Eva Waits

The slanted walls of the chamber seemed to draw even closer together, as if Eva were in a trap that was taking away more and more of her freedom until she was finally completely crushed. The rough, cracked wooden beams above her groaned menacingly. Eva involuntarily drew in her shoulders and ducked forward as she sat on the edge of the bed. The scratchy, gray woolen blankets beneath her gave her back some sense of reality, but promised no comfort or solace.

Eva's hands balled into fists in her lap. Her fingernails dug into her palms. But she didn't feel the pain. Her thoughts were all about Julius. She thought she could hear his heavy footsteps in the corridor, coming inexorably closer.

“You wait there. I'll take care of you later,” he had said. And it hadn't been a wish. What had he meant, that he would take care of her? What was he going to do?

The answer popped into her head unsolicited, but with ****. The image of her uncle appeared in her mind's eye and overlapped with that of the village elder. Chills ran down her spine like melting snow. She pressed her clenched fists against her closed eyelids, but she could not banish the vision.

The shadows in the corners deepened. A lonely, half-burnt candle stood on the tiny table. Eva didn't dare light it. The light might attract him. It would be better to remain in the darkness, to become still and small, as invisible as possible. Perhaps he would overlook her, forget her.

She listened intently for even the slightest sound. The creaking of the floorboards, the squeak of a door opening. When would he come? Would it happen tonight? Would he ... touch her? Would he ...

If I screamed, no one would come to help. If I ran away, there would be no refuge.

Her breathing quickened. Nevertheless, she sat still, quiet as a mouse. Being inaudible and invisible, hiding from her uncle, had always been her only defense. Perhaps it would help now too.

A rustling behind the wall made her flinch. The sound of sharp claws on hard wood. A mouse - or something else, bigger. The rustle of feathered wings above her. Ravens.

Instinctively, she looked up at the gray square of the tiny window. Dull moonlight shimmered through it. Clouds gathered darkly and portentously over the village, which huddled in the narrow mountain valley. And waited. For whatever was to come.

And Eva waited with it.