Gambit of the Gods by Ashley Angela

Author:Ashley, Angela [Ashley, Angela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17: Malisanth

My four sisters and I have been locked in the closet for so long, time no longer has any meaning. My youngest sister, Mapril, hasn’t spoken in a long while. I sense nothing from her, or from any of the others. Mapril will reach eight summers soon. I’m the second-oldest, with twelve summers.

The last time we ate or drank—I think it must have been about two days ago. Mother snuck up the stairs to our closet door while Grandmama was sleeping and gave Mylora a plate of torn bread and a small jar of water. We fought over the bread, hands reaching through the darkness in desperation, with some quiet shoving and pinching. We must not wake Grandmama. She’ll leave us in here longer if she hears us.

When she dragged us in here the first time and locked the door behind us, we tried to comfort each other. Mapril was afraid of the dark, her terror so palpable we all quivered with it, but we managed to distract her for a while by playing silly, made-up games. Could she guess how many fingers I was holding up? Could she tell which one of us her fingers found in the dark without us speaking? Who could go longest in the question game, where someone asks a question, and another answers with a question, and so on?

The next several times, we tried to sleep as much as possible, hoping we would wake to the sight of the door opening. The few times Mother managed to sneak us food or water, we tried to share it out amongst ourselves as equally as we could. When at last the door opened and Grandmama beckoned, we were so careful to file out quietly, carrying our full chamberpot. We tried to play quietly and dampen our emotions, especially whenever Grandmama was nearby. Sometimes we tried to hide.

But it didn’t matter how quietly we played or how careful we were to stay out of Grandmama’s sight. Suddenly she would be there, glowering at us, her long nails scratching us as she grabbed us by our hair and dragged us two at a time to the closet door, mumbling incoherently. We learned not to fight her—she’s very strong; she’ll pull your hair out, and gladly. Midalya, the third eldest, still has swaths of hair missing from struggling the last time Grandmama locked us up.

We stopped misbehaving long ago because she’d come at us with a stick and beat us bloody first, then hurl us into the closet—it didn’t even matter if some of us had done nothing. If we pounded on the door, cried too long, or made too much noise, Grandmama would open the door, hit whoever was closest with her stick, and lock us back in.

I’m Mother’s favorite, so my sisters sent me several times to entreat her to protect us from Grandmama. But Mother only shakes her head listlessly. Once she whispered that she used to be locked in the closet too, before shaking her head again and hurrying away, afraid that Grandmama might somehow overhear us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.