The Butterfly Effect

{-Rhenei-}

The street below her was full of lively chatter; bustling with people going to work, buying something, or spending time with a lover or family member. For so many of them, it must’ve been a good day—even a few that considered it the best day.

The only reason why everyone wasn’t having a good day was because she wasn’t. Though she supposed, if she needed to rank them, this would be among the better of them.

“What?”

“I—I swear, I didn’t realize it was there!”

“That doesn’t matter, look at the mess you made! If you started listening to me, then maybe I wouldn’t have to do this…”

She pressed the pillow closer to her ears, reminding herself to breathe as she watched the people out the window. There was a man scolding his young child—yet there was a kind of emotion present in his expression that Rhenei wasn’t familiar with. It was nothing like the way her father would scold her. She’d give anything to be like that. She bet anything that kid had to worry about was nothing compared to what she’s already experienced.

She knew there wasn’t a point in thinking about the things she couldn’t change. But it was much better than listening to the crying and shattering glass.

Finally, all the noise died down after a door slammed shut. There were still muffled sobs but they were nothing out of the ordinary now. Rhenei sighed, tossed the pillow aside, shut the curtains, and wandered to her bed.

“You can come out now,” she mumbled, “he left.” She made the bed while she spoke, maintaining the only thing that made her seem like the others.

The girl poked her head out from under the bed, hiding again when something dropped in the other room. It took a moment for her to trust her friend’s word and completely come out. “Did he say he’d come back..?”

Rhenei shook her head. “He never does, you know that. We’ve just got to be prepared for it.”

“Or we could leave too,” Kalleira remarked. She climbed up on the bed but, unlike if Rhenei had tried, the thin blanket didn’t move. “Then we won’t have to be afraid of him anymore. We could be like those people outside—living happy lives.”

“It… it’s not time. We can stay a little while longer…”

Kalleira mumbled something, an expression that was a mix of worry and fear. She never liked being here—neither of them did. Yet, for some reason, they stayed.

“Rhenei!” called a shaky voice from the other room. “I need you to come here.”

Rhenei ignored Kalleira’s look and went to her mother, knowing that the little girl would follow behind her.

The shattered glass on the floor was nothing new. The blood wasn’t, either, as her mother had to pick it up by hand—and more from where it had hit her. Even the way she looked up at her daughter, got up, and gestured to the mess wasn’t different.

“Clean this up,” she instructed. “He only got upset because you wanted something. You’re just as responsible as I am.”

Rhenei gave a small nod. “I’ll take care of it.”

“I’m going to leave you alone for a while,” her mother announced, “and you better have this all cleaned up by the time I come back.” She left without saying anything else, her expectations made clear and threat firmly made by memories of past shortcomings.

Kalleira wandered over to the area, but could do little to help. She couldn’t pick anything up so all she could do was provide words of encouragement—and catch whatever Rhenei didn’t. “What about now? They’re both gone. Street’s busy. They probably wouldn’t find us.”

“We’re not ready,” Rhenei mumbled. “If we left now then we’d have to come back. We can’t risk it.”

“Mom hid spare coins in the hole behind the table. I don’t think she remembers she put them there.”

“But what if she does?”

“It’s better than staying here, isn’t it? Then you could pay for someone to take us far away from here—or, I think so. I saw her put a silver one in there, do you think that could do it?”

“What if we get everything ready now and, the moment we’re ready to leave, one of them comes back? They’ll know. They’ll be mad.”

It was odd, really. Rhenei didn’t want to stay here any more than Kalleira did—they’d watched together as it went from cracked to shattered. They both wanted to know what else was out there beyond their home; the lives other people lived. Yet Rhenei still defended it. She’d remember all the words of her father—words that weren’t warnings, but threats—of if she ever dared to leave. She’d find herself following his directions, listening to every word, knowing what awaited her if she didn’t. She couldn’t begin to imagine what it would be like to defy them so blatantly.

She glanced out the window with a certain kind of longing. There were never as many people in the little alleyway leading to their house than the busy street the other window faced. But there was still something; kids shouting without malice, parents calling without scorn.

And here she was, cleaning up the glass her father broke for something her mother did.

“Ten years,” Kalleira eventually sighed, “and it’s always the same thing. How come you’ve always got ideas when we’re talking about it, but you never do any of them?”

“It’s easy for you! No one sees you and they can’t hurt you.”

“Watching you do this hurts me just as much as it does you!” Kalleira gestured to all that was still on the floor. She frowned. “I don’t want to keep hearing or seeing them and I know you don’t either.”

Rhenei looked back at the smiling faces of those children. “Alright,” she said in a near whisper. Gaining some sort of resolve she repeated as loud as she dared, “Alright. I’ll clean this up and gather our things. As long as Dad’s not home, we’ll leave tonight.”

…

She never had a lot. All her clothes were small or worn, aside from a few nice things she wore if they ever went out. The only toy she had was a yarn doll—now hardly even that after so many years—she’d made back when they went to church. She didn’t know much about the world, but she knew things didn’t come free, so she often hid whatever coins she found lying around… which wasn’t really a lot. From her glimpses of the world from her window, they seemed friendly. Maybe she could use that money to get someone to guide her to the next town or at least point her in the right direction.

Rhenei didn’t bother hiding the fact she’d left. One, there wasn’t much that she could do to make it look like she was still sleeping at a glance. Two, she knew they wouldn’t check on her—not until morning when one of them needed something. Hopefully she’d be too far gone to track by then.

She took everything she had and left, Kalleira wandering close behind her. She didn’t think anyone noticed her walking into the street; it didn’t seem like anyone truly wanted to be out this late, yet for some reason they still were.

“What do you want to do first?” Kalleira asked excitedly, using her energetic approach to the street to mask her undeniable fear. Neither of them had ever been far from home without Rhenei’s parents somewhere nearby.

“Get out of the city,” Rhenei decided. She took in her surroundings and realized just how big everything was. “Once I figure out where that is…”

“I think that’s the castle,” Kalleira mumbled, glancing up at the grand building in the distance. “Or… maybe it’s the church. I don’t remember.”

“Mom made it sound like they were both closer to the edge,” Rhenei recalled slowly. She once again glanced around her and hesitantly started going in the opposite direction of that building. “So however we leave has got to be this way, right?”

Kalleira sighed. “I wish I could fly. Then I could just look at it all from above you and tell you where to go…”

“Then you couldn’t be with me, and honestly this is a lot scarier than just looking out a window…”

Rhenei began to wander, first with a sense of urgency to get as far away from her old home as possible, then slowed down to take in the sights around her. She couldn’t remember ever being in this part of the city before. She wondered how much more of the city she’d never seen.

Not like she was particularly keen on staying. Even if her parents didn’t try to find her, someone else might recognize her and insist she be brought back to them.

Rhenei jumped when an older man, looking to be a part of the church, spoke to her.

“It’s getting rather late for someone like you, isn’t it?” he asked gently. “Are you heading home from somewhere?”

Kalleira, probably just because she knew he wouldn’t hear her, grumbled, “Go away, old man, we’ve got something important to do!”

Rhenei’s actual answer came out so naturally she was almost surprised about it herself. “Yeah, I was with my friends and we all kinda lost track of the time.”

“Where do you live?” he prompted.

She pointed past him to where she’d been wandering. “Over there. It’s not that far, I can go myself.”

“Ah, that’s why I didn’t recognize you. You must be the daughter of one of those new merchant families that moved in a couple of weeks ago.” He smiled. “Well, I’m sure your parents are getting worried, so I won’t hold you any longer. I pray Orestis will keep His hand on you and your family.”