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Laurel’s Quest

by

Nancy Bell

Laurel looked at Aisling, who had been strangely quiet through the whole conversation. Aisling was staring intently at the bottom right square of the rainy kitchen window. She narrowed her eyes trying to see what her friend was looking at. All Laurel could make out was the black rain running down the panes of glass like tears. Suddenly, Aisling sat up, and her face brightened. She jumped out of her chair and headed for the door into the back garden. Laurel looked around the room and met Sarie’s inscrutable gaze.

“Where are you going in such a hurry, Aisling child?” Sarie asked quietly.

“There’s someone in the garden I need to talk to,” Aisling said over her shoulder, as she opened the door on the wet windy night.

“Won’t you need a coat?” Laurel got to her feet and grabbed Emily’s heavy shawl from the back of a chair. She hesitated, uncertain whether she should follow. Aisling was already out of the door, leaving a waft of cool wet air in her wake as the door shut behind her.

Should I go out with Aisling, or is this something I have no right to interfere with? Sarie shrugged and raised her eyebrows. “Go if you like,” she said.

Laurel wrapped the shawl around her shoulders before she opened the door into the dark night. Just out of the patch of light from the big kitchen window, Aisling knelt on the wet grass. Her hair lay still and dry on her back, while Laurel’s was already wet and flying about in the wild wind.

Trepidation slowed her steps. This was too weird and way out of her league. Were all her new friends engaged in some kind of supernatural game? The light from the kitchen faded, and the air around Aisling shimmered with rainbow lights. She was only a couple of feet away from the girl, but the shimmer separated them, and somehow it kept the wild night away from Aisling and her secret friend. Laurel peered through the coruscating rainbow shimmer to see who it was Aisling spoke with. There was a twiggy-looking brown man about the size of a small child holding Aisling’s hand.

There was an impression of a tiny wrinkled face with a long sharp nose and bright black eyes. Her stomach jumped into her throat as those eyes fastened on hers, and the thin lips stretched into a smile. The small man made a funny gesture, and there was a sudden streak of lightening across the sky. Laurel blinked, and then there was only Aisling kneeling in the wet grass.

Nancy M Bell has publishing credits in poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Nancy has presented at the Surrey International Writers Conference and the Writers Guild of Alberta Conference. She is currently working on Book 3 of her series The Cornwall Adventures.

Please visit her webpage http://www.nancymbell.ca

You can find her on Facebook at http://facebook.com/NancyMBell

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