The Well Marker by Jack Steen

Author:Jack Steen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Deathbed Publishing

9

BUCKET:

* * *

I was pregnant by the time I was sixteen.

We still lived in that country house in the middle of nowhere.

The field was still full of wildflowers but we’d managed a small vegetable garden to live off as well. The woods no longer scared me, instead, it was my place of comfort, my safety net, my security blanket.

I spent a lot of time in those woods. I knew the best hiding spots, the best trees to read in, where the mushrooms grew and where the animal dens were kept.

Those woods were more home to me than the house I grew up in.

I grew up faster than most kids my age, I think while at the same time remaining more naive and innocent than I should have been.

I never went to school.

Never had friends my own age.

Never spoke much to people when I headed into town with Daddy.

I remained quiet. Hidden in the shadows. I did as I was told and nothing more.

The only place I could be me, the real me, was in the woods.

I still visited the well.

I no longer slept in it but I would go there and pretend that my life was different.

I would pretend my life was like a fairytale. Where I lived in the woods and was cared for by the animals. I knew how to read, so I could climb down into the well and read all day, coming out only when it was getting dark and I had to make dinner for Daddy.

That was my life now.

I cooked and cleaned as best I could.

I helped him repair our home.

I made sure our visitors remained…happy.

My life wasn’t threatened anymore. I became complacent, accepting that this was my life.

This was normal, right? It’s how everyone else lived too.

I would see families in town during our errand runs and I’d wonder if the daddies I saw loved their little girls as much as mine did.

Daddy said no one loved his daughter more than him. That no one else could understand the love we had for each other.

I believed him. Why wouldn’t I?

When we first realized I was pregnant, I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. Daddy said it was important that no one know, that we keep it a secret.

I didn’t understand but I also didn’t argue.

Daddy’s visitors came when I was still in my first trimester. We pretended I was ill with the flu and they stayed away from me.

The second time they came, Daddy was in town and ran out to the well where I hid. It was a surprise they didn’t stay but when Daddy came home, he told me the police were searching for someone and he assumed it was his friends. They knew to stay away. I didn’t understand how they knew but Daddy said it wasn’t for me to worry about.

The third time they came…that was the day my baby knew it wasn’t safe.

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.