Withered

Samhain Night

Come on, Zoe, get it together. Stop crying. He is going to hear me sobbing. I should run. I must get out. They have pushed me too far. I will suffer no more. They won’t miss me if I leave. They act as though I am invisible. Why have a child that you are only going to ignore? How could they leave me with him after I told them what he was doing to me– groping his filthy hands all over me, making do things I didn’t want to with him? How could they just turn me away as a liar and still leave me alone with this sicko. Oh no, he’s coming. He must have heard me crying.

Zoe Braiden pulled her blankets to her chin as the door to her bedroom slowly crept open. She froze in horror as a tall, masculine male shadow stepped into her room.

“What’s wrong? I heard you crying?”

“Nothing, just cramps, I just need to rest.”

Sometimes he would leave her alone if she said she was on her period. She hoped he would buy it.

“Cramps, huh, you just had your period last week. From what your parents told me you had quite the PMS episode.”

He stepped closer to her bed. She pulled the blankets even tighter against her. Her bottom lip trembled with what was to come next. He sat down on her bed. Her mind told her to run– now, but her body remained frozen, clinging onto the blankets.

Not again. Come on body work.

She could feel him lean closer to her. Liquor seeped through his skin, making him smell like what he drank. His breath had the same odor as he breathed right in her face.

“You’re so beautiful, Zoe. Your beauty is too alluring. I can’t resist you.”

He held her down as he ripped her clothes off. He ripped his own clothes off, without once letting go of her.

Zoe tried to scream. “No, stop,” but her voice would not follow. She couldn’t fight him. She was scared if she fought him, he would surely kill her. She was small and fragile, while he was strong and manly. She didn’t have a choice but to lay there and let him have his way with her.

He thrust his pelvis into her. Pain ignited throughout her. She was convinced he was going to rip her wide open. Tears flowed fiercely down her cheeks as he took the most precious thing she could ever give to a man. Minutes that felt like hours passed, and it was all over. He left her there, without looking back, closing the door behind him. She sobbed out loud.

The earth seemed to rumble as much as she cried. It must have been a tremor. She didn’t care. Earthquake or not she was leaving. She had to go where nobody could find her. If she was going to leave, she had to leave now.

Zoe slowly got up. Her whole lower body ached of her uncle’s presence. How could he do this to her? He was so much older than she. She had to find someone to confide in. Someone who she knew would listen to her– but not her parents. She can’t tell them about this.

Zoe searched for her pajama bottoms on the bed. When she found nothing but a blanket, she got up out of bed. She felt something warm and wet running down her legs. She ignored it since she needed to get out of there quickly.

She found her pajama bottoms about two feet from her bed. She quickly put them on along with her jacket and shoes. She didn’t bother packing up anything. She had to go– now.

She opened a window and pushed out the screen. She was small and thin, so she easily fit through the window. The cold wind from the outdoors felt inviting.

Her parents had a privacy fence put up, so she knew the only chance she had for an escape was the deck, which if she stepped on the padlock, she could climb over the fence. The deck was almost even with the fence. It couldn’t be any more than three to four feet from each other.

There was only one flaw in her plan. She had to pass the patio/pool area, which was also a clear view right into the living room. Also, even when she does jump the fence she still had to pass the full length of the house. If her uncle catches her, it could mean further trouble for her. She knew she had to do this, but she had to be sneaky about it.

Zoe peeked through the bushes and flowers from her backyard. She searched the living room to look for her uncle. There was no sign of him. She wondered if he already noticed her missing. She couldn’t waste any time or wait for him to come back.

She ignored the pain that ran down through the bottom half of her body. She ignored the fear that coursed through every nerve in her body. She sprinted across the backyard. He didn’t return. She sighed with relief. The first half was over.

She walked across the length of her backyard until she reached the deck. There was nobody in sight. The bedroom that her parents normally stayed in was dark. She was home free. The red moon lit her way, which was raised high on this mid Samhain night. Some call Samhain Halloween, our New Year. Some Samhain this was for her. She leaped the fence of her one-story home. She was about to run when she heard a voice.

She could hear her uncle talking on the phone ordering a pizza, and she could smell the cigarette he was smoking. His after child-rape cigarette– what a pig? She was waiting for him to go back inside. When she heard the door close, she bolted out of the bushes and ran as fast as she could past her house. When she was halfway past her house, she walked so she wouldn’t draw any attention to herself. A girl her age shouldn’t be out roaming the streets this time of night.

The cold air caressed against her thin pajamas. She clutched her coat tighter. Her coat wasn’t much more than a small jean jacket, but it was better than nothing. A small breeze from the north made her shiver when it hit her pajama bottoms. She seemed to be colder down there than anywhere else. She ignored the bitter cold and pushed on.

About a half hour passed before she reached her secret place in the Dismal Meadows. She knew they wrapped Ivoria, Deadsin, and Castle Rock, with a small break at Castle Rock’s castle grounds. Ivoria, the land where she is from, has the forest quite a way from the ocean. Castle Rock has their forest closer to the ocean, but it would take a long time to get there by foot. Deadsin’s forest is part of the beach there, making a park recreation into an ocean oasis.

Zoe walked till she found a burnt shack with an altar beside it. She came to this place, her secret place, to think. She always felt at home in the forest and sought comfort in its soil. The birds became her song. The animals became her friends. The flowers and trees were inner parts of her blossoming out, keeping her from dying inside.

From the moment she looked at the black soil around her altar, she fell to her knees. The red moon lit up her body and for the first time, she saw her whole bottom half was covered in blood. She screamed into the forest night. She heard something scatter away. Night birds fluttered away from their suddenly loud atmosphere.

She felt something move underneath her, but she ignored it. She was in too much pain. She collapsed and laid on the black soil. She cried harder than she ever did before. How could life be so cruel to her?

She felt the earth shake underneath her. The rumble was enough to stop her crying. She sat up and looked around, placing her hand on the black soil. The earth rumbled again. Oh no, another earthquake and she was stuck in the middle of nowhere.

She was about to run when something pulled her down. Her wrists felt bound to the ground. She looked down to notice they were. It astonished her that they were bound by vines. She tried to break free, but the grip was too tight. This is the time where she wished she had a knife. She squirmed from one side to the other, but the vines held her like a death grip.

She pushed her feet further, hoping to uproot the vines, kicking at them. Her ankles became bound just like her wrists. It was like the forest came alive and was consuming her very being. Similar vines wrapped around her waist, pinning her to the forest floor.

Strangely, she thought she would be terrified, but she felt comfort in the soil that was beneath her. She closed her eyes and silenced her nerves as she let nature take her. Vine after vine covered her. The earth trembled even more as her body went deeper and deeper into the forest.

The vines now covered her whole self. She only thing she could see was the inside of the vines that covered her. The vines seemed to vibrate along with the soil. Darkness swept over her as the forest took one of their own.