LITTLE FLAME KEEP BURNING

LITTLE FLAME KEEP BURNING ..

.. she prayed fervently

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Timidly, she looked around and quietly whispered, “Hello?” She fervently prayed – prayed for what? That she wouldn’t hear anything? Or perhaps, she’d be better off if she did. She wasn’t sure.

The last thing she wanted tonight was to be left alone in the woods on the outskirts of the small town where she lived. It was her seventeenth birthday, and it was also her turn to guard a section the hillside from any and all predators who might come upon her small town.

Mellowtown was just like its name, mellow. It was founded by a small group of about thirty men and women who were tired of the big city rat-race and wanted a more peaceful and simpler place to start and raise their families. After searching for years, they finally found a large enough valley they envisioned as home. They knew the name they’d chosen sounded quirky but thought it would fit them perfectly. “Plus,” said one of the older men, “who in their right mind would want to live in a town called, ‘Mellowtown’?” His friends and neighbors laughed but knew he was right. The name stuck.

For years, everything seemed to be as they thought their lives would be. Their small group expanded, built houses, grew produce, and hunted for their meat. A few of the women used one of the discarded tents as a school. “One day,” they said, “we’ll have a school that won’t sway in the wind.”

Lilia, Lily to her friends, was only seventeen but on her sixteenth birthday, like all the other teenagers in her hometown, she was required to join the junior guard team. They had the responsibility of patrolling the perimeter of Mellowtown during the hours of ten in the evening and one in the morning. Lily wasn’t thrilled with the hours assigned to her and the others in her age category but, as she was reminded often, they only patrolled every third day of each week. Not really so bad, she thought.

Through the night, she would anxiously wait for her communicator to signal the end of her shift. Then she’d see a small light making its way up the hill towards her. At that point, she knew her relief was heading in her direction, and she would soon be heading home.

She checked on the small lantern at the base of the tree where she stood watch. Good, she thought, the little flame is still lit.

She remembered the orders given when she finished her orientation, “Keep your little fame burning. This is how your relief will find you. Keep your radio handy. You never know when you’ll need it. Don’t wander off into the woods, even if you need to relieve yourselves. Do that behind your station, uh, your tree. Once each hour, and you’ll be assigned your designated times, you will press the “send” button on your communicators three times. That will be the signal that you’re ok. If we don’t hear your signal, we’ll anticipate a problem, and a search team will be ordered. Don’t waste our time by forgetting to press your button.” She knew the drill.

Lily heard all the stories about how the town’s people struggled in the past to survive. Some in frustration, left and never returned. Yet, their leaving sparked an immigration of those seeking a better way of life. Soon, the residents of Mellowtown included doctors, nurses, carpenters, masons, and anything else that was needed to make the town thrive. And thrive it did – until one afternoon.

Brylak ran through the town, screaming his wife’s name. “Emma, Emma! Where are you? Where did you go? Has anyone seen my Emma?”

They searched for days, and Emma was nowhere to be found.

“She wouldn’t have wandered off. Our baby was due before the end of the month. Something happened,” Brylak cried.

Emma was never found.

Two months later, another young woman disappeared. Then, another.

Ideas where to look for them were becoming more impossible.

“Dad,” little Mira screamed, “Dad, come here. Hurry!”

Mira’s little ten-year old heart was broken. She knelt next to the lifeless body of her puppy.

Mira’s dad, Jako was in shock. He’d never seen such a murder of such a small pup.

“Aiken,” Jako said, “What do you think? What could have done this?”

His friend examined the pup, whose body appeared as though it had been flattened by a ten-ton truck. There was nothing in their valley that could have crushed anything in such a horrific manner.

“I don’t know Jako, but with the disappearance of Emma, Aila, and Soren, and now Mira’s dog crushed, the theory of a predator in the hills is beginning to look more and more like a realization, and no longer a theory.”

Yes, Lily heard the stories. Lily, through the years, witnessed, firsthand, the disappearances of other family pets, along with a few of the older teens, boys and girls, who every assumed ran away. They no longer wondered why the teens ran away. They knew they didn’t.

)()()()()()(

Through the years, the town’s people captured several animals to use for their survival. They were now raising goats, chickens, and hogs. Lily has seen a number of these also murdered. The difference was that the larger the animal, the more mutilation of its body. A large barn was therefore constructed to keep their animals safe – but safe from whom? Or What? They still didn’t know.

Lily heard Jako comment, “We need to have a meeting with the elders. Maybe they can help us figure this out.”

While she wasn’t supposed to be eavesdropping, Lily was never one to ignore any sort of comments made by those older than she was. After all, thought, how am I ever going to learn anything if I don’t listen? Jako’s comment had Lily smothering her laugh with her hands. Elders? She thought humorously. Elders? The oldest member of our community is only forty-two! In MY book, that ain’t old!

Yet, the younger group, the men between the ages of eighteen and thirty, looked to the older men for guidance and knowledge.

Molan, the eldest of the “elders” suggested, since our group has now grown, that we patrol the perimeter of our valley. “We’ll catch them. Whoever he, she, or they are, we’ll catch them. But we need to be diligent. We need a plan. We need to start a team of guards, starting with those who have just turned sixteen. We’ll set up a schedule for every able-body resident. We’ll catch them; you’ll see.”

That was the beginning of the Town Guards.

Lily, thinking of the responsibility that would be placed on her young shoulders, and the faith the townspeople would have in her, had her eager to join.

Only now, on such a dark night, she wondered about her decision. Something isn’t right, she thought. Something’s off, tonight.

There was no moon that night. The stars were hardly visible. The only lights she saw were the tiny flickering wicks of the small lanterns given to each guard at each post which was almost one hundred yards apart from each other.

Too far away for a conversation, she thought feeling alone.

Too far away should I need immediate help, she feared.

Then she heard it.

It sounded like the snapping of a twig when someone stepped on it.

Lily crouched down at the base of the tree that was her post and uselessly looked around. With the night so dark, she knew she would not be able to see anything or anyone approaching. And yet, she looked. She strained her eyes and looked.

She hoped it was her relief but instinctively knew it was too early. Also, her relief would be carrying a lantern. Also, her relief would not be coming from behind her. Her relief would be walking up the hill from the valley.

Her relief would be …