Influences of Stars

Chapter 27

Judith Lonnen's body hangs in the noose for only a moment before it is pulled down and hidden from the crowd. Her white feet are pushed into the brown sack, the only part of her body to be exposed. Her head is  covered and due to that, they may pretend that it is someone old and warped who lies beneath the clothes instead of a normal girl of fourteen years old.

At first she was accused of fornicating. Goodman Frost heard her making noises in the woods, as if with someone intimately. They all stood around her in the stocks and watched her skin burn beneath the sun and her back break at the weight placed upon it. However, each time she refused to admit she was guilty, and in doing so refused to reveal who her lover was.

An invisible lover! Who else but the Devil could lead such a young girl to decimate herself? Yet she refused to admit to that either, afraid of a life of condemnation. With desperation, she looked around the crowd before her head was covered, searching for someone- anyone- to speak for her. Her parents remained silent, looking away as she mouthed something like a plea to them.

"Would we speak for Faith, if she is accused one day?" Tibby asks Gideon that evening. They haven't spoken since the hanging. A coldness suspends over them. Tibby keeps seeing Judith's parents, shivering in the heat with fear taking hold of their speech, and a sickness rises within her.

"She shan't be accused," Gideon says. He doesn't look at her.

"Why not? If something as simple as noises in the woods lead to an accusation, how can we protect her from an accusation?" Tibby asks. They have no idea what Faith will become. Perhaps she will be clever, or a coward, and confess if she is ever accused. But what if she is loud and silly and oblivious, as children should be? How can they stop her from being a child so that she might earn the chance to live?

"I advised Judith to confess when I spoke with her, but she was convinced God would protect her because she hadn't done anything wrong. I should hope our daughter will have the sense to listen to what she is told," Gideon says. He covers up the sickening sight of Judith's fear with disdain. If he shifts a little of the blame onto her, then the swelling in his chest will die and he will be able to think again.

"I should hope our daughter lives somewhere without fear," Tibby says, her voice a soft realisation. Not wanting to be near Gideon, she takes Faith into the bedroom and shuts the door behind them. She leaves him sitting alone, his hands clinging together until he sinks his head into them.

She places the child on the bed and watches her kick her legs up, her eyes wide and her fist covered in drool as she continuously shoves it in and out of her mouth. In this solitude, when there is nothing but them and the little room, Tibby feels that Faith is safe. There is an oak scent surrounding them which pushes her into languor.  Are they to spend their lives in that little room so that they may be safe forever?

Faith keeps wriggling towards the edge of the bed. All Tibby has to do is pick her up and shift her back. How much longer will she be able to do that for? She supposes Faith wants to see what surrounds her already. There is such a curiosity in children; they always reach out for things they have never seen before. Why does fear not exist within them, and when does it begin to creep in?

Tibby lies down besides her daughter and looks into her eyes, falling into a pool of blue that shines with soft unknowing. "I shall not leave you to die like Judith," Tibby whispers to her. She takes her little hand and holds onto it, feeling the smooth skin- untouched by the world- against her hands made rough. "I will not let you grow up in fear." There is a bond, a vow, between her and Faith. She is bound to never betray it.

In that moment, she remembers Maria Finch for the first time in so long. She remembers her eyes, red from tears, and thinks of how when Faith cries it is over such little matters that the tears are beautiful. And she thinks of the blankness of her friend, Charis, who is now so distant to her. She lived her life in goodness and now languishes in a loveless prison.