Little Fury: Book 1 of The deadly Little Thing Trilogy
Little Fury: Chapter 9

I stand up and take my plate to the sink when all of a sudden, the front door is thrown open and a very angry Harry comes inside. Wow! Yosemite Sam just walked in the door, anger smoke practically pouring from his ears. I giggle to myself but quickly swallow my laughter when I see a boy step from behind him.

“Marcus, welcome. This Is Beth and Ava. You will be staying with them while you’re here.” Harry tells the room. I see the look that passes between the adults, and so does the boy because he is instantly mad.

“Don’t fucking look at each other like I’m not in the room with you!” He yells at them. They gawk at him not expecting that to come out of his mouth.

“Sorry, Marcus,” Harry recovers quickly. “We just weren’t expecting you until next week, so we have been caught a little off guard.”

The boy doesn’t say anything else, just continues to glare at them. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t seen me yet.

Wow, his eyes are super green. I cock my head to the side as I study him. He has blonde hair, and I think he is a bit taller than me. He’s beautiful. Ha! Bet he’ll wanna be your friend if you tell him he’s beautiful.

He must feel my stare because his head shoots to me with lightning speed.

“Hi,” I say as I get closer to him. “I’m Ava.” I stick my hand out to him. He looks at my outstretched hand and back at me and slowly puts his hand in mine. I give it a large shake. “Pleased to meet you. Did you know we have a pool here? It’s pretty awesome. And there are also a couple of horses. It’s gonna be pretty fun here so I don’t think you should be mad. We can pet the horses and swim in the pool. Did you bring any toys? I didn’t get to bring much more than Miss Mushroom and Mr. Waffle but you can have Mr. Waffle. He’s really nice. He’s a squirrel. Miss Mushroom is a goat.”

I hear Harry and Beth make a choking noise behind me. Marcus is staring at me like he’s never seen another kid before. Maybe I shouldn’t have said hello?

He doesn’t say anything to me, just keeps staring. “Well ok! Nice to meet you. You can have Mr. Waffle any time you want. Bye!” I say and turn to head up the stairs to my room.

Beth collects herself, walks up to him and introduces herself. I hear her ask him if he is hungry or would rather go to his room to be alone. I don’t hear any more as I close my door. It’s not very late, but I’m tired, so I grab my jammies, head to the bathroom, and get ready for bed. I change and brush my teeth. I can hear voices downstairs, but I ignore them and go to my room. I crawl into bed and say good night to Miss Mushroom and Mr. Waffle.

The next morning, I replace Beth at the kitchen island reading a book and having a cup of tea. “Morning, Ava” she says without even looking up.

“Morning, Beth!” She’s quiet for a few more seconds then puts her bookmark in the book, sets the book down and claps her hands.

“Hungry?” I smile and nod. She’ll soon understand that I’m always hungry. “French toast and bacon?” she asks me. I nod again and go to the fridge to grab the bread and eggs.

“What else do we need?”

“Um, milk and bacon and butter, please,” she says as she grabs the skillet from the pantry. “Did you cook a lot at home?” she asks, then freezes and looks at me, looking like she thinks she said something wrong.

“Yeah, my mom liked to cook but didn’t do it often because she was busy. But, whenever she made breakfast or dinner, if I was home, I helped. She said it was important to know how to cook.”

“Your mom was correct; knowing how to cook is important. Ava?”

“Yeah?”

“If you need to talk about anything. Or if you want to be mad about anything or need help, I’m here for you.”

I look at her, unsure of what to say, or what she needs to hear me say. “I miss them. I miss them a lot. I miss my dad swatting my moms behind when she would swear around me. I miss her giggling at him. I miss her singing. She sang a lot. I didn’t like it, but now I miss it. She would have music on when she was cooking and sing to the songs even if she didn’t know the words.” My eyes go glassy, and I blink to hold back the tears.

Beth watches me, not saying anything, and lets me sort through it in my head.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here, what I’m going to learn. What kinds of things Harry meant when he told me he would explain things as I get older? I know I like you. I like Harry, and I don’t feel scared here. I’m alone, but I don’t feel alone here.” I wipe a tear from my cheek and look up at Beth, seeing her glossy eyes. “I felt alone in that hospital, till you came to get me,” I whisper.

“Well, then, Ava, we will consider your liking us and not feeling scared or alone a win. Just remember, you can talk to me about anything.”

I give her a big grin and nod my head. She nods back at me and we go back to making breakfast.

I grab the syrup and some strawberries from the fridge and take them to the island for us. Beth takes a bunch of bacon and wraps it in a paper towel and then tinfoil. She takes a big stack of French toast and puts it in a baking dish, covers it with the lid, and puts both in the oven to keep warm.

We fill our plates and then dig in. “You have a very good appetite,” Beth muses as she smiles at me.

“I do! My dad used to make fun of me, saying my stomach was a hungry beast that no amount of food could satisfy.” I laugh with a mouthful of bacon. Beth laughs with me. We are almost done eating when we hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I look over and see the boy, Marcus. He looks tired and angry. “Hello!” I say to him.

“Hi,” he mumbles back at me.

“Are you hungry, Marcus?” Beth asks.

He shrugs, so she gets the food out of the oven, makes him a plate, and sets it in front of him.

“Thank you,” Marcus says very quietly.

“You’re welcome,” Beth replies.

I finish and take my plate to the sink. I see Marcus staring at me. I smile at him; he doesn’t return it; instead, he drops his eyes to his plate and eats. He doesn’t eat much before he says he’s done, so Beth tells him to take his plate to the sink, and he does as she asks. I go to the door to put on my shoes.

“I’m going to go explore,” I yell over my shoulder at Beth and head out the door. I want to look at the horses and maybe pet one. I hear the door open and close behind me. Marcus catches up to me and settles beside me without even saying a word.

This kid is weird.

“I’m going to see the horses,” I tell him and keep walking, deciding he can come if he wants, but I’m not changing my plans for him. He says nothing to me, but he comes with me, so I keep going.

Definitely weird, like say hello or ok, or grunt at me already.

We reach the horses just as someone is filling their water trough. “Hello,” I say cheerily, the guy looks at me with a weird smile

“Uh, hi?” he says.

“Was that a question? Because normally, people say hello without it sounding like they’re unsure if it’s the right word. Hi, hello, or even hey are the right words. I’ve also heard people say Yo, and others don’t even say Hi, but they say How are you right off the bat!!” I tell the guy who is still filling the water trough.

“Um, you know that the water is running over the edge, right?” I hear Marcus say to him. Marcus puts his hand in front of me and makes me step back. “You should be more careful next time. You almost got her shoes wet.” He continues to tell the guy. The guy continues to stare at us and then says “fucking kids” under his breath as he turns and walks away from us.

“Well, that was rude,” I say to myself and Marcus.

Marcus doesn’t say anything to me; just nods in agreement.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” I hear from behind us. “Little Ava and young Mr. Marcus.” I turn around to see Harry coming towards us.

“Hi, Harry! I wanted to see if I could pet a horse today.” I tell him.

“You need to tell your employees to be more careful. That guy almost got Ava’s shoes all wet.” Marcus tells Harry.

“It’s okay, Marcus. I don’t care if my shoes get a little wet,” I say.

“I care.” He says like I should know it would bother him if I were uncomfortable.

Harry looks between us, “Alright, kids, let’s go pet a horse.”

After about an hour of us petting the horses, Harry stops. “Okay, I need to get back to work. If you make your way over to that blue Building, you’ll meet Parker, and he’ll replace you guys something to do.” We do as Harry asks and head over to the blue building, where we replace Parker.

Parker is young. He’s tall and skinny and pretty pale. He looks like he needs to go outside a lot more. “Hello,” I say. “I’m Ava, and this is Marcus. Harry told us to come see you, and you would give us something to do to keep us busy.” I spew the words out at him.

“He did, did he? “Parker says, laughing.

“Yup. “

“Well, then, let’s get to it. Have either of you used a computer before? Have you guys played video games?’ Parker asks us.

“Both,” I say, seeing Marcus nod in agreement.

“Perfect. Then come over here, and I’ll get the Nintendo going for you. We have pretty much every game, so help yourself. Do you know how to set everything up?” he asks us.

“Yeah, I had one at home, a Sega Genesis, and a PlayStation.” Marcus offers up.

“Perfect,” Parker says. “You’ll replace a bunch of games over in that cupboard. Play whatever you want. I’ll be over here if you need anything,” he tells us and moves over to a desk that is set up with a couple screens and a keyboard.

The first month passes like that. Beth cooks us every meal. We eat together; Harry joins us often. Beth, Harry, and I talk, getting to know each other, while Marcus only speaks when he absolutely has to. He only leaves my side when I sleep or go to the bathroom. He doesn’t say much, so I talk for both of us. Beth took us into town a couple of times because Marcus arrived with nothing except a bag with a toothbrush and a couple of changes of clothes.

The start of my second month at Harrys brings a couple new faces around the ranch, but really, Marcus and I spend our time with each other and Beth, or in our rooms, or swimming, or with Parker playing on the computers or video games. We see Harry all the time, but he’s busy, so it’s never for very long. He does try to have a meal with us a couple times a week. Summer is passing fast like it always does, and pretty soon, we are only a few days away from school starting.

Beth takes us back-to-school shopping, getting all the required things and new clothes. Both Marcus and I need an entire winter wardrobe because winter will be cold—colder than I’m used to in Chicago or Marcus is used to in New York.

I’m not going to enjoy that.

Beth drives us there on our first day of school and takes us in to meet the principal and our teacher. I don’t know what they’ve been told about me and Marcus, but everyone seems cautious around us.

Or around Marcus

School is apparently the same everywhere. The only difference is that Marcus’ and my old school were private so here we don’t have to wear a uniform. Marcus is happy about that, but I don’t like having to decide what to wear every day.

Time passed, and we just were.

We were kids growing up.

We were best friends.

We were everything to and for each other.

We were lucky to have Harry and Beth; they filled the parental voids that Marcus and I had suffered.

Marcus became a fun and happy kid. We both sank into our new lives better than I think anyone expected us to after the way we came to the ranch. Birthdays, Christmas’ and summer breaks marked the passing of time for us. We made friends at school, but none were ever closer to us than each other. We were starting to be truly free from the sad and harsh circumstances that formed the paths that brought us to the ranch.

We remember how we got the scars left behind from my parents’ deaths, Marcus’s father and the death of his mother. Those scars never go away, but for the briefest moments, we thought we might come out the other side better than we went in. We were happy.

At least until the day before Marcus turned twelve.