be sleeping.

“Father” Laura spoke softly.

Thomas’ head shot up and his dark eyes softened when he looked at her frail body that lay in the bed.  He leaned forward and reached out a hand to her.  Laura’s eyes began to well up with tears when she saw the deep wounds on his face from the fox.

“Daddy, I’m sorry the fox did that to your face, I didn’t want it to” she spoke.

Thomas frowned and gingerly touched one of the wounds that ran from his eye to his jaw.  He shook his head slowly and clasped Laura’s hand tight.

“My sweetness, a fox didn’t do this to me” he spoke, his voice cracking as a single tear trickled its way down his cheek.

Laura was confused; she had watched the fox leap at her father in attack. She didn’t know where it was now, but she had seen it happen.

“I watched it Daddy” she said.

Thomas shook his head again and gave her hand another squeeze.

“I think maybe your Aunt might be right, maybe you need to go to a hospital for a while” he quietly spoke, shaking his head.

Laura was confused, she couldn’t understand why she would need to go to a hospital, she wasn’t sick. She was with child, but she didn’t need to go to a hospital for that.  Laura started to think maybe her father just didn’t want her around anymore, but then she knew he could leave, he could go back to his home.  She didn’t understand what was happening to her.

“He thinks you’re crazy” the voice spoke.

Laura looked down at the end of the bed and saw the fox sitting curled up at her feet. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now felt its feet slowly crawl up her legs and over her large belly until it sat on her chest. Although it was a big animal it didn’t feel heavy.  Laura reached out instinctively and began to stroke the top of its head as it curled up again on her chest and began to purr.