Starfall

Chapter 18 - Ghost Story

As such the young woman was left alone with her husband as they lived over a mile away. Clara took solace in the fact that she bore a daughter. She was her hope and her shining light in a world of loneliness. Thus she named her Helen. Her husband was disappointed having wanted sons to tend the farm, but no more children were born of her. Amos had always seemed distant, but after the birth of Helen, he grew resentful. He stayed out later and later came home progressively more drunk each night.

They began to fight. Mostly over Helen. Amos began to make a regular habit of beating his wife, and Clara began to dread the end of every day. Chloe learned the story was vague on the details at the end but everyone seemed to agree that it had ended in a fight. Some said Amos came home drunk in a rage and that was how the fight got out of control. Others said he struck Helen to which Clara broke a bottle over his head. Both stories ended the same.

Clara fled with the child. The father caught up with them at the underpass in the tunnel. He threw his oil lantern at his wife and it burst upon the ground and burned her alive. Helen was two years old. She was too young to remember that night. He took the child home with him.

The child grew in beauty and stature over the years as the father continued to work the farm alone. He had told Clara's family she had left him, and her family believed him. Helen was now six years old. She was a very quiet child and very rarely spoke. She was a gentle child, albeit secluded. Her father still found it strange that she rarely talked. Sometimes he would even yell at her but she would just stare at him with eyes so piercing he could not meet her gaze. So he would send her to bed. She was studious and cleaned up after herself. She often asked him why mommy had left, and he lied to the child and told her he did not know why she left that night.

Amos was worried that she had no social interaction from time to time but his concern was fleeting. He was too busy to worry about it with a farm to manage. In the years to come school would solve that problem. She began to exhibit strange behaviors that worried him. At first, he just chalked it up to childhood imagination. He would find her alone in a room talking to the wall. She would spend time staring into her reflection in the water for hours at a time. Then one evening Amos could not find his daughter. He searched the entire house and the barn, loft, and silo, and couldn't find her.

He was growing worried when he saw his faithful Border Collie named Cooper with his paws against the well. He rushed to the well and looked down. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. As his eyes began to take in the detail he saw far below. The hoist line for the bucket was moving. His daughter was down there. Then he heard her soft voice. At first, he could not make out what she was saying as the muffled echoes distorted and bounced off the curving walls of the well. Then he strained harder to hear her. Why was she talking to herself at the bottom of the well? She could have drowned he thought furiously his anger burning just below the surface. 'Helen! Are you all right?' He shouted. After a moment's pause, he heard her soft answer. 'Yes, Daddy.' He sighed in relief. 'Get in the bucket and hold on tight. I will hoist you up. Do not let go!!! OK?" She replied delicately, 'Yes Father.' He pulled her up.

Helen was a small child and weighed very little so it was easy to hoist her up. As she neared the top he could see her eyes blinking back the bright light as she used her free hand to cover her eyes, the other holding the bucket hoist line. Amos scooped her out of the well bodily and scolded her. 'What's the matter with you? I told you never to go near the well without me! You know you could have drowned down there! What were you thinking?!?'

The child stared at him her eyes giving no quarter. They just stared at him blankly. He shifted uncomfortably. 'There will be no dinner tonight but a crust of bread and then you will go to bed early.' He had expected an argument, but she just stared at him, not even acknowledging him. He pointed inside with a firm finger. She broke eye contact and walked inside. Cooper followed her inside faithfully his tail wagging.