Chapter 4

So....yeah....I think my title tells all..hehe! This is chapter 4 of my story, and I hope you all like it as much as you have liked my previous chapters. You guys have no idea how much you comments help me. If you have any suggestions on how I should change it or make it better, please, please, PLEASE tell me! I would love your imput! 

Chapter Four

Two Months Later

The weeks passed, and every day Yeusem gained strength. There was no trace of a head wound, nor did he feel any pain in his ribs. He had a slight limp from he deep gash in his leg, but even that was hardly noticeable. He helped Ella with her chores every day, and they took walks in the woods to keep him in shape. Before long, Yeusem was running with her. He couldn’t run as fast as he could before, but he could keep up with Ella.
He had noticed a change in Ella when she came back into the barn after she heard the voice of her Creator. She told him everything, all about His love that she felt when he spoke to her, and the joy that she had experienced. She smiled a whole lot more, and there was a glow about her. Her eyes fairly shined and that made her entire face radiate an indescribable joy and peace. She did not care what happened in her life, because she now knew that someone loved her and was guiding her through her journey called life.
Her joy and love spread to Yeusem. Whenever she spoke of Sholeim, her mouth would move uncontrollably. She would speak the words that Sholeim would put in her mouth to tell Yeusem. Soon, he came to know the true light that people on Ella’s side supposedly followed.
She soon knew how to tap into people’s minds and how to control herself. She realized that privacy was very dear to people, and that she should not tap into minds unless absolutely necessary. She had to stop herself many times from going into her mother’s mind and finding out what she thought. She also had to stop herself from slapping her own face when she thought of such a thing.
And, as always, the visions came. Most were cloudy muddled, as if they were far into her future, but there was one that was as clear and detailed as if she were seeing it for herself.
 She was running with Yeusem through the woods behind her house. She was looking desperately for a place to hide him. There! Under the log where she had found him in the first place. Wordlessly, she shoved him into the hole and covered him with the dead leaves. She was walking slowly back to her home. Her mission with him was done. He would not be found if he followed her instructions.
She had no idea what it all meant. What, or who, would she be running from? Wait. She was hiding Yeusem, maybe someone was coming after him. But, another vision came that seemed to make less sense.
A tall, fat man with wickedly gleaming eyes and a bulbous nose was staring at her, surprise written all over his fat face. Her mother was in the room, and he now turned to her,
“I’ll give you 500 for her.” he said.
“A thousand.” her mother bartered.
“Eight hundred.”
Her mother paused, “Done!” They shook hands and...
That was when Ella would awake, gasping for breath. She could hardly believe what she had seen in her vision. Would her mother sell her into...slavery? The man certainly looked like a slave driver, but she delved deeper into the memory of her vision. The scene spread out in her mind. Yes, there was the large window in the parlor, and through it she could see what she wanted to see. A brightly colored cart with streaming banners and bright, red and gold words painted on the side. Unfortunately, she could not picture the words or what they said. Was it a traveling circus of some sort? A freak show? She would definitely fit well in a freak show. She tried to think of anything else that it could have been, but that was it.
Would her mother really sell her to a traveling circus? Come to think of it, that was not hard to imagine. Her mother was cruel and hated her enough to sell her to a circus. Yes, she would do something like that to her.
She shook her head, got out of bed, and ready for the day. As she made hers, Yeusem’s, and her mother’s breakfast, she envisioned with a flash, the bright cart going through her town. With dancers and clown twirling around it. The horse was decorated with bright cloth and almost pranced down the street.
She gasped, if the cart came here and the fat man took her away, then there would be no one to keep Yeusem a secret. Madame might find him and have him killed! She could not bear the thought of having her only friend in the whole world killed on her account. She set out her mother’s meal and dashed towards the barn with both their meals on one plate.
“Yeusem!” she screamed as she burst into the barn, “Yeusem!”
“Ella! What on earth is the matter?” he grabbed her arms and held her steady as she gasped for breath.
“You..must leave! Now!”
“Why? What has happened?”
“I’ve been having visions, and they all fit together now! A man from what I think is a traveling circus os going to come and find me. My mother is going to sell me to him. If I am gone, my mother will find you and have you hunted down and killed. You have to get out of here!”
“What about you? Are you coming with me?” he asked, his gold-flecked brown eyes imploring at her.
“No.” When he opened his mouth she held her hand up to silence him, “I feel like this circus is a part of my future that I cannot escape. I do not care about myself, but you. You are the only friend I have, and I will not let you die now!” she grabbed a burlap sack and dumped the food from the plate into it. She scrounged around and found a leather canteen.
“When you are safe away, you must go to the stream and fill this up. If there are people coming down the road when we leave they might see you and come after us. I will hide you if that is the case. You must never come here again! Go to your own land or someplace where you know you will not be killed.
“Ella,” he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, “you must come with me!” he pleaded.
She looked into his eyes and went into his mind, You know how much I want to, Yeusem, but I can’t
“But, what if we never see each other again?”
Tears filled her eyes, “I can see a foggy future of us together again. It will be a few years and after great hardship, but we will.” She shoved the sack and canteen into his hands. Before she could do anything, Yeusem pulled her into his embrace. He held her tenderly, as she returned the embrace, tears falling down her cheeks. She pulled away, urgency flashing in her mind. She steadied her mind, took and deep breath and tried to calm her shaky breath and voice, to no avail, “I will take you to the place where I found you, then I must go. Got it?”
Yeusem gulped and nodded. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the back door and into the woods. She looked behind her, the cart with the dancers and clowns was coming down the road, and her mother ran out of the house, waving her arms at the people.
“Run, Yeusem! Run!” She ran with Yeusem through the woods, looking desperately for a place to hide him. There! Under the log where she had found him in the first place. Wordlessly, she shoved him into the hole and covered him with the dead leaves. She was walking back to her home. Her mission with him was done. He would not be found if he followed her instructions.
“I love you, Ella, best of friends!” he called to her from his hiding spot.
“I love you too, Yeusem, best friend,” she cried, choking back a sob. She put her heavily marked face in her hands and ran, crying as she had never cried before.
She staggered into the barn, eyes red and cheeks tearstained. She went to the goat’s water trough and splashed her face. She would not look like she had been crying. That would lead to questions. She took a steadying breath and hurriedly fed the bleating, squawking, and whinnying creatures. She strode out of the barn, looking like there was nothing going on her life that she would want to hide.
Just as she had feared, the painted cart with the clowns and dancers was parked at her home. Only now, the dancers were not dancing, they were sitting by the cart, looking rather bored. One of them looked straight at her. She could see the surprise and a kind of warning on her face. But Ella knew what she was doing and what to expect. The bright letters were easy to read now.

Dr. Merriman’s Traveling Show

So, it was a circus, of sorts. A shiver ran up and down her spine, and she whispered Sholeim’s promise to herself. She walked straight into her house from the kitchen door. A steaming kettle sat on the stove and a few other things that Ella usually saw when her mother had guests.
Low voices sounded from the small parlor. Ella could hear exactly what they were saying, but she already knew who they were talking about.
“How am I to be sure that this is really something extraordinary?” a deep, rumbling voice said.
“You will know, and agree with me as soon as you see her,” the voice of her mother replied.
“Her? A female it is, then?” the voice asked.
“Yes, a female.”
“When am I to see this extraordinary female specimen?”
“When-”
“Madame,” Ella walked into the room with her head bowed, her hair covering her face, “I have finished all my chores”
“Good.” Ella could hear a delighted sneer hidden in the calm voice of her mother, “lift your head, child.” Madame commanded.
Ella raised her eyes to glare at her mother, then lifted her head off her chest and stared at the man in the room.
A tall, fat man with wickedly gleaming eyes and a bulbous nose was staring at her, surprise written all over his fat face. Her mother was in the room, and now he turned to her.
“I’ll give you 500 for her,” he said.
“A thousand,” her mother bartered.
“Eight hundred.”
Her mother paused, “Done!”
They shook hands and then the man turned to Ella.
“Well, you must be the extraordinary, female specimen your ‘mother’ told me about. You may say good-bye to your life here and to her.” he sounded like he had all the time in the world and like she was only two years old.
She turned to her mother, her face expressionless, but her sapphire eyes glaring, “Why?” was the one word that slipped past her lips.
“I suppose now is as good a time as ever,” her mother said, “I am not your mother. I do not know who your mother is, but you belong to your father. He kept you a secret from me until we were married; then he brought you to me. I was disgusted with you and with your father, but I pushed that aside and kept our marriage strong. He became sick after a few weeks, then one day, he was gone. He did not die to my knowledge, but he simply disappeared. I have not heard from him since. I raised you to the best of my ability, until now. I do not mind telling you that you are disgusting. I cannot stand to look at you. Now go!” she turned her back to Ella.
“Forgive her.” she heard Sholeim urge her.
She could hardly believe the words that came out of her mouth, yet she knew that they were true. “I cannot find it in my heart to hate you, even after the way that you treated me all my life. Even though you hate me, I do not you. Thank you for telling me the truth. You have my full and complete forgiveness, even though you do not ask for it. Good-bye, Mother.” With that, she walked out the front door with the fat man to start her new life.

Well, there was chapter 4! I hope you all liked it. Remember, please tell me what you think, and if you have any ideas! I may use your ideas for this book or for another one...I have multiple stories...hehe! 

I love you all!

Jenna