"Rag Doll: Chapter Two" by Katherine Nicole ´dys´ VanHoorn

He had been running for days. Hiding in bushes during daylight, moving along the ground at night, moving as silently as he could. Squeezing sounds of pain back down his throat, trying desperately not to scream when a branch on a bush snagged one of his stitches. Somehow the stitch managed not to rip and he both thanked and cursed the brother and sister who had ordered them put there. Magic existed even in this world it seemed, not just in stupid science fiction and fantasy books. He fell to his knees, exhausted, seeing not too far away a little town. Somewhere to hide, for a few days. Or less. Then he had to be going again. Couldn't stay. They'd find him...

He moved swiftly, steadily out of the forest down a steep hill, climbing carefully. God, how his body ached. Days of sheer pain and somehow he still felt it. He moved onto a road, feeling it under his bare feet. Asphalt. Paved roads. Oh yes. He walked. He had stopped bleeding by now, and had washed himself in a stream last night. Now no blood stained him. Just the black thread all over him. Walking hurt but he had to. He had to escape. Had to run and just keep running until it was safe. And it would never be safe. He walked into town, seeing a milling of average people going about average lives. Nicodemus, who had never been average even before the brother and sister caught him, looked at them with odd longing eyes. They looked back, initial uncertainty turning to disgust and fear. He could hear them whispering under their breath, though he knew he was not meant to hear it. What kind of a person has that done to themselves? I hope his parents are ashamed of themselves at least. Oh, what a horrible person he must be! C'mon, Nat, let's keep moving. Don't look him straight in the eye. It's a challenge to PEOPLE like THAT.

They ran from him without knowing it, footsteps quickening, crossing to the farthest side of the street from him. One shopkeeper, whistling the tune from M*A*S*H, saw him and quickly pulled the CLOSED sign down over his shop doors. Nic watched them all. Surely someone would realize he hadn't done this to himself... someone might understand. His eyes caught a girl and boy standing not far away. The boy was quite frankly staring, unembarrassed to stare the way small children often are. Small children who understand how nice it can be when people will simply look at you. The girl. Was watching, not staring. She was taking in every detail, and he could see her squirreling it away into her mind. He walked towards them. The little boy's face began to light up, he began to smile. The girl kept her eyes on him, narrowing them slightly, watching him. "Excuse m-me," he said, hearing himself stutter and wishing he could knock himself upside the head. "Do you know a place I could st. stay?"

"Here?" The girl spoke, her voice was unmistakably a girl's voice but low for it. She wore a shirt with "I ROCK YOU DO NOT" written across it in fabric marker and plaid pants with zippers sewn all over them. They looked raggedy. Her hair looked raggedy too, like it should've been cut a long time ago but she had never gotten around it. "I don't think so. Not for you, or us." He shrugged, and he noticed her shirt had rips in it repaired with safety pins. "But you can stay where we are. You runnin' from someone?"

He nodded and she nodded back, satisfying her curiosity. She motioned for him to follow her and started walking. The boy followed her. They looked nothing alike, but he had a feeling they were related. The girl went to a boarded up house. He blinked at it. Thinking. This town was too obvious. Far too obvious. They'd find him here. "On second thought. I can't stay here. Thanks for your help. I just... can't." She turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. He flinched, expecting her to get angry with him, but she just laughed. He blinked, startled. Her laughter came harshly, as if she wasn't used to laughing and he had a feeling she wasn't. The little boy giggled, hiding it behind his hand, clutching the girl's pants.

"All right. Be careful, though." She watched him walk away, her face screwed up in thought. "Take my brother. I can't give him anything here." The little boy blinked, astonished, and Nic turned to look at her. "Seriously!" She sounded angry now. He thought she was probably angry with herself. "I can't leave. So take him. Take him and go. His name is Todd." The little boy ran inside and Nic thought for a moment he was going to hide and not come out but finally he did, clutching a small stuffed cat in his arms. And he had pushed a hat onto his head, a hat probably eight sizes too big for him.

"I. I can't take a little KID..."

"I can't keep him. I won't ever leave this town. Take him, please!" She was begging him, and he knew it and he sighed, letting out a deep breath, and held out his hands to the boy, who hugged his sister, than ran to Nic and took one of the outstretched hands. Nic frowned and turned, walking away. Todd walked with him, small hand holding onto his with a ferocity that surprised Nic. His hands were cold, so cold for a little boy's hands. Children's hands were usually warm, so hot they seemed to burn through your own the way their eyes did sometimes. Nic had always loved little kids. Their mothers would pull him away from them, quickly, yanking them through snow or slush or heat to go to their cars, expensive things which looked good and performed horribly. why is he sleeping on the sidewalk mommy? He heard the tiny voice echo in his mind, then another one, which it occurred to him a moment after he heard the second sentence that it had actually been said, that Todd had spoken to him.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know." Nic sighed and hoisted the child onto his hip. He was so hungry. He walked through the streets and once more the people unconsciously avoided him. This time he didn't mind so much. He knew they didn't realize they were doing anything wrong. People always thought their decisions were the right ones. No matter what. So he went to the other end of the small town, standing. "I guess we'll hitchhike." They stood on the road for hours, waiting for a car to pick them up. Nic was getting nervous, antsy; any minute now the brother and sister would come for him, drag him back to whatever it was they were going to do to him, and they'd drag poor Todd into it as well, this little boy. He began to shift from foot to foot, looking almost like he dancing, simply waiting for them to come out of the road or something, or be in the car that stopped, smiling their benign, we're-harmless-citizens smiles, before they dragged him back... and did things he didn't want to imagine but could anyway. When a car finally pulled over to the side of the road, the sun was coming up, and he was worried now. More worried than he had thought he could ever get. Todd squealed happily and pointed as it pulled over, wheels making crunching noises in the gravel.

Nic felt the swarming of magic around him, for a second, felt like something PULLING at him. The sun coming up, brilliant red around it. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Who had told him that little rhyme? The driver rolled down their window, looking at him. Nic smiled, faintly.

"Where ya goin'?" The driver looked up at him, smiling brightly. A faded old CUBS cap. T-shirt, jeans. Nothing special. Nic shrugged, indicating he didn't care and climbed in, putting Todd in the backseat, telling him to buckle up. That's when he saw the writing.

It was on the dashboard, written in what looked like old red markers, permanent ones. I don't believe in science. Magic is the key, He stared at it, hearing the driver chuckle. "Like that? It's my motto, kid. You look like someone messed you up good. What happened? They sewed you up like a goddamn rag doll, eh?" He talked with an easy good-natured southern (or maybe southwestern) twang, as he drove along the highway. The car was going very fast in a matter of seconds to be honest, it kind of frightened him. He had never been in a car. Not even a taxi. Todd on the other hand didn't seem to care at all. He simply clutched his kitty and looked up out the window, watching the world fly by with a kind of hypnosis Nic wished he could match.

"Yes. They did." He said it softly, curtly, cutting off the end of each sentence to show he truly did not want to talk about it. He doubted the guy would understand, at all, what had happened. He ran his fingers over the stitches in his hands, feeling the rough edge of the thread that felt like wire. Maybe it was wire. But how had they sewn it in then? The man just laughed, and silenced, and drove. Drove. Nic fell asleep at some point and when he woke up the car was pulling into a rest stop. No apparent damage. So maybe the guy wasn't a psychopath murderer. Okay then. He got out, and got Todd out, and they both used the bathroom. Nic went out to see what was in the vending machines. Maybe he could ask the guy for money.

Todd came out, quickly, big eyes fearful, clutching his stuffed cat even now, pulling on Nic's shirt. Nic blinked and looked down. "We gotta go," Said the little boy. "We gotta GO, Nic!"

"Why?" Nic picked the kid up, settling him on his hip, ignoring the consistent ache of the stitches there.

"The guy's gonna HURT us. I heard him talkin' to himself. He gonna do bad things." Nic nodded and got Todd out of there, disappearing into the little woods behind the rest area just as the nice southwestern sounding man came out of the restroom. He looked around, confused as to where his prey had gone. He sighed and shook his head, throwing his hat to the floor in a rage. He'd lost them. The first two he'd lost in a long time. Ah well. Had to keep running from the cops. With that he got into his car and sped off, leaving the two there. Let them get themselves killed for all he cared...

They stumbled through the trees together, little boy and teenage boy, tripping over tree roots. It wasn't really a forest; just a tiny wood with NO HUNTING signs posted everywhere. Deer watched them cautiously, realizing the creatures crashing through the woods were hunted themselves. It made them less wary, made them step from their hiding places to watch, call to each other in the way deer do. They watched. Rabbits watched as well, scattering when they got too close. Squirrels chattered to each other, hiding in the knotholes of trees or along the ground, pressing their bellies flat. A coyote and its mate, gaunt by nature, watched him, their eyes hungry. But this was not good prey. It ran on two legs and not what the pair wanted. Four legs were always better. Four legs never carried fire and metal with them. They moved on. But kept up their watch...

Nic finally stopped, making a frustrated half-scream half-sob, as Todd stared at him, frightened of him but understanding what was wrong with him as well. Nic sighed, curled into the grass. No poison ivy. Weird. "Wh.. What state are we in? Todd? What state is this?"

Todd blinked and thought, trying to remember if his sister had ever said. His eyes stared off into space, seeing the deer watching them, taking it in stride. "Illinois," He said, pronouncing the S. He found one of his teeth was loose and giggled at the idea, pushing it back and forth with his finger. "We're in Illinois."

"I'm from Spain originally. did you know that? Spain. Came here... and.. . " He stopped, seeing the deer as well. This was amazing... they were beautiful, absolutely beautiful. He could hear trees whispering, he swore, sitting where he was. Like the forest had let its guard down and was talking to him...

and the deer were coming closer, beautiful, their coats shiny from lack of fear and a good diet.

They were all around them...


END OF CHAPTER TWO