Chapter 2 Changes

As soon as they were out of sight, discord erupted as children bellowed and more people emptied the contents of their stomachs. She and Ty stayed in place, his arms wrapped even tighter around her as she sobbed harder. Voices rang out loudly as parents looked for their children in the crowd and people fought their ways through the clutter, desperate to get away from the ugly scene. There was so much happening, so so much. She wondered how long they had to stay put to avoid being trampled on. Just as she thought she couldn't take it no more, she heard a voice.

A voice so familiar the mere sound of it made her want to cry all over again in relief.

"Tyson!!! Ariella!!!!!". Ty heard their mum's voice too and with renewed energy, he released her from his embrace while still holding on tight to her arm and looked around the square anxiously. "TYSON!!!". They heard her call out, pure distress in her voice.

"Mama!!!!!!". She and Tyson called out in unison, joining in the eruptive chaos of the villagers. "Mama!!!!!!!".

"ARIELLA!!!!!!".

"Mama!!!". With her hand tucked safely into his, their earlier bag of purchases dangling off his narrow shoulders, Ty pulled her along. For a 13 year old, he was tall and gangly and that enabled him to gaze over heads as he frantically searched for their mum. Even while she knew her efforts would be in vain, Ella stood up on tiptoes and craned her neck as she joined in the search for a glimpse of the brown dress their mum always wore to the market. She felt a tug in the opposite direction and she struggled to maintain her footing as Ty dragged her through the crowd towards where she guessed he must have seen their mum. And after what seemed like forever between the jumble of legs, she broke through after Ty and there she was, their mum.

Her headscarf was askew and she stood there, more than a few feet away beside a wooden stand, eyes roaming frantically as she tried to find her children in the crowd. At the sight of them, Ella saw her mum's body deflate with relief and tears spring into her eyes as she hitched the skirts of her dress up her ankles and made towards them in a sprint, her long, platinum blonde hair which had come undone beneath the scarf splaying side to side with each step. Tears sprang into her own eyes and she yanked her hand out of Ty's as she raced towards her mum too, well aware of her brother right behind her, hot at her heels. They met somewhere roughly midway and before she could help it, she threw herself into her mum's arms, unable to contain the fresh batch of tears that sprang into her eyes and down her cheeks.

"Mama.....Mama.........". She called in between sobs as she buried her face in her mum's neck, feeling the moment Ty was also pulled into the embrace behind her.

"It's okay". Her mum smoothed the fly away strands of her thick, dark braid with one hand while holding Ty closer with the other. "Are you fine? Are you hurt anywhere?". She pulled them back and assessed them frantically. Ella wanted to tell her that they were fine, that she didn't have to worry. But she still felt sick and the sobs still racked her body.

"We are fine, ma". Tyson said.

When her mum's hand that rested on her shoulder froze, Ella thought she might have seen something behind them. She glanced back expecting the worst but didn't see anything. At the same time that she turned back, she heard her mum's loud gasp. Even through the haze of tears that blurred her vision, Ella could see that her mum's face was ashen, her eyes widened in what looked like fear as she stared ahead, right at Ella's neck.

"Is everything okay, ma?". Tyson asked.

When her mum still didn't answer, Ella felt the unease grow in her guts. "Mama?". She said in a small voice.

That finally snapped their mum out of her reverie. "Yes....yes....come here. Come here, sweethearts, everything will be fine. I promise". As she pulled them into her embrace, Ella was sure her mum was shaking. Confused but too overwhelmed to think, she snuggled into her mother tighter and made to close her eyes. But not before she saw the streak of platinum blonde hair, identical to her mum's, resting atop her own shoulder. It took her a moment to realized it was hers, the hair was hers. She wanted to talk but her mum pulled her in even tighter, clutching her shoulders as she kissed her forehead repeatedly and whispered. "Shhhhh.....don't talk. Everything will be fine I promise". Right in that moment, with her small body cocooned into her mum's and her brother's warm chest resting reassuringly against her back, Ella felt safe, so safe she wanted to close her eyes and imagine she hadn't just seen her hair change color or witnessed a scene that would haunt her forever.