After seeing Pegasus without his magic, a mute and inanimate carving rather than a living, speaking mentor, Karen begins a journey into darkness.

Scene 03: Kitten Collapses in Grief

After running home, Karen flopped onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow.

Why? Why? How could anyone be so cruel? How could the city council do such an awful thing?

She heard a knock on her door.

“Karen, honey, it’s Mama. Can I come in, please?”

Karen took a deep breath and sighed, “Okay.”

“What happened to you? What got you so upset?”

“They closed the carousel, Mama!”

“What do you mean, my Krana Layala? Who closed the carousel? How could this have happened?”

Kitten sniffled and could not utter another word. She lay still and tried to relax as she felt Mama’s strong hands massage her back. After a while, she felt Mama’s hands leave her back, and then the bed shifted as Mama stood. She felt Mama’s kiss on the back of her head, and the door closed.

She was alone. In spite of her grief, she appreciated her mother’s respect for her privacy. She knew Mama was trying to let her grow up, and that she was beginning to trust Mama in a new way.

She then lay for hours, debilitated by grief, crying, mind filled with images of the scattered horses on the floor, of Pegasus standing alone, mute and inanimate amid the wreckage. Her body trembled. She knew she was deeply shaken. Overcome by weakness and exhaustion, she descended into a deep sleep filled with nightmares of Pegasus and the hippodrome without their magic.

©2021, Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved.