The Lonely Girl

Chapter 2

I stayed quiet, afraid of what will happen, but couldn't say a word. I went to sleep last night sobbing with excruciating pain and marks on my face and knees. My punishment was to be beat with a belt like always. This time there was something new. I had to kneel on a large pile of salt for about an hour. As I kneeled she would whip me with the belt over and over again until she got tired.

In the morning, the pain was even worse and I was just in my bed thinking that I would never go back into that room. Sharon came in, slamming the door open. "Rise and shine little one," she yelled in a way that might seem sweet but no, this was no way sweet. She said it in the most horrific way as if I was about to kneel down on more salt.

"I have a big job for you to do today." She said.

Sharon worked at a nearby farm. Her job was to feed the animals and go searching for wood to build a shack to hold all the food. She had gathered up all the wood and as another punishment I had to build the shack. I decided that I wanted to do a good job to impress her. I worked all day pounding nails into wood and painting the shack royal blue as Old man Jones instructed me to.

Old man Jones was nothing but the owner of this farm. He was very kind and pleasant to be around.

"May I offer you a drink?" Old man Jones said. I stayed silent because I was afraid that Sharon would yell at me if I spoke.

"Don't worry I'll make sure your mum doesn't find out." He said.

"Thank you, I would love a glass of water." I said politely as I was thinking of the letter I did not get to finish reading.

"You take a break now darling and I'll go fetch you a glass of water." He said.

He came back with a nice cold, clear glass of water. It almost looked like my eyes sparkled when he handed it to me.

"Well, what happened to your knees?" He said sounding very concerned.

"Just a little fall playing outside." I said, regrettably. I really hate to lie.

"That must had been a bloody trip you took there."

I didn't reply as I saw Sharon walking toward us.

"Why are you not working?" She said angrily.

"Sharon darling I was just saying hi." Old man Jones said. "No need to start a temper." She stared at him directly in the eyes and then walked away.

"Come on now you should be having fun playing with your friends not doing your mum's job." Old man Jones said.

"I was punished, I must do this work."

"What would a cute little child like you do to get punished?"

"I went into the storage room that I was forbidden to go in."

"Well go on home and I will finish your work, you have already done so much."

"Oh thank you so much." I said as I ran home hoping Sharon would not see me.

She didn't.