The Tens, Vanessa Jones [i like reading books .TXT] 📗

forward, dismayed. Despite Abigail weeping into her hands, Sophie still couldn't understand what was really happening and she felt so very on the outer, which pressed her to want to escape even more. To forget about this place and its weird antiquated people like it was a fever dream. Sophie tried to subtly turn around and scan the clearing for the best escape route. But Everley, who was still rubbing her back, mistook the action and leant in to hug her, obscuring her view past the group. The distant baby wail floated in briefly again and upon hearing it, she really did start to believe she was in one of her lengthy nightmares.

'Bring her out!' Carla shouted back to the tents. By now, she stood upon a wooden crate that had been covered in a small crocheted blanket of orange and reds, which mirrored back the fire. The light from the fire was throwing shadows on Carla's face that distorted the woman that Sophie knew. Her nose edged forward more and her eyes were sharper, a harder, more sinister look had emerged and Sophie missed the soft, warm woman that had taken all her vulnerabilities and wrapped them up for her.

Clive leapt up to Carla and tugged at her forearm. 'Are you sure...?' He tried to postulate but Carla shook him off roughly and he stumbled back, falling on his backside. It was only when Sophie noticed that rather than embarrassment, Clive showed a concern that distorted his face, so he looked like a child and an old man, all at once.

A woman rushed forth from the biggest tent, her arms out in front of her carrying another bundle of crocheted blankets with more muted colours of flamingo and fairy floss pinks. A wail erupted through the navy-blue night and Sophie could feel the surrounding trees lean in protectively. The sound made her look up towards the rich blanket that held them all steady, the decorated night sky that offered both freedom and containment. The sky pulsed and loomed closer, begging Sophie for something that she could not translate. Carla held the baby up in her hands, cradling its head and rear in each hand. The crocheted blanket fell to the floor and the baby's mouth screamed open so wide it almost took over its tiny head. Sophie heard Abigail gasp and start to sob to match the baby's wail.

'Abigail, since you seem so upset, this test will be good for you to conduct. Will you step forward please Abigail?' Abigail shook her head into her hands, her pitted sobs continued.

'Abigail. Consider yourself on the other side of this. The growth, the revitalisation and the empowerment. You can reach your potentiality by seeing through this task and you know it. Otherwise, you can stay stagnant in your resistance and probably keep butting up against whatever inner turmoil this is causing you again and again until you learn this precious lesson. You have a choice.' The choice that Carla presented was barely so. Sophie didn't really comprehend what Carla was proposing but Abigail dug her toes into the dirt and her sobs had morphed into a funnelled yowling.

'Abigail? Would you like to come forward?' She shouted over the baby's cries which had syncopated with Abigail's.

Everley had moved over and crouched beside Abigail. She scooped her hands under one elbow and coaxed her up. Abigail resisted but not enough. She was led to where Carla was standing, presenting the baby to Abigail to take hold. Carla slid the baby into Abigail's arms where she hunched over the bright red thing, sobbing into its face. Her hair hung like a shield between the baby and the onlookers and Sophie watched her shoulders jiggle up and down because she couldn't see her face or the baby and she couldn't predict what was going to happen. But the way that her stomach had crimped itself, like the end of a toothpaste tube being squeezed, ensured that what was about to happen was going to be horrific.

'You have a choice, Abigail. Continue as you have been or push yourself to new echelons. Release yourself from your poisoned narrative and break free to be the limitless being that you can be. For once you hit that space, you will be helping your fellows to get there also. And collectively, we are going somewhere great. Somewhere that humans have always been calibrated to be. Do it now Abigail!' Carla was screeching but at the sky, rather than at Abigail. Her cheeks shot around like a rabid dog, like they had been hit with a Newton's Cradle.

'I can't! I can't!' Abigail tried to hand the baby, who had sensed its need to be quiet and subdued as a matter of survival, back to Carla. But she was rebuffed by Carla's outstretched palms.

'Abigail. You know that's not the best choice for the highest good of you and your fellows now, do you?' Carla's voice became nastily sing-songy.

'But I don't want to do this! I don't care about growth anymore. I'm obviously not made for this kind of evolution!'

Sophie watched Abigail transform from a virtuous and meek maiden to a venomous rat. And her rage was contagious and it was hard not to root for her. Carla snatched the baby back and stepped off the box. She leaned her face in close to Abigail, who had stopped crying but her cheeks were still shiny from the tears. 'I want you to do something, Abigail.' Carla's voice had floated to a level and calm tone.

'Yes, Carla?' Abigail resigned herself to a final sniffle and looked at her feet.

'I want you to get the fuck out of my sight!'

Abigail scampered off to a tent that Sophie couldn't see and she let out the breath that she'd been holding. A few others around her did the same.

The whole time, Clive didn't remove his eyes from Carla's face, nodding in agreement with whatever she said. Turning