"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬."
𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟏, 𝟏𝟑𝟗𝟖
𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 𝐑𝐈𝐏 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐆𝐆𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐔𝐒𝐇 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘. The pain was so raw and unfamiliar that it sprung hot tears from her eyes, staining her pale and red cheeks. The nurses helped the best they could, not able to help pitifully looking at the woman. The skirt of her white dress was soaked with red blood from tearing–it was all so painful.
The torch lighting up the room flickers with the wind blowing in from the open window. The bronze glow casts the mother's beautiful sobbing face as she continues her painful pushes. From the corner of the room, the father watches in horror as his wife screams in agony. The doctor advised him to stay back so he isn't in the way of birth, but he wanted nothing more than to hold his wife and whisper how she'd be alright.
"One more push," the accented nurse spoke gently, holding the head of the baby. She was almost out. The mother could almost cry in relief. With one last agonizing push, the baby was out. The shrill cry of her tiny voice echoes in the room as the mother and father watch their child in the nurse's hands in awe.
Soon the crying baby was placed on the mother's chest, and as if recognizing her mother's touch, the baby no longer cried. The couple looks up at each other with tearful eyes. It was painfully worth it.
With a gentle caress of her finger, the mother looks down at the baby with such love, "welcome home, Renee Winters."
━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━
𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟒, 𝟏𝟒𝟏𝟕
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐘. The fragrance of rich flowers and greenery hung heavily around Renee as she waltzed through the paved path. The gravel crunched under her feet as she walked closer to her home. It was a comfortable size, nothing extraordinary, but enough for the family of three.
Outside, a group of bunnies waited for her arrival, like they knew which time she was coming home. Every day, when she was free of her chores and job, she fed the bunnies who struggled to find food. It had become a beautiful routine that Renee had grown to love.
"Hello, cuties," she squats down in front of the small group who creep closer to her. Her hand reaches for the smallest bunny who clearly hasn't gotten the nutrients it needs. A small frown tugs on her lips, "oh, you poor little thing."
Pulling out the small satchel tied around her waist, she pulls out a handful of pellets, feeding the starved bunny a tad bit more than the others. Hearing her mother call her name, she lays out the rest of the pellets and pets them one last time before rushing inside.
Entering the small home, Renee is immediately greeted with the sweet aroma of her mother's cooking. A smile grows on her lips as she makes her way to her sweet mother, pressing a light kiss on her cheek, "hey, ma."
"Hi, honey," the woman looks at her daughter with the same amount of love as when she first held her. But something was off. Her dark circles had increased and her body seemed to tremble much more than it used to. It was getting worse.
"Ma, you should really go to the doctor," Renee smiles sadly, running her hand through her mother's hair. When the girl looks down at it, she notices the large number of white hairs that had fallen from the gentle gesture. "I can work more hours and cover the payment. Please just go to the doctor."
The old woman just waves it off, "I'll be okay, it'll pass in time. That's what Pa says."
"Pa's not a doctor," the girl continues to press, her smile dipping down to a frown. It kills her that she could do nothing to help her mother. The secret illness that Pa refused to let Ma go to the doctor for only grew worse by the day. "Please, we can keep it a secret between us. Pa doesn't have to know."
"Doesn't have to know what?" a gruff voice says, followed by the sound of the front door shutting. Both women tense up at the sound of his voice. Oh, how Renee grew to hate that voice.
Renee turns around, and with barely a glance she walks past the old man, "nothing, Pa, absolutely nothing."
━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━
𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟒, 𝟏𝟒𝟏𝟕
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋. It simply wasn't in her nature to hate, yet somehow, the old man had brought just that emotion out of her. She was feeling many emotions on this glum day–sadness, anger, resentment, grief.
Ma had finally reached her breaking point. It wasn't the illness that took her like Renee expected, no, it was herself. She was tired of the harsh treatment she was receiving from her own husband, so she did the only thing that she thought she could. End her life with her own hand.
In all honesty, Renee was relieved that Ma no longer had to go through the abuses of the old man. Despite it leaving her the main target, it brought her peace that Ma was free to do whatever she pleased up in heaven. The golden gates were surely Ma's final destination.
Looking down at the freshly placed dirt, waves of emotion washed off the girl, and without realizing it, Renee had caused a heavy downpour throughout the village. Her sadness added heavy rainfall, her anger added the quick dashes of lightning, her resentment amplifying the sound of the thunder.
Renee clutches her coat tighter to her body as the rain drenched her. Water streams down her clothing, sticking to her skin. It was irritating, and the weather only got worse.
"We need to leave, it's raining too hard," Pa's arm wraps around Renee's bicep, tugging her back into the house. The tomb wasn't fancy, just a mere rock to mark where her mother lay in the backyard. The warm hand on her bicep brought a scowl to her face.
Her hatred for the man was growing fast–dangerously fast. The lightning started to ignite closer. Yanking her arm from the man's grasp, she stomps into the home, stopping at the back door–the old man had the keys to enter the home.
Just as she looked back to usher the old man, a bolt of single lightning struck too close. A loud bang deafens her, and her eyes are blinded by the bright light. Covering her eyes from the intense light, Renee's ears begin to ring as they try to hear once more. A slight pang of worry for the old man jabs her, so as soon as her vision was restored and hearing had returned, she looked up at the backyard.
A gasp slips out of her lips, tears welling up once more. Her heart thumped loudly against her chest as her feet remained frozen on the back porch. With trembling hands, she covered her mouth, unable to move. What had just happened?
The old man, burnt to a crisp, laid on the ground, unmoving. His skin charred beyond identification. He was unrecognizable. The horrid smell of burnt flesh, hair, and clothing begins to carry over to the house. It was too gorey to look.
Quickly turning away, Renee's eyes land on a bunny, watching her on the edge of the porch. It was the starved bunny from months ago, its large white birthmark on its gray fur gave it away. In its mouth was a shiny object–the backdoor's key.
He gently hops closer and drops the key at her feet. Nudging the shiny silver with its nose, as if to say, 'take the key'. With slight hesitation, Renee squats down and picks up the key with trembling fingers. With a pat of gratitude, she quickly rushes into the home.
Unbeknownst to her, the bunny and his friends were waiting to see if she got home inside safely and when they saw she did, they hopped back to wherever they would go.
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞! 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤? 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰!