For those of you just checking in, this is part 8 of 10 episodes of this true story about three teens who are out on an adventure in someone’s backyard which happens to be the foot of Mount Adams in New Hampshire!
It concerns a well that’s been the center of attention of these curious teens who are bored and seeking new friendships. Boredom does tend to elicit curiosity… and sometimes the wrong kind!
I took a break in order to finish my fourth upcoming book, “Unholy Structure”, to be released this fall! Please subscribe to this site to get updates on the release of this book, based on a case from the paranormal team of the Harrisburg Paranormal Society. Believe me, it’s not your average haunted mansion.
And now…. back to Delia, Alaina and Charles!
A blue Honda SUV screeches to a halt on the driveway. Behind the house, Delia dashes up to the kitchen porch, pulling the screen door open as she hears her mother slam the door shut on the car. Quickly, she hides the tangle of rope into the bottom cabinet of the mud room as she wipes her sneakers on the mat. Mud and leaves were caked on the bottom, betraying her long hike in the forest behind the house.
The front door whooshes open. A draft.
“Delia? Did you boil the potatoes for dinner?”
“It’s… it’s… study night!”
“Delia! You know I had to work late!”
Delia limps up to the pantry, rips open a plastic bag of potatoes and dumps them in the sink, turning on the tap. Water splashes on the potatoes as she digs in a kitchen drawer for the peeler.
Brenda joins her daughter at the sink, seething. She appears about to burst, her breath on Delia’s neck.
“Mom, I was busy studying upstairs and my classmates were…”
“All I want is for you to put it in the pot so I can mash it. Just a little bit of help here and there – really!”
“I’m here now, aren’t I?” Delia turns with a vehement look.
“I can see you were outside. You’re all dirty…. your shirt…”
Delia looks down at her shirt. Mud streaks clung which made her appear like a street kid. Her jeans were damp and streaked with dirt in spots. How could she have missed that?
“I was trying to find some paints in the shed. “
“For what, if I may ask?!” Brenda was perturbed. Her daughter appeared like she had been roaming the woods. It was already seven in the evening.
“I need it for a school project. The play.” Delia knew her lies were now becoming more and more elaborate. It was giving her the beginnings of a headache.
The garage door sounds. Her dad was driving into the garage.
The door leading into the garage opens.
“Hey, my two lovely women are both home!”
Delia rolls her eyes, but she’s daddy’s girl. “Hey, dad!” She gives Josh a hug and he smiles, patting her in the back.
“Did the rope come in handy? I’ll need it back for the weekend, by the way…”
Brenda turns from helping Delia who is peeling the potatoes. The pot comes to a boil as she turns to confront her husband.
“Rope! What did she need that for?”
Delia looks around guiltily. Caught again.
“She told me she needed it to climb a tree – to help build a blind or something. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yeah, Dad. I had Charles and Alaina there to help me.”
Brenda’s eyes registered surprise. “A blind! As in for hunting deer?! No wonder you’re so filthy! Who or why are we making a blind?! ”
Both father and daughter appear as if they’d swallowed a fish with scales.
“Dear – are you encouraging our daughter to hunt??”
“I’m not, actually. But if it would help her have friends who have an interest in…” He replied lamely.
Brenda gazed back in consternation. “I don’t think so. I will not have you firing a gun or shooting arrows!”
Delia hastily gathered the boiled potatoes, grabbed a bowl and started mashing them on the kitchen table. “These are ready in a few more….”
“I want to see this blind, Delia.” Said Josh. He appeared chastised and was now saving face.
“Okay, Dad. It’s in the woods where I left Charles and Alaina.”
“I’m making dinner as soon as the two of you wash up. I need to know what’s going on while I’m at work.”
“Yes, dear.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Delia places the bowl of mashed potatoes on the table, adds butter and limps out to the stairs. She climbs as she hears her parents argue about her.
Delia enters her bedroom, quickly removing her soaked socks, her shirt and pants. She leaps into the shower. As the water rushes onto her skin, she leans to part the shower curtain to look out the small window with a view of the backyard. Between the trees, she strains to see the worn path she had walked with Alaina and Charles to get to the well.
She pulls back, letting the shower wash over her hair.
Then, she looks down at her bare arms.
Scratches like nail marks were on both her arms.
She grabs the bar of soap and washes the blood off.
