Xenia's Errant Ball

When Nora and her little sister Xenia are playing catch, Xenia's ball gets stuck in a tree too far in to knock out with a rock. Can Nora avert a five-year-old's tantrum without breaking a rule?

Darkness grew at the edge of Nora's vision. It outlined the bare branches and the blue thing she could see between the branches of the mulberry tree... the sky? Why could she see the sky when she wasn't tilting her head back, but looking straight ahead? What was touching her legs, back and behind her head? How come whatever was touching her was touching her harder in some places than others? How come she was beginning to feel funny all over? How come she felt dizzy like she'd just been spinning very fast in a circle when she wasn't even moving?  And why was everything getting all fuzzy and distorted looking?

 

Suddenly, something moved in her peripheral vision. The blurred silhouette  of another girl,  younger than her, swam into view, arms, legs, ruffled pink dress and all.  Xenia. That was who the little girl was.

 

But why were Xenia's knees so close to her face? Why did her sister look like she was standing sideways? Was she on the ground? Had she fallen or something? 

 

Suddenly, Xenia was a lot closer. She looked like she was squatting in front of her head. Nora could no longer see her legs. She tried blinking so what she saw made more sense, but it only made the black outline around the branches, sky and her sister thicker and Xenia's face fuzzier. Was she, Nora, the one on the ground? Through the shimmering mist, she could see confusion and fright.

 

"Nora!"  Nora's name echoed, making her head hurt terribly. It felt like a dwarf from somewhere like Khar-Phazabough- or more likely Kheraozi since she knew from school Kheraozi had lots of orcs and orcs were supposed to be really mean- was chopping it right in two.  Why was Xenia yelling? They were right next to each other. She opened her mouth to tell her little sister to use an indoor voice, but for some reason it was hard making her voice work.

 

Xenia, more confused-looking than ever, raised her hand, then moved her arm toward's Nora's stomach. Suddenly, she smiled. "I have an idea! Rubbing my head makes it feel better when I bump it. Like when I tried to stand under the table this morning. I bet the tummy's the same, here, I'll help."  Suddenly, pain like nothing she'd ever imagined, let alone experienced seized her. It was worse than a parchment cut, worse than all the times she fell down on cobblestone, worse even than when her loose teeth were pulled out, or that time she got hit in the face by a ball during recess at school. A strangled cry pierced her ears. It took several seconds for Nora to know it was her own.

 

Her little sister jumped back, face paling. Her eyes were wide as saucers. "Nora, I'm sorry!" she said, sounding like she was about to cry. "I didn't mean to hurt you more!" She raised the same hand she used to try to make Nora feel better towards her face. It was covered in a red liquid. Had Xenia been playing with paint when she wasn't looking? "Nora, please get up, we need to go inside before Mommy sees you were in the tree, I don't want you to get in trouble! We need a story about what happened to the chair!"

 

Nora frowned, scrunching her face even more than it already was from all the pain. Why wasn't it going away? What chair? Then she remembered. She and Xenia had pulled the one their gardener was using earlier to the tree so she could more easily reach the lowest branch of the sapling, which had to be well over three feet above the ground, maybe even four- it was as high as her mother's head. She was going up to get Xenia's ball because her sister looked like she was going to pitch a temper tantrum and she didn't want to deal with Xenia's yelling and stomping, but she didn't want Xenia to try to climb when she was only five and didn't know what to do. 

 

Then she'd reached for the ball, but couldn't reach it. Nora had put her foot onto another branch, a skinny and dead-looking one, to help her reach, and then leaned forward, but then there was the snap... then she was falling... several things hit her in different places- and then there was a loud crunch, the explosion of pain, a flash of white, then black- and then she was on the ground staring at the branches wondering how she'd gotten there.

 

The black outline grew thicker. Nora tried to raise a hand to reassure Xenia, but found she could not. It only twitched feebly.

 

"Nora?" Xenia asked uncertainly, seeing the movement. The darkness surrounding her sister deepened,  now obscuring everything but Xenia's increasingly blurred face, a couple of branches, and a few blue splotches.

 

Nora opened her mouth. She did not even want to try to stand. If she could, then as Xenia said, they could get back to the house, she could lie down in a comfortable bed instead of the dirty ground outside, and their mother and their parents' servants need never know Nora had broken the rule against climbing trees. However, if it was this hard just to move her hand to comfort her little sister, she didn't want to know what standing would be like.

 

Xenia was the only thing she could see now. For some reason, her sister looked more afraid than ever. In a raspy voice, Nora managed only two words before the darkness engulfed her. "Get... help..."

Author's Note

Ought I to make the vocabulary in my description more realistic, considering the main characters of this novella are 9 and 5?

Reviews

[♔ CrownedDevil &#..]

This was a good chapter. Very nicely written. :)

[NoelHC]

A good chapter, well written, until I saw your comment about vocabulary, I was not concerned by it, looking back I am still good with what you have written.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Thanks my friend! A story about a 9-year-old and a 5-year-old with mature vocab, woo! Young kids, dark content? Then again, Pan's Labyrinth did it with a 11/12 year old and REALLY dark content

[Mila]

Loved it! I know, I'm a terrible person for taking so long to get to your works! I'm here now and I REALLY enjoyed this! As for the vocab, it doesn't concern me, I think you did a great job with keeping up interests and I can't wait to read on!
Well done :)

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Kind words! Thanks so much, my friend! [=

[Craig2591]

While the vocabulary might not be completely accurate I thought it was childlike enough. I wouldn't change it. You have me concerned for Nora, so you did a good job.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Thanks! Yeah, was hoping to cause that, main goal for chapter was to provide the impression of a relatively young schoolgirl who is confused and scared and in a lot of pain because she's injured (also hoping I showed they aren't minor!) Next chapter should be interesting since it's Xenia-centric and she's five

[Jennie Baron]

It didn't occur to me that the vocabulary is unrealistic, especially since Nora appears quite intelligent.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Thanks for the feedback! Main goal is definitely to give impression of someone in middle childhood and not an adolescent or adult

[Jennie Baron]

You've done just find with that as far as I'm concerned.