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司氏姐妹第十章：逃離

作者：Wuwuyu 於 2012-8-25 22:05 發表於最熱鬧的華人社交網路--貝殼村

作者分類:翻譯小說|通用分類:原創文學|已有4評論

關鍵詞：童話小說, 學英語, 中國女孩, 移民生活, 哈利波特

http://theswitchsisters.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/chapter-10-escape/

第十章逃離

門框里的影子越來越大，灰橙色的光芒在其背後閃耀。瑪麗深吸了一口氣，讓她內心得以清醒。她深深知道她需要她的所有能力，她把手伸向摩根。

我們總算遇到它了（看來得來全不費工夫），摩根回想給她。瑪麗捏了捏妹妹的手，在黑暗中點了點頭。

陰影開始大闊步地快速向走廊深處邁進。摩根集中精力想儘力帶回她的光。一個小小的火焰在空氣中閃亮了一下，又很快熄滅。突然，整個房間亮了起來。有一會兒，女孩們沉默無語。

「媽媽？」

站在她們面前的是穿著黑色長外套的法媽。在燈光上，她突然變得矮小很多。她的臉色鐵青而蒼白。

「你們，」她說，「你們知道你們在干什么嗎？」她的聲音小的幾乎聽不到，卻充滿了整個房間。聲音很尖很細，姐妹們能感覺到它像針線一樣穿透她們的皮膚。

「你們以為我會沒有注意到？」摩根剛開始說話，法媽已從三個妹妹那兒轉向瑪拉，給她們一個以後再說的表情。

她對著牢房門口的鎖揮了揮手，鎖咔嚓一聲打開。

「來吧，」她說著，把門打開。

瑪拉抬頭用濕潤和紅紅的眼睛看著她的母親，但沒有移步。「媽媽，」她說。「我很抱歉。」

挺直著背，瞪著冷冷的眼睛，法媽沒有回應。

「我們已經試過了，」米娜尖著嗓子說，但看到母親默默地瞪了她一眼，又躲回瑪麗的身後。

法媽再次把牢門咔嚓一聲關閉，看了她的大女兒最後一眼，轉身向出口走去。姐妹們互相看著，皺起的額頭充滿了擔心和困惑。

「摩根」，法媽說著，頭也不回。「給我們一些你的光。」燈光暗淡下來，而瑪拉的牢房中再次出現了摩根的火球。它通過欄桿隨著法媽飄走在過道上。瑪麗和摩根把手透過欄桿伸向瑪拉。米娜拽著她的衣服。

「你確定嗎？」摩根說。

「好好照顧自己，」瑪麗說。

姐妹們七手八腳地站起身，跟隨她們的母親出了門。

在前面的房間，鎖在浴室的看守已經放棄了試圖脫身。淙淙流水聲從關閉的衛生間里傳來，廁所的水仍在輕輕攪動。法媽看了一下門，又看了一下瑪麗。瑪麗微微點頭，流水的噪音便停止了。

法媽伸出手來。

「鑰匙」。

米娜把鑰匙交給她的母親，她手攥著鑰匙，走出門外，示意她的女兒們隱藏在離房子不遠的一叢灌木叢中。女孩們跟著她出了門，向灌木叢跑去。

火勢已經蔓延，已靠近貓尾巴花叢的邊緣。被她們引誘出來的看守拿著水桶在池塘和草地之間狂亂地跑來跑去，並對著空氣大聲的詛咒。法媽把她黑色外套的罩布披在頭上。罩布又輕又黑，她似乎消失在黑暗之中。她快速無聲地走到看守哪里，把鑰匙扣回他的皮帶上的，又無聲地滑回她的女兒們等待的地方。回來時她已氣喘吁吁。

她說：「我們要快點。他可能已經呼叫了增援。大家正在趕來的路上。「

女孩們立即站起來，即使這樣，她們已開始聽到人群從街上趕來的聲音。路上投射過來的一個個拉長的身影，證實了法媽的猜測。

瑪麗閉上眼睛，在地面漂浮的薄霧瞬時變成像雲一樣濃厚，幾乎完全隱蔽了周圍的房子。摩根燒亮了她的火球以清除法媽和姐妹們周圍的濃霧。米娜拉著她們倆的手，跟著法媽，跑向小鎮另一頭的街道。

這段路跑得又快又靜。姐妹們真想大聲喘息，但她們知道，雜訊會帶給她們追加的懲罰。她們在想象回家后會發生什么。現在她們與法媽在一起，她們不再有那種讓呼吸停止在喉嚨里的對未知的緊張恐懼。代替它的是對媽媽的懲罰的畏縮焦慮。她們可以看到從母親的小小身體里散發出的憤怒。

米娜在腦海里回想著今晚發生的事情，試圖去理解每件發生的事都合附常情。她不太明白為什么瑪拉不願離開。然而，更令人費解的是，她的母親為何如此輕易放棄。在法媽趕到時，米娜的那部分害怕被逮個正著的恐懼消除了。雖然姐妹們無法說服瑪拉回家，法媽應該會有辦法的。為什么母親不試一試？她甚至似乎不關心，對瑪拉蓬頭垢面的形象沒有如何的憐憫和感動。米娜不理解，她只能解釋，認為母親必然知道一些她們所不知道的東西。她真希望自己能和瑪麗和摩根溝通一下，而且不用說話，就像她們相互之間那樣。

但摩根和瑪麗並沒有互相溝通。她們各自迷失在她們自己的思想中。摩根不知道她們是如何被發現的，她偷偷溜出去那么多次，對母親的提防措施從前到后了解得一清二楚。瑪麗把今晚的事情重新演播了一番，她在尋找是否有什麼細節被人注意到或懷疑，是否有什麼地方可以值得改進。

她們轉進塔瑪尼巷，她們搖搖欲墜的房子就座落在巷尾，其歪斜的黑色輪廓襯托著紫色的夜空。風吹拂著，在斷斷續續的霧塊中，房子看上去就像是一個彎腰駝背的孤獨的身影，為今晚的失敗而悲痛。

Chapter 10 – Escape

The shadow grew in the frame of the door, and a gray orange light glowed behind it. Marie took a deep breath to clear her mind, knowing she would need all of her faculties, and reached for Morgan´s hand.

We got this, Morgan thought to her. Marie squeezed her sister´s hand and nodded in the dark.

The shadow started to move down the hall with long, brisk strides. Morgan concentrated, trying her best to bring back her light. A small flame flickered in the air between and quickly went out. Then, the whole room lit up. For a moment, the girls were silent.

「Mom?」

Standing in front of them was Fa Switch in her long black coat. Now that the lights were on, she suddenly appeared much shorter. Her face was livid and pale.

「What,」 she said, 「do you think you』re doing?」 Her voice was a whisper that was almost inaudible yet filled the room. It was sharp and thin, and the sisters could feel it penetrating their skin like a needle and thread.

「Did you think I wouldn』t notice?」 Morgan started to speak but Fa turned from the three younger sisters to Mara, giving them a look that said there would be more to discuss later.

She waved her hand over the lock of the cell door, and it clicked open immediately.

「Come,」 she said, holding the gate open.

Mara looked up at her mother with wet, red eyes but didn』t budge. 「Mom,」 she said. 「I』m so sorry.」

Back straight and eyes cold, Fa didn』t respond.

「We already tried,」 Mina piped up, but hid behind Marie again when her mother shot her a silencing stare.

Fa clicked the cell door shut again, took one last look at her oldest daughter, and turned around. She walked toward the exit. The sisters looked at each other with folded foreheads that were at once worried and confused.

「Morgan,」 Fa said without turning around. 「Give us some of your light.」 The lights dimmed, and Morgan』s ball of flame reappeared in Mara』s cell. It floated through the bars and down the hallway after Fa. Marie and Morgan reached through the bars and took Mara』s hand. Mina tugged on her dress.

「Are you sure?」 Morgan said.

「Take care of yourself,」 Marie said.

The sisters scrambled to their feet and followed their mother out of the door.

In the front room, the guard who had been locked in the bathroom had given up trying to get out. A light gurgling came from the closed bathroom door, the toilet still churning lightly. Fa looked at the door and then at Marie. Marie nodded slightly, and the noise stopped.

Fa held out her hand.

「The keys.」

Mina handed the keys to her mother, who clutched them in her hand, stepped outside, and motioned for her daughters to hide in a clump of bushes some yards from the house. The girls followed her out and ran to the bush.

By now the fire had grown and was lapping up the edge of the cattails. The officer they had lured outside was running about frantically to and from the water with the bucket, and was shouting curses in to the air. Fa Switch pulled the hood of her long black jacket over her head. The cloth was so light and dark that she seemed to disappear into the darkness. She walked swiftly and silently to where the officer was, looped the keys back on his belt, and glided noiselessly back to where her daughters were waiting. She arrived panting and out of breath.

「We have to hurry. He』s called for help. People are on their way.」

The girls got up immediately, but even as they did they started to hear the sound of a crowd coming down the street. The shadows of bodies elongated on the road confirmed their suspicions.

Marie closed her eyes, and the thin mist that already floated near the ground thickened into a cloudy fog that obscured the house almost completely. Mara burned the fire brighter to clear the fog near the sisters and Fa. Mina clutched both of their hands, and following Fa, they ran up the street towards the other side of town.

The walk was silent and quick. The sisters would have gasped to catch their breath, but they knew that the noise would bring them additional punishment from their mother. They wondered what would happen when they got home. Now that they were with Fa, the nervous fear of the unknown that made their breath stop in their throat was no longer there. It was replaced by a cowering anxiety. They could see their mother』s wrath emanating from her small body.

Mina turned the events of the night over in her mind, trying to make sense of what had happened. She couldn』t quite understand why Mara would not leave. More puzzling, however, was why her mother had so easily given up. When Fa arrived, the part of Mina that wasn』t terrified at being caught red handed was relieved. Even if the sisters could not convince Mara to go, Fa would make her. Why hadn』t her mother tried at all? She hadn』t even seemed to care, and didn』t appear hurt or moved by Mara』s disheveled appearance. Mina did not understand it, and could only explain it by thinking that Fa must know something that they did not. She wished that she could communicate to Marie and Morgan without speaking, like they could to each other.

But Morgan and Marie were not communicating with each other. Each was lost in her own thoughts. Morgan wondered how they had been caught: she had snuck out so many times and knew her mother』s precautions front to back. Marie rolled over the events of the evening, looking for gaps where someone might have seen them or suspected, trying to decide if there was anything that could have gone better.

They turned on Tamany Lane, where their rickety house sat on the end, a crooked black outline against the purple night sky. The wind was blowing, and in the pulsing fog, the house looked like it was bending over and clutching its middle–a lonely figure, grieving for the losses of the night.