City of Papers

No light was shining. No light of the stars, nor the glow of the lamplight on the cold and dampened streets. The clouds covered the sky and wrapped it up in its thick embrace, as if it were wrapping a child up in a blanket. The sounds of horses bobbing up and down on the cobble stone broke through the silence and echoed throughout the streets, making the buildings shudder, and the shops shiver. Wisps of fog were hovering over the ground, each one eerily making its way from the riverbed without a sound.
The bridge creaked loudly as the wind drifted through and startled the support beams. Each one was bending, threatening to break at any moment. The sound of hoofs pounding on the wooden floor was rare at this time of night, though it was not altogether impossible. Frogs were croaking on the side of the river, each one bloating its neck, calling to a female frog that was only feet away. Daniel watched them as they hopped into the river, one after the other, chasing each other and playing gaily.
Daniel watched the frogs disappear into the depths of the water and then turned back onto the hard ground. It was dirty and damp, but it was still comfortable. He wrapped a thin woolen blanket around his legs and shivered. The blanket was not nearly big enough to cover the whole of his body, so he had to make due with only wrapping his legs of snuggly for the night. He watched the bottom of the bridge, and squinted his nose whenever a flake of dirt managed to make its way from the top and onto his face.
He looked beside him and saw the young figure of a girl. She was small in size and in frame. She was lying on her side, with her face pointed towards him. Her nose was small and pointed, but matched perfectly with the rest of her face, which was also sharp. Her cheeks were flushed in the cold and her golden hair fell over the back of her neck, and onto the dirt as well. She was old, though she could have passed for younger, and would never be questioned for it.
Daniel felt a bug scurry across the nape of his neck, and brushed it away quickly, shuddering at the thought of any insect being on him at any time. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep but he found that he couldn’t. He listened to the drippings of the water that fell off the banks and remembered that he was not to fall asleep to close to the water, lest he fall off.
“Why are you still awake?” The sleeping girl muttered. Daniel turned over, his eyes still closed and groaned.
“I don’t know. For some reason I just can’t. I’m trying, I am.”
“You should try harder than. Sleep is all we have right now, and we have to get up early tomorrow if we’re going to get to Mrs. Purtly’s on time. We have a lot to do tomorrow.” She sounded irritated.
“Don’t worry, Michelle. I’ll be able to get up on time.”
“You had better.” She said quietly, and then she said nothing more. Daniel listened to the sound of her soft breathing, and closed his eyes, snuggling against a large soft patch in the ground.

“Wake up.” She said softly at first, then louder once more.
“What?” Daniel replied wearily. He rubbed his eyes and looked around him. The darkened atmosphere was now alive and vibrant. The sun was shining and the clouds were gone. Horses were galloping along the roads and neighing as their owners begged them to slow down. People were yelling in the streets on the other side of the banks. Some were yelling for better prices on a store items, while the rest were screaming at the young children running along the streets, trailing streamers from behind them.
Michelle, however, was not as vibrant as the rest of the town and was sitting on her hands and knees, glaring at him angrily.
“You said you would be up on time.” She said hotly.
“What time is it?” he asked.
“Nearly six thirty! You’ve slept in again! We’re going to have to hurry if we’re going to make it in time. Here eat quickly. She handed him a loaf of bread, and Daniel took a bite. He started to whine about how hard it was and that it was probably stale, but Michelle hushed him quickly and brought him to his feet. She took a handkerchief from her pocket and drenched it in the river. She wrung it out thoroughly and started to wipe his face off.
“Will you stop that?” He muttered, more to himself than to her.
“You look terrible, I’m just making sure that you don’t look like a mess when we go into town.”
“Does it really matter? Besides, I should be doing this to you if anything, you are my little sister.” He moved away from the cloth and put on a pair of small cloth shoes sitting by the bank. He jumped back as he felt his foot hit something cold and slimy, but laughed when it turned out just to be a frog that had been spending the night there.
“I may be your little sister, but that doesn’t mean that you can do anything right.” She replied indignantly. He scratched at her clothes, getting her hand caught in the variety of holes that were spread across them. Her pants were rolled up past her knees, but even so, you could see the mud stains that were plastered on the cloth of her pants.
“Besides,” she continued, “We have to go to Mrs. Purtly’s right now.” She said, and eagerly shoved a shirt into his hands. He took off the one he was wearing and threw it in a ball underneath an under growth. They climbed up the grassy mound to the start of the bridge crossing and began to walk. Michelle was walking ahead, her strides were long and eager. Daniel stayed close behind and watched her walk, wondering how it was she could walk so quickly in the coolness of the new season.
Daniel marveled at the town as it came into view. The bakery was open and they had hot bread sitting outside. A large man was standing in front, waving it around at people, begging them to just take a taste of the wonderful bread. The children were laughing and running in the streets, careful not to knock over any carts, and the fountain that was placed in the very center of the town was running. The water spouting from two turtles sitting side by side, with a single book laying on their backs. Daniel had always loved this fountain, and even when he was a kid, he would sneak over to it to stare in awe at the craftsmanship of the turtles, and the majestic way the water would shoot from their shells and into the shallow pool surrounding them.
Michelle was still walking quickly, she turned down a a block and almost broke into a run as she heard the town bell sound. Daniel followed closely, careful not to lose her, and gasping for breath. Michelle turned into a porch and ran up the stairs, ignoring Daniel’s pleads for a break. She got up to the front door and rang the doorbell. It took a long time for anyone to answer. Daniel has just gotten up all the stairs himself before he heard the knob turn and saw the door open.
The woman who answered the door was thin. Almost too thin even, Daniel thought, as he noticed her collar bone jutting out over her dress. Her neck was long and bony and almost resembled a giraffes, but what sat on top of the neck was quite more frightening. Her head was almost as thin as the rest of her body. The bones in her face protruded out in every direction and her skin was stretched so tightly, Daniel was afraid that it would tear. She had a long nose, with a narrow brow, and on top of her nose she wore a pair of spectacles.
She looked down at the children, her glare was disapproving and she looked as if she might say something but then stopped herself. She took a hand out her black dress and ushered the kids into the house.
“Now children,” She said clean and crispy, “You have to get working now. There is a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it all.” She said it in a tone that meant, because you weren’t on time.
“I’m sorry Mrs.” Michelle apologized and curtsied. Daniel stood still and looked angrily at the woman, and stared in disbelief as he received the same glance from Ms. Purtly.
“We mustn’t dwell on what didn’t happen, but instead what has to happen now. Here is a list of all the things that I need to be done today. On that list you will find cooking, cleaning, and changing my lovely cat Mittens.” A black tabby walked into the room, and Daniel thought he was about to throw up as he saw her stare lovingly at it.
“You will eat promptly at two for your afternoon break, and if you leave this house even once, I will not pay you. Are we in an agreement?” she stuck her head over them, and Daniel couldn’t help but think she looked oddly like a vulture.
“Yes Ms.” Michelle replied quickly for the both of them. She took the list of of Ms. Purtly’s hand and took Daniel to the linen closet where they grabbed the brooms.
“don’t you ever do that again!” Michelle whispered furiously at him, she jerked his arm out of the closet and stuffed a broom in his hand.
‘Do what?” he asked defensively, though he already knew what she was about to say.
“We need this, and you know it. I saw the way that you were looking at Ms. Purtly, and we are only lucky that she’s nice enough to not have cared!”
“Nice?” Daniel exclaimed, “You think that old corroded woman is nice? Haven’t you seen the piles of work she gives us every time we come here. And what does she give us in return? A few dollars maybe, sometimes four!”
“But we need the money,” Michelle stated, hitting him on the leg with her own broom, “ now get sweeping, we haven’t got all day.”
Daniel rubbed the spot where she had hit him, and looked after her angrily for a few moments before he started to sweep his half of the room.