Down By The River

3

𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕟 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥
𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕟 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥

Charlotte was glad when church was over. She enjoyed it, but it was getting quite tiring after a while and her mother would glare at her when she wasn't following the mass closely enough and got distracted. Charlotte had memorised all the movements and words over time, but sometimes she was caught off guard and then her mother always noticed without fail.

And she would always hear all about it as soon as they got home. Never in front of the neighbours in the church, of course not. What would they be thinking? But behind closed doors things were very different and Charlotte hated it. She hated that it was so inconsistent - sometimes her mother would forget about it, sometimes she'd get slapped for it at home and would have to do extra chores.

Charlotte sighed and got up from the pew, looking around herself to find her friend Eugenia. They had basically grown up together and were spending every free minute with each other. Unfortunately their free time was getting less and less, since they both had to do more and more chores around the house. But still, they usually walked home after mass every Sunday and spent some time together on the way. They both lived close enough to each other and it was a long way from the church back home.

Charlotte waved at Eugenia and turned to her mother. She still would have to ask permission, but she was sure that her mother wouldn't say no. After all, she could get started on swiping the floor sooner if she was home earlier. She tried to find her mother in the crowd and she could finally spot her talking to Mrs. Fletcher. Charlotte grimaced. She didn't like Mrs. Fletcher. Her daughter died a few years ago - she had been washed up by the river with strangulation marks on her neck. No one had ever been arrested, but everyone knew that it was Zachariah Wright who had done it - they had been going out and it was just the most logical assumption that they had had a fight and he had killed her and thrown her in the river, hoping she wouldn't be found. But Zachariah had left the town soon after the accusations had started and hasn't been seen since. He had just disappeared off the face of the earth or so it seemed.

Charlotte thought she remembered Zachariah from when she was younger... she must have only been 5 years old at the time. He seemed to be a nice person and she remembered that she used to get on well with him, but apparently that was deceiving. Everyone was convinced that he had killed Grace Fletcher all those years ago and his disappearance wasn't really proving anything to the contrary. Surely, if he was innocent, he wouldn't have left, right?

Either way, it didn't matter. Charlotte made her way over to where her mother and Mrs Fletcher were talking. Mrs Fletcher looked tired and much older than she was, as usual. Charlotte knew that her husband was a notorious drinker - the entire town knew about it. She didn't have an easy life, but it had turned her into a harsh and unkind person. She rarely left her house and whenever Charlotte met her, Mrs Fletcher was in the worst mood she could imagine.

She made her way through the pews until she got to where they were talking. She knew that she shouldn't be interrupting them, but she also didn't want to wait until they were done. So she just stood there, listening to what they were saying and waiting for a good moment to chime in.

"... would have been in her 30s if that hadn't happened... It would have been nice if she had found a nice young man to get married to and to have kids... but instead this cretin... this... this murderer had to..."

"I know, I know, it's not easy. It's such a shame what happened..." she heard her mother saying.

"I'm just glad he's gone... it would have been her birthday last week and I always get so upset around that time... but I'm keeping you, I'm sorry." Mrs Fletcher replied. Charlotte saw her mother glancing back at her.