Message in a Bottle [LGBTQ+] [ONC 2024]

Chapter Nine

Sunlight beat down on the back of Eli's neck, a single bead of sweat trickled down his back. He sighed. Eli drew his knees a little tighter into his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees as he looked into the pond.

A lone ripple from the fish swimming to the surface spread out across the water. The bright sunlight reflected on the top of the water, obscuring the green weeds and plants growing at the bottom of the pond. The slightly damp grass tickled the back of Eli's legs where he'd pushed his trouser legs up to dip his feet into the cooling water.

Eli closed his eyes against the sunlight. He took a deep breath and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes to try to fight the headache building at the back of his head. In the trees above him, he listened to the birds tweeting away and the slight rustle of the leaves with each soft blow of the only cooling breeze around.

Despite how calming and peaceful it all seemed, Eli's mind spun along with the dull throbbing of a distance headache.

The moment he left the bottle containing his letter in the stream, Eli took off for the pond in the hopes of finding somewhere he can forget about everything, where he could be alone. It didn't work. Instead, his mind screamed at him for being so stupid. It yelled louder than it had before at his own idiotic actions in thinking Samuel could be the friend Eli never knew he needed in his life.

When he returned home from school, having gone out of his way to avoid Peter Upton and his gang, Eli had tucked each letter into the depths of his writing desk drawer until he could burn them. He tucked the letter from Mr Fredricks with them. He should have known better than to think he could do something without his fathers permission all because a stranger told him to.

Eli hated himself for being so trusting so quickly. He should have known better.

"Eli?"

His mother's voice cut through the sounds of the birds in the trees above his head. Eli opened his eyes, stretching his legs out in front of him and letting his feet dangle in the cooling water. He turned towards the trees and watched his mother emerge, a sight he never expected. His parents usually sent Constance to find him.

"Am I late?" he asked.

"No, you have a few hours before we want you home. I just came to see if you are alright."

Eli frowned, lightly kicking his legs in the water of the pond. "I'm fine. All my chores and school work are done, I'm just enjoying the sun."

"Except you said you were going fishing, but you left your fishing pole and bait at home. That's not like you." His mother sat beside him, smoothing her dress against the grass. "That and you've been quieter than normal recently."

"I'm just tired. The heat isn't helping."

"Hm, it certainly is too warm at the moment, especially for your chores."

Eli nodded, saying nothing. He didn't like lying to his mother, but he also didn't want to tell her the truth about the secret letters he'd been writing. Samuel may have been happy to tell his sister, but with what he's written about his father, Eli was not willing to do the same. The last thing he wanted was to create an argument over letters that were never supposed to be read by anyone else.

He didn't think being quiet was a cause for worry, though. He'd never been a big talker, preferring to keep to himself and stay away from the farm wherever possible. It wasn't unusual for him to disappear for hours on end, even if he did forget his fishing pole. There was nothing anyone should have considered strange, at least not how Eli viewed it.

They sat in near-silence, with nothing but the birds tweeting in the trees above him and the slight rustle of the leaves whenever the breeze slipped past them. Eli kicked his feet in the water, welcoming the cooling sensation on his skin and the tickling feeling of the grass against the back of his bare legs. He wished he were alone again, but his mother showed no sign of moving.

"I met Mr Fredricks in the village the other day," she said, turning to her head to look at Eli. "He asked me if you had given me and your father the letter yet."

Eli looked up from the water, his eyes meeting hers for a brief moment before he promptly looked away. He didn't want to see the disappointment staring back at him.

"What was the letter about, Eli?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter."

"Mr Fredricks seems to think it does if he's asking me about it. It didn't seem like you were in trouble, so why keep it a secret? Mr Fredricks was surprised we haven't seen it, he thought you were excited."

Eli shrugged, resting his hands on his lap and playing with his cracked nails. "I just didn't see the point."

"Why not? What was the letter about? If you don't tell me, I can always go and ask Mr Fredricks, but I thought I would put it to you first." His mother lightly knocked his side to push him that little bit more.

"It was about a country-wide test happening in a few weeks. Each school is allowed to nominate someone to go to the city to take the test and the person with the highest test score wins a scholarship to university. Mr Fredricks wants me to take it. They pay for the train fare and everything."

Eli slowly looked up at his mother, watching her face transform from a deep grown of confusion into a large smile that he never expected. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him into her chest and rocking him side-to-side like a child. Confusion drifted through Eli's mind. He never expected a reaction like that, especially when he was supposed to take over the family farm.

"That's incredible, sweetheart!" She released him from the hug, but kept her hands on him. "Why wouldn't you want to tell us? This could be the opportunity of a lifetime if you win the scholarship."

"Papa won't let me go. He wants me to take over the farm. University has always been off the table with him."

"Let me deal with your father. This is not an opportunity to be squandered and I won't let your father get in the way of that."

His mother released his arms and stood up. She brushed the back of her dress, removing the grass, before she disappeared back into the trees to leave Eli alone with his thoughts once more.

~~~

First Published - April 16th, 2024