
I am not her - She looks like a fairy tale witch (14.)
"Come here jump!" Anna pulled the little one close to her. The little girl mumbled something contentedly, but it wasn't quite understood. They sat together in silence for a while.
Little Julie enjoyed the feeling she had only known from her father when he held her like that, but something was different. Something that a child's mind wasn't quite able to grasp.
Anna, on the other hand, had to get used to that warm feeling again, one she hadn't felt since her daughter's death.
"You smell nice, Auntie," Julie murmured, snuggling closer to the woman. "This is what I imagined mothers smell like," she continued in a low voice, which made Anna pause and want to ask.
"Aunt Melissa and Daddy don't hold you like that?" She pulled Julie a little away from her so she could look into her face.
"Yeah they do, but it's not like that," came the words that took the young woman completely by surprise and took all the words she had on her tongue. Well, almost all of them.
"You our little dwarf," Anna whispered and hugged the girl again. And in doing so, she met a deep blue gaze that clearly showed tenderness, and that damned smile was back on her face. "You know," she spoke again, quickly tearing her gaze away as she threatened to lose the original thread of thought. "The lady here with us now isn't evil at all, she's just..."
"She's evil. She screams, I don't like her, and she looks like a witch from a fairy tale," Julie stated quietly, pressing herself more towards her as she did so if that was still possible. She wrapped her arms around Anna's neck, which were as cold as two icicles, sending a shiver down the shop owner's spine.
"It may seem that way to you, but like I said, the old lady isn't evil..."
"Then why did she scream and have your books thrown out of the library yesterday?" Anna stiffened for a moment at this statement from Julie, but then she began to stroke the little blonde creature's back and continued patiently in silence.
"Some grown-ups, when something bad happens to them, they get sad afterward, and they hide their sadness just by screaming." Anna paused to catch her breath, but then as she was about to continue, the person the conversation was about spoke up.
"A beautiful and touching speech, my dear." Then there was a loud applause that rang unpleasantly in her ears. Anna turned her head in that direction in a flash. "A really fine performance, just what is true," continued Madame Omelgl, slowly rising from the table.
Anna's eyebrows, meanwhile, drew together into two slits and she sighed softly. Little Julie made a low sound as she did so.
"Don't be afraid," she murmured to her, not taking her eyes from the old woman approaching them surprisingly fast and not just her.
"Will you be wishing for anything else, ma'am?" spoke the deep rich voice of Michael, who stood just beside Ann's chair. The young woman shot him a look that clearly said, stay out of this, I can handle it.
"Ah, I see you still have your protector here. How brave."