A slow fall

Chapter 11 - Caleb

     The next week was similar to every other, though after the events of Friday night my parents hovered around me more than usual.

The first punishment they decided upon was simple; I needed to come straight home after school and hand over my phone when I came in. It was their way of limiting my contact with the Kellers.

Seeing Eve again seemed to have affected them even more than the fire did.

They gave me a lecture Sunday night about how my actions reflected on the family. How rumours had already been spread and their reputation was now being threatened.

I was able to attend Church related activities. On Tuesday night we would be meeting to discuss our stalls: who'd be running what and with who. Friday's youth session was replaced with a health & safety talk.

Since I would've likely helped at this event anyway, it wouldn't teach me what it needed to learn.

I needed to learn how to properly behave. I was corrupt. A misguided soul that was damned and taking my family down with it.

So I spent my nights in the dark.

Our house had a small cupboard under the stairs, large enough to use as a storage container but not much more. When I was younger my parents took to locking me in there as punishment. Sometimes they would sit outside and read me passages from the Bible, other times they would tell me to reflect. They said this was how they punished my brothers too.

We never spoke about it.

My fear of the dark started around then. Small spaces as well.

That only made the room a more frequent place for punishment.

Now I no longer comfortably fit in the space, maybe they thought that for the best.

So after my long days of school, I'd come home, do my homework under their watchful eyes and when night came, the darkness followed me to that room.

I used to kick up a fuss, beg and plead to not go there, now I just followed. My body barely my own.

While I never normally slept, being in my bed with my lamp that kept me company and Froggy in my arms, I felt some sense of comfort. I could rest even for only a little while.

Now I had to sleep during lunch. Something that only seemed to worry Marcus more.

Thankfully, come Saturday morning my parents assured me that if I behaved—if people sung my praises and Friday night was no longer the main topic of gossip—I would be allowed to sleep in my room again.

I promised them I would.

Bodies far to awake for this time in the morning jovially moved about in the main square. Their eyes felt intrusive, their stares scorching, yet no one was even paying attention.

Gazebos were slowly being assembled, items being carried from cars to designated areas, and Mary stood front and centre—trusty clipboard in hand and a large smile on her face.

"Reporting for duty?" I nodded, offering a smile and a few words in greeting. "You remember where you are?" Yes. "What you're doing?" Yes. "Do you need any help?" No. "Okay, well give me a shout if you need anything. Oh, this is so exciting! It's going to be a great day."

It was half six. No one had the right to be this chipper. I was surviving off three cups of coffee, black, and a bagel. If she carried on spewing rainbows I might actually throw up.

The next two hours saw more than forty stalls being set up, all a variation of the same.

I always forgot how overstimulating these places could be. The people, the noises, the smells.