text: Tap, tap...tap, tap, tap. Eva rolled over in her bed and groaned. It was still dark outside, though she could see the bright light of the moon shining in through her bedroom window. Tap, tap. There it was again. That noise that awoke her. She looked up from her bed at the window. Silhouetted against the brightness of the moon was the shape of a person, standing at adult height, with one hand up, finger touching the glass, poised to lift and tap the glass again. She slowly pulled the blankets off of her body, the cold air rushing into the space left behind, raising goosebumps along her skin. She shivered and lifted her legs out of the bed and placed them onto the floor. The hardwood floor was cold and unyielding as she slowly stood and walked across her room to the window. As she looked up to the window, her gaze drifted over the picture frame of her sister. Her beautiful sister, taken from their family only a year ago when she wandered into the woods and never returned. Eva was 6 years old, only just learning how to make her way about in life, yet still felt so vulnerable. Her disability made that even more difficult - her hand having been deformed at birth. The other children didn’t understand, and for this, they mocked her. She was different and so she was the outcast from the group. It didn’t help that after a long day at school, when she returned home, her mother never looked her in the eyes and her father, when he interacted with her, resorted to violence at the slightest provocation. As she reached the window, she looked up and into the eyes of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The woman had long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and down below the sill of the window. Her green eyes sparkled in the moonlight reflecting off the window and her smile was wide and warm. Eva instinctively felt the corners of her mouth turn up in a small, self-conscious smile. The woman raised her hand off the glass and gave Eva a slight wave. After a slight hesitation, she lifted her small normal hand and waved back. The woman’s smile grew softer and warmer, filling Eva with a strange sensation of happiness. She felt the emotion bubbling up from her chest and felt her smile broaden into a genuine smile, which, she thought with a pang, was the first time she had smiled in a while. She reached up and opened the window. As she did, the woman stepped back to allow it to open. “Hello!” the woman said brightly. “Um, hi,” Eva replied. “My name is Ethrael, but you can call me Ethie. Would you like to come and talk with me?” Eva hesitated at this but looked appraisingly at the woman. “It’s cold and I’m in my pyjamas. I don’t want to catch a cold.” She replied timidly. In response, Ethie nodded her head and reached out, brushing her fingertips across Eva’s cheek. Where the woman’s fingers touched her skin, Eva felt a searing, yet calming warmth flow. As it moved through her body, it banished the chill of the night air to be replaced with a heat that she had never felt before. It felt like she was standing at a bonfire, but the heat was coming from inside of her. “Now would you like to talk with me?” Ethie asked. “Yes please, but it might make Daddy angry,” she looked down, her smile evaporating as the thoughts of her father, maddened with alcohol, came unbidden to her mind. “Don’t worry, Eva, he will sleep until the morning.” Ethie sounded so sure of herself, so sure of that fact, that Eva did not question it. She felt that she could trust this woman, this Ethie. “I’ll get my coat and my shoes,” Eva responded, turning to find her clothing. “You don’t need it. We won’t be long.” “Then I’ll come to the front door.” “Very well, Eva, I will see you outside.” As Eva walked out of her bedroom and through the house, she felt excitement blossom and grow within her. In her little world, meeting someone who treated her so kindly was rare. Her teachers ignored her, her parents seemed to hate her, and her peers even more so. The thought of being able to talk to someone who might be her friend was a prospect she couldn’t pass on. Eva reached the front door and opened it. Ethie was standing outside, wearing a simple dress of white that hung to just above her ankles. “You’re not wearing shoes or a coat, either!” Eva marvelled. “No, honey, I don’t need them. Just like you don’t. You feel that warmth inside you now, don’t you?” Ethie replied. “I guess not. What did you want to talk about?” As she said this, Eva noticed the snow drifting about in flurries and piling up in banks along the forest bordering the house. The same forest that took her sister and never gave her back. She shivered at the thought. “What’s wrong, Eva?” Ethie asked. “My sister, she went into those woods one day and never came back out.” “Ah, I see. You miss her don’t you?” “Yes, I do,” Eva murmured, feeling tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “I miss her every day.” Now the tears started. Ethie bent down to her eye level. “You’re okay, it’s going to be okay. Just let it out, sweetie. Come here.” Eva rushed into the outstretched arms and embraced Ethie. She felt the same sort of warmth coming from the woman as she felt coming from herself. She buried her face in Ethie’s hair and even through her tears, noticed that her hair smelled like freshly opened flowers in the spring. Soon, her little sobs quieted, and she pulled back, turning a tear-stained face up to the woman. “I’m sorry,” she said, grief causing her voice to hitch. “Not at all,” Ethie said warmly. “Let’s talk a little, take my hand.” Eva took her hand and started walking down the little path leading from the house, through the snow. As they reached a small log lying on the side of the path, carved into a bench, Ethie said: “let’s sit down here.” Eva sat and Ethie sat beside her. There was more than enough room for both of them. “What happened after your sister died?” Ethie asked. “Everything got worse. Things were bad before. Daddy got so mad sometimes and mommy would just turn away while he yelled at her. He called her mean names and she would just cry. Leah would always take me to my bedroom and hide me in my closet. She told me that if daddy ever got angry, that I would be safe there, that she would protect me.” “And afterwards, what happened?” “Daddy started drinking his booze. That’s what he calls it. It makes him so mean and so mad. He doesn’t just yell at mommy anymore, he hits her, and sometimes he hits me.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes, and Ethie leaned over, wrapping her arms around Eva’s shoulders until her sobs quieted again. “What would you like to do when that happens?” Ethie’s look was piercing. The look didn’t make Eva uncomfortable, however, it imparted a gravity on her words that she didn’t expect from such a question. “I want to run away; I want to leave. I want to go somewhere where no one will hurt anyone again.” “Indeed,” Ethie spoke gravely. “Would you like to go to such a place with me?” “What about my mommy and daddy?” “They hurt you, didn’t they? Do you really want them coming with you?” “No, I want to be away from them. They are so mean to me.” “Would you like to go now?” Ethie asked, leaning down to look at Eva eye-to-eye. “But what about my teddy? I can’t go anywhere without him,” hope was blooming in Eva’s heart, though she tried to push it away, not wanting to believe too deeply, lest this is some sort of horrible trick. Ethie reached behind her and then drew it back, a small teddy bear in her hand. Eva looked at it in disbelief. It was missing an eye. It was her teddy. “How did you get teddy from my bed? I left him in my bed!” “It’s something I can do, just like I took the cold from your skin,” Ethie said as she took Eva’s small hand in her own, and gently lifted her to her feet. As she rose to her feet, Eva felt a rush, like chill passing through her body which was swiftly replaced by the searing warmth Ethie, had initially imparted on her. The pair started walking away. As they walked, Eva felt a moment of disquiet and turned around, looking at the small figure lying slumped on the bench, already being covered in snow, with a teddy bear in its arms. “It’s alright, Eva, you can come with me. Leah’s waiting.” Eva’s gaze turned up to the woman’s, their eyes meeting. With a slight jolt, she realised that the woman’s eyes were no longer green, but a blazing gold that seemed to softly radiate light across her face. “Let us leave this place.” “Okay,” Eva said, as the pair turned back and walked, hand in hand, into the forest.