Graceling Po Novels & Stories

I pulled my coat close and walked over to the figure, crouching down. I offered money and treats. "Here, take this. It's freezing out here; have something warm to eat." The person slowly looked up. The face was so dirty and frostbitten that I could hardly recognize in the faint light. The hair was matted to the head, smelling sour. However, then I saw the eyes, and I could not breathe. They were cloudy and empty, but with a spark of something I knew. It was Shirley. I was stuck in place, my thoughts racing.

It wasn’t ugly, really, it was the scars there that was ugly. If anyone had told her she would be loosing her clothes like this on the edge of the lake in a small town, she would have shaken her head, after all, she didn’t think something like that could happen here. She had felt lighthearted and young and free for those few minutes she had swam for without knowing her clothes were gone. Grace had bought those clothes at a local store back home, and her coat had been bought at a garage sale as a joke to herself for always wearing something so expensive.