Here it is folks! After a three-week vacation in Europe, I am back – and now….
The long-awaited conclusion!
Delia strode forward with a limp through the narrow path strewn with falling leaves. She wrapped her hoodie around her, zipping up and pulling up the hood against the chill of night. She held on tight to the coil of rope and the heavy spade which she unwittingly dragged behind her, hoping she didn’t have to use the latter. She had to cover up what Alaina and Charles had unraveled. What SHE too had discovered. About herself. About them.
Too many dead and it would stink once the mold and the carcasses began to rot. She knew now that they were right. it was just that: Dead animals hunters had left behind?
With resolve, Delia’s thoughts rushed as she limped past tree after tree, rock after rock, hoping she would be able to carry out her plan once she arrived at the well. Before her parents woke up. Before they had to go to school on Monday.
Was it Sunday already? Yes, she thought. It must be. They were at the well together on Friday night when it happened.
Or was that Saturday? Must be.
It’s Sunday morning.
She had Sunday to fix the problem Delia and Charles had unraveled.
That depended on how they looked when she arrived at the well.
Would they have clawed their way to the top?
Would they need her help?
Or are they still …
No.
She didn’t push them.
THEY chose to go down there.
Her permanent friends.
Permanence is what she wanted.
Just like in Boston.
She’ll never be alone again.
Never.
Ever.
The silence was completed.
Delia paused, then stopped.
She was at the well.
She knew she didn’t have to peer down below…
To know.
Delia threw down the rope anyway, tying the other end onto the post that held where the bucket had been.
“Hello?” “Hello?”
Her voice echoed back.
“Charles?”
Echo.
“Alaina, you down there?”
Echo.
Finally, with just daylight breaking through the frost, Delia aimed the flashlight down below.
A set of eyes looked up at her, glazed and unmoving. Unblinking.
Delia smiled her smile.
“Hi Alaina!” She yelled.
The hollow sound of her voice, dimunitive and feminine, echoed through the well, sounding the sound of the lonely and lost.
“Hi Charles!”
Charles… Charles… Charles…
“I guess you don’t need the rope.” Delia flatly stated, pulling away from the mouth of the well.
Silence.
Delia walked up and undid the tie on the pole and pulled up the rope, recoiling it.
She shouldered the rope, grabbed the spade and looked down the well.
“See you guys soon!”
Delia smiled as she limped away.
She’ll never be without friends again.
END.
