Wildling (Weekend freewrite)

marie-jay (61)in #weekendfreewrite • 6 years ago

"Don't you know that violence is an expression of an unmet need?" he said with a smile. She wanted to punch him in the face.
The old man looked into the angry eyes, which allowed him a peek into the tormented soul of the little girl, who wasn’t so little any more. He held her gaze until she cooled downed and let her fists unclench, then she set down at his feet, resting her head on his knees. They sat in silence and the old man stroked her black hair and he scratched the nape of her head, as if she were a little puppy. In many ways, she was still the miserable wounded creature he’d found in the woods all those years back. The little girl who walked on all fours, barely knew a few words and could not explain how she’d come to live in the wilderness or for how long. His little wildling.
He’d named her Alice as she seemed to have a fondness for white rabbits. She’d play with a rabbit for hours, trying to cuddle it like a baby and tickling his belly. Until one day he caught her unaware, observing her from behind a fence as the little girl toyed with the small animal, feeding it little bits of carrot, until she snapped. For no reason that he could discern Alice grabbed the rabbit’s head and broke its neck with one twist. He was so shocked by this sudden outburst of violence he screamed at her and dragged her back to the house, but her anger had already melted and she was looking at him with her sad eyes. There was no remorse in her eyes, only incomprehension and as hard as he tried she was never able to tell him why would she want to hurt an animal she obviously liked.
The problems she faced at the village school, those he could understand - she was not like the other children, she did not fit in with the pack and they mostly shunned her.
Except for Barbara, the innkeeper’s girl, a dimwitted child who used her considerable force to make up for the lack of intelligence. She’d picked on Alice from the first day he took her to school. The girl had been in his care for three years by that time and she was so proud of the little red dress he’d bought her for the occasion. The people had gotten used to the little savage, although no one ever came to them to talk or pat the girl’s head or call her pretty, which she actually was. Perhaps that’s way Barbara took to disliking her from day one. Alice tried her best to ignore the cruel taunts, like he’d taught her to, but every now and then the girl would snap. Although smaller, she was very quick and she’d kick Barbara or jump on her back and pull at her hair.

The old man dreaded the meetings with the school teacher and her endless complaints about Alice’s latest brawl. He knew that the mean little woman blamed him as much as the girl. It was his fault that the feral girl had come to live in their midst. He could’ve sent her to the orphanage or the special institutions they had for cases like hers. He had to do something.
‘Yes, I can see that. I have to start correcting her behavior', he promised yet again and the woman shot him an angry look for she knew he’d say that.
‘You must teach her to behave like a human being if she wants to live among us’.
On the way home he talked to Alice, trying to explain to her that violence never solved anything. ’It only gets you into more trouble’, he said for the thousandth time and Alice nodded, walking besides him with her eyes in the ground. The old man hated to see her like this, he did not approve of her wild ways, but he loved it when the girl laughed and ran around like a free creature of God, unburdened by the rigidity of human conventions.
Something had to be done or the girl had no future in those parts. He would have gladly moved away, but he knew he didn’t have it in him to start anew in a foreign place. And, anyway, running away never solved any problems, either.

As always when she was troubled, Alice spent the afternoon in the yard, singing to herself and the to the little rag doll he’d bought her for their first Christmas together, until rain and lightening put an end to it. He’d watched her from the porch and by nightfall he’d come up with a plan to put things straight once and for all.
The next day, the old man drove his cart into town and bought the most beautiful dress anyone in their God-forsaken village had ever seen. Green velvet with a lace collar and lace trimmings, Alice will look like a princess in it. Next, he bought a tray of creamy pastries which smelled of vanilla with a hint of cinnamon. He wasn’t too happy with the plan, but it had to be done if Alice was to be accepted into the pack.
The dress fit perfectly and Alice stared at herself in the mirror as if she was seeing herself for the first time. On the way to school, they went over the plan a dozen times, until he felt sure the girl knew exactly what to say and how to behave.
‘It’s my birthday, today’, the girl announced as she walked to the stunned girls, who could not take their eyes off her smart outfit. With all the confidence she could muster, the girl went straight to her nemesis and handed Barbara the biggest puffiest pastry. The bigger girl was so confused by this sudden move that before she could think of something mean to say, all the other girls had tucked into the sweets and were even smiling at the little savage. Even the teacher seemed mollified by the girl’s peace offering. By the end of first class, Barbara was showing obvious signs of distress and her stomach gave out weird loud noises, making all the girls guffaw. Finally, Barbara stood up asking to be excused, but before she could reach the door she soiled her pants and collapsed to the floor clasping at her tortured belly. The violent indigestion kept her at home for two weeks and by the time she came back, Alice had been accepted into the pack.
‘See, little wildling, humans don’t like to fight it out fair and square, like animals in the woods, they like to stab each other in the back, they fight with deceit and strike below the belt. I know it’s a hard lesson, but there’s things you need to know if you are to survive here. Otherwise, its’ back to the woods for you, little one’.