𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫- a short story

𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

"Virginia, we have to leave. Now."

"But why, Evelyn?"

Evelyn is so silly sometimes, but she's never been this desperate before.

"The bad men are coming. They know what you did, and they're coming to take you away."

What... I did?

"But Evelyn, I don't recall, what I have done?"

"Virginia Winters, we must leave. Grab what you can, your family will be alright. We have to get to safety."

So I complied. I grabbed a cloth sack, filled it with clothes for Evelyn and myself, some apples and bread for the road, and a hide pouch for water. I made my way out of the front door, towards the town's wooden gate, and slipped into the forest, unseen.

We rested a few, laughing and chatting, not a care in the world or a memory preserved about what happened back home.

"Evelyn I have a question..."

"Yes, Virginia?"

"Where might we go? I was thinking to the next town a day's walk away, Auntie Sally lives there and she can take us in!"

The mood seemed to dim, the trees and surrounding foliage losing the color they had preserved.

"Virginia, we must travel farther into the woods, leave your old life behind. I- you have done the unthinkable and must flee; flee to the farthest point where no fellow human flesh can lay eyes on you, or you will be hanged or burned alive for the crimes you have committed."

I froze, unsure how to take the words that Evelyn had spoken. Auntie could keep me safe, I'd known she'd loved me more than my mother. Speaking of mother... why did I not hear her come home that night...?

"Don't think about your past Virginia, we must move forward and into the forest."

I then stand up and begin walking, as Evelyn has instructed, and start to head further on the path ahead, but instead my foot meets rock and I trip, tumbling into the woods. I roll and roll until my back slams against the trunk of a tree. I see thick red blood trickling down from my forehead- I must have cut myself when I fell. I slowly feel the blackness take hold of me, and I let it.

I felt a soft trickle of liquid on my head where I stand. Wait... I don't remember getting up. Where might I be?  I open my eyes and I see the destruction that resides in front of me. The trees... burned to a crisp. The grass... black as night. The air... it smells of smoke and ash. As miserable as the sight is, the rain makes the atmosphere a little easier to stand within. I can't help but feel something is off. I can't hear Evelyn anymore. Where might she have gone?

"Virginia, I am here."

"Oh Evelyn you had me worried, where have you taken us?"

"Far away from your home and the town that your auntie resides in."

"But why? We could be safe there! She makes the best bread and butter cakes."

"Virginia, after what you did, nobody will want you. It is only I who can forgive you, who will care for you and make sure you are safe and sound."

"Oh but Evelyn, you still have not told me what I have done. I don't recall doing anything that night but going to bed while Mother and Father were out getting food from the markets."

She goes silent, a million words left unspoken. The mood swings in the air, the rain picks up, lightning lights up the night sky, the thunder shaking the earth with its war cry.

"Virginia, I can't tell you or you won't love yourself anymore."

"I don't care, I wish to know! Why won't you say?!"

I turn and run away. Evelyn is really scaring me now and my gut is telling me to get out of here, but I have no idea where to go.

So I keep running, as fast as I can, despite the storm and the lightning and the thunder I just want to get to my auntie. I run until I can't, and I fall to my knees at the foot of a rain puddle.

I feel her before she speaks.

"Virginia, don't look in the water."

I want to look.

"Virginia, I said do not look at yourself!"

I won't listen to her anymore.

"VIRGINIA!"

I glance down into the water and the heat drains from my face.

Blood.

And my mothers necklace around my neck...

Stained with blood I can only assume is hers.

"E-Evelyn...?"

Silence.

"Evelyn, where are you? Why won't you speak?"

"I'm here, Virginia."

"Oh... then..."

I freeze, the sound of my heartbeat louder than the thunder.

"Evelyn, why can't I see you?"

༻❁༺

"Hey, Marcus look! A body!"

"Where at, men?"

Marcus walks to where his men stand, and glances at the pit of mud in the spot of burned down forest. There lies the body of a young girl, not even 14. Blue in the face, pieces of skin missing- she's been dead for a while. The girl he was tracking. The girl who killed her entire family in one night with no given reason according to the townsfolk, then fled for only God knows why. The description was right- a light blue nightgown, brown hair, green eyes.

The eyes- that's what surprised Marcus the most. They looked shocked and scared, like something unexpected happened.

"Marcus, it looks like she drowned herself. It was likely from guilt, but..why so far from the town? We've been searching for her for over a week. Something doesn't add up."

"I know, but there's nothing much we can do. She's dead and gone, not much sense in looking too far into it. It's alright, let's take her back to the church where they can condemn her and put her in the pit with the others."

So they hauled the girl's body onto the cart, and rode away on their horses...

As the wind blew away the leaves...

Covering up a set of small footprints...

And a blood stained necklace.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠!

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞

𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐬, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥

𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐢𝐱𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐲