Silence and secrets

“Letty! Letty!” The tiny blonde girl bounded into the kitchen, leaving a trail of dirt in her wake.

“Stop right there!” Ellette exclaimed.

Dani did as she was ordered, fear widening her bright eye blue eyes. The older girl grabbed a damp towel. “The mud, bunny,” she soothed. “You’re getting it everywhere. Go back outside and take off your shoes.”

The grubby girl nodded and spun; a dirt covered ballerina on tip-toes, carefully stepping in her own footprints back to the door. “I want to show you something,” she called over her shoulder.

“Alright, I’ll be right there.” The thin brunette worked quickly, wiping up the trail.

“I’m an archeoly-ist!” Blonde pigtails bounced as Dani waited in the doorway, as patiently as she could manage.

“A what?” Ellette asked, her angular features softened into a smile.

“Come! I’ll show you what I found!” The girl bounded into the untended wasteland of a yard. Slipping on flip-flops, Ellette blinked in the bright afternoon light, bags under her dark eyes. Bruises mottled her bare upper arms, barely enough flesh to on them to cover the bones.  She stepped carefully around the nettles and weeds.

“I have discovered bones!” Dani announced proudly, revealing her excavation site. She’d unearthed remnants of a once buried creature; bits of fur, long decayed flesh still clung to finger-long bones.

Ellette gasped. Memories seized her; the horrible thump, the crack of tiny bones, those last pitiful pants and breathy soft mews. It had been a surprise for Dani, a pet, a friend. He found it first.

She collapsed to her knees, no longer mindful of the stickers and thorns. Bare hands dug at the hard packed dirt, nails cracked, as she hurried to cover the evidence. Dani joined her, silently re-covering her find. She knew better than to ask what Ellette wouldn't tell.

Silence and secrets, their sacred bond.