Chapter sixteen
Song recommendation . Lonely by Justin Bieber and Benny Blanco .
Niverea decided that it was nothing to worry about as Cecil suggested . The thunder rumbled and the wind threatened to blow the roof away . And that sent Niverea into another spiral of mini panic.
"The wind is going to blow the roof away don't you think ?? . " Niverea asked as she stared at the people in the carriage .
They looked as calm as if this was something that occured everyday . Niverea was again not liking this .
Cecilia shook her head and made a gesture for Niverea not to worry .
But how could she not ? The cow, everything ?
Madvil would skin her alive and serve her meat as a barbecue to her husband if anything was to go wrong with their only source of money .
She had no idea what condition the cow was . The remaining few minutes flew into themselves and the silence floated with only some soft groans and sounds .
The weather got so dark that Niverea was having a hard time staring ahead . What more the driver ??
She gulped some reluctant saliva and willed herself to be optimistic . Afterall optimisticism matters a lot , especially in a situation like this .
The wind was cool , and it was also lulling . Niverea felt her head going back from her neck and her eyes snapped open immediately .
"By the name of the great spirit . "
She had been getting more and more paranoid after the weird incident that happened to her . It felt so real , that it was kinda hard for her to digest that as a dream .
But she had been repeatedly telling herself . "It was a dream ! . " "it was just a nightmare ! "
Anything to stop herself from probing too much into her own mind ,else she'll totally lose it .
The light drop of water drew her attention away from the dream or no dream thought and brought her back to the harsh reality .
Then another , then another .
She rubbed her eyes together,to rub the sleep off them . Was this a dream again ? Is this another mind blowing trick ?
How could this happen?
Cecilia seem to be in a momentary shock too as her eyes widened . She probably wasn't expecting the rain this soon .
Rain wasn't even the real problem here, it was the roof ! .
She snatched her head to look up , to her distress she found out that a few of the patches was missing and hereby allowing the rain drop a free entrance .
"What do we do ?? . " She asked no one in particular . But no one seemed to have thought about a situation like this before . Even though they all claimed to be familiar with the weather changes , this one still managed to catch them by suprise .
"Don't worry . The driver would increase their pace . We would get to a safe place soon " Niverea could hear the doubt in those sentence .
They weren't going to any safe place . The rain would make a mess out of them .
The light pitter patter turned into an heavy storm and the rain flow into the carriage .
The carriage stopped and Niverea cursed . Why do they have to stop in this situation?? The rain poured in torrent and they all got soaked within some minutes .
"What happened?? . " Niverea asked Cecilia .
"Looks like the carriage lost a wheel . " Cecilia wasn't comfortable too as she was soaked .
Niverea fought the urge to shudder in cold and swallowed a bit of sarcastic comment that was on the tip of her mouth.
So this is how it was going to be ,? They were going to drown in the carriage , so that some flesh eating monsters could make some minced meat out of them?
How delightful .
The Coachman looked inside the car from the window , he was a short man with protruding belly .
"Everyone will have to get out . Find a safe place to stay tonight and come back here tommorow . The carriage would hopefully be done by then . That is if the storm has ended . Ladies and gentlemen , Leave ! "
He retracted his head and no one knew where he went again .
The people in the carriage seems to have no qualms with the decree as they move out , one after the other .
Niverea was new to this kind of situation had no idea of what to do . She looked up at the only at the only person that she was on talking term with , Cecilia .
"Cecilia, what should we do ? We can't possibly die here . " She waited and threw her hands up in frustration .
They were the only ones left
"Wait , let me think . " She placed her two fingers on either side of her head as water poured ceaselessly down on them .
"What have you been doing since morning?? Aren't you supposed to be thinking? . " Niverea was more than uncomfortable now .
Her hair was wet and water dripped down her nose . Her eyes was filled with water and not tears.
Cecilia stood up abruptly and Niverea followed suit . First they went to the storage unit of the carriage and loosen the cow .
And now they were met with another unexpected problem . How will they carry the cow ?
Niverea simply wished the cow would follow them . But of course not every wish could come to pass .
Niverea grabbed the cows butt and pushed , while Cecilia took hold of it's horn and pulled .
The cow wasn't helping the situation in any bits as it mooed and refused to leave .
"Since you're not in the rain, you're all warm and cozy in the storage room and you think you'll stay there forever? Not a chance ! . " Niverea spoke loudly to the cow . The sound of her voice was barely audible in the rain .
The storm had gotten bigger and the raindrop was painful to her skin .
They dragged and pulled and pulled and dragged but the cow seem to have no interest in moving.
Cecilia's eyes turned red , and she pulled with force . The cow was dragged forward and it mooed in reluctance . It doesn't want to go ..
The rain had washed away the top layer of the soil and the erosion was now getting bigger . It dug hole into the road and made it almost impossible to pass .
At least for Niverea and the cow . Not Cecilia as it seems .
The water was now waist deep and Niverea was finding it very hard to walk . The water keeps getting more and more .
Cecilia took no note of the environment , she continues dragging and dragging the poor cow . The cow had let go of it's initial stubborn behavior as it also wanted to live .
Niverea tried to shout , to call out to Cecilia whose only mission now was to get the cow out of the water . She was very much oblivious to whatever else was going on around her .
As Niverea was trying to call , she gulped in the dirty water and her eyes grew large . The water was getting more and more as the storm was still raging on .
Was she going to die like this ?? .
Maybe not . She caught a glimpse of whatever was left of the carriage as it was floating away in the water . Not knowing how to swim or what to do, she flail her arms with the hope of getting a hand of the leftover plank .
She could see the roof and wheel of the carriage floating about , everything had turned to pieces .
She tried again . The water was now gushing into her eyes and nose and she was almost drowning.
No ! She couldn't die ! Madvil would find her corpse , asked for the money or whereabouts of the cow and killed her again .
She had to do something !
But what ??
As she was struggling to keep herself up , fate for once was finally on her side . The ripples made by her effort managed to draw the plank to her direction.
She quickly grabbed it like her life depended on it , well her life was depending on it . She held on it and let herself be dragged away from there .
The rain keeps falling in aggressive manner , as if preparing to tear the sky and earth away . It doesn't look like it'll stop soon .
She eventually got to a place , where the water wasn't as deep and she could actually touch the wet ground with her feet .
The water was only waist deep . She saw a shed ahead and a faint light stream from it .
Her clothes clung to her body and her hair was wet and scattered . She had lost a slipper and was walking barefoot .
She was almost breaking into a run if not for the fact that her leg had suffered a cut and was bleeding.
Great ! Just great ! Within three days she had faced death twice ,!
Or was it once ? No , it was twice . The nightmare or that particular dream was too real to be called one .
That made her wonder , was she having memory problem? Maybe not .
All that did not matter as she hurried her way out of the place without waiting for another second .
The rain was still pouring but it seems to less powerful in this space . She saw the shed ahead and it gave her hope .
Yes ! She could do it ! She could almost hear the lovely cackle of the warm fire as she gazed at it .
Her stomach grumbled and as absurd as it may sound ,she realized that she was actually hungry .
Where did the mashed and fried potatoes went ?
That reminded her of her acquaintance as they couldn't be addressed as friends yet . And her cow
Or to be more precise , madvil's and Build's cow . She was already a dead meat
The cow was nowhere to be found and Cecilia too .
Perhaps she should have allowed herself to drown in the murky water . No use trying to save herself .
Despite the thoughts in her head , she still hurried towards the light .
Maybe she could postpone her death till tomorrow and find something to eat first .
She finally gotten to the shed that looked nothing like the one she saw from afar .
It was just a plain hut that may not withheld the raging storm .
But first , she'll enter. A delightful smell reached her nostrils and made her stomach growled more .
She pushed the door and it gave way to the inside . She was shocked at what she saw .
Cecilia was there , in a corner warming herself up and she had some thick clothes wrapped around herself.
Her cow was also tied to a pole and was munching some Hays .
How did situation turn out for the better ?? .
Cecilia glanced up at Niverea and smiled . She looked weak in her state .
Her face was apologetic , making Niverea scowled .
She sure had a lot of explaining to do . But first , Niverea moved to the sizzling pot on the fire to check what was there .
At least , she wasn't going to die today .