A Long Road Ahead

Before you begin this story I must warn you. What you are about to read is not for the faint of heart. This story contains things beyond your wildest dreams and your worst nightmares. Even as I write this, the things running through my mind shake me to my core. This work is meant to be an expression of my inner demons and the struggles that I face on a day to day basis told through the life of another. Though this story is fantasy there are topics contained within that may strike you as real life adjacent and as such may make you scared, uncomfortable or terrified. With that being said those who are left, I hope you enjoy the piece and I hope to add more stories like this in the near future.

Chapter One: A boy and his toys

Long ago in the old country of England there lived a young man by the name of Daniel. Daniel was around fourteen years old and lived with his mother, father and two sisters one four years his senior and one younger by five years. Daniel and his family lived in the quite English country side on a small farm where his father raised cattle and swine. Nothing much happened in this quiet little haven that they had built for themselves and to Daniel this really was just terrible as he had grown bored of his humble life of a farmers son and as such had began to get into rather devious behavior. It all began one day when Daniel was out feeding the pigs as his father often had told him to do to "cure" his adolescent boredom. Though on this day Daniel was not interested in the pigs but rather the slop they had created in their pen due to the rain during the previous night. Seeing that the pigs had made a rather perfect sty of their pen Daniel came up with a rather naughty plan. Without a moment to waste Daniel went running off to the house looking for his younger sister named Emily.

Upon reaching the house Daniel found Emily sitting outside of the door playing in the sun with her doll who she had named Elisa. As Daniel approached Emily and Elisa were having a small tea party and the children's mother had even prepared real tea and sandwiches for the affair. As Daniel approached he put on a face of shock and awe before yelling to his sister to come quickly as one of the female pigs was about to give birth to a litter of piglets. Not knowing anything of pigs or her brothers plan she hopped up quickly and began to follow him with little haste. As the two ran back to the pen Daniel put the final touches on his plan. He would tell his sister that the latch on the fence leading into the pen was stuck shut so they would have to climb over the railing in order to access the pen. Then he would offer his sister help up onto the top of the pens walls as he was bigger and stronger than her giving him the better chance to get in by himself. However, this is where the politeness and heart warming actions would end. As his sister reached the top of the wall Daniel would grab her foot still on the side of the wall he could reach and he would give her a quick shove sending her falling face first into the mud ruining her nice Sunday dress. Just the thought of this alone was enough to get Daniel to chuckle to himself as he thought of his sister sitting in the mud tears running down her face. As Daniel came back to reality he realized that his sister was already half way up the wall, now was the time to make his move. Daniel began to climb the wall himself one foothold after the other as he was at the halfway point he could see his sister straddling the wall, he reached up and with all his might gave her foot a shove. With a sudden shriek Emily losses he balance and goes tumbling down off the wall. She lands in the mud with a loud thud. As Daniel reveled in his genius he realizes something odd. Its silent. No crying, no yelling why would you do this, nothing. Daniel quickly scrambled his way up the wall until he reaches the top and is able to look over. When he looks down at the ground below the wall a chill runs up his spine.

What Daniel had failed to realize before executing his master plan was that his father had moved the metal feeder that held the pigs slop to the opposite side of the pen under the shade of the wall to avoid the food spoiling to quickly. Normally this would have been meaningless to Daniel but as he looks down from the wall he realizes with horror a red spot of liquid on one of the corners of the feeder. Before he looks any further into the pen Daniel recoils in fear losing his balance falling to his back against the hard ground, his head whips back and suddenly he is knocked unconscious. Daniel is out for hours until he is awoken by a earth shattering scream. Its his mother from what sounds like the other side of the wall. Daniel gets up, shakes his head and begins to walk groggily towards the gate of the pen, as he turns the corner he sees his mother on her knees holding something in her arms. He opens the latch, pushes open the gate and slowly approaches his mother. As he gets closer he realizes that she is crying, no not crying she is sobbing and muttering to herself in a low, somber tone. She doesn't seem to realize that he has entered the pen, as he approaches her he puts his hand on her shoulder asking her if she is ok and why she is in the pig pen as she never had anything to do with the animals on the farms. She doesn't react to the touch of his hand or his questions, she keeps on crying and muttering. Slowly he walks around her as he does he begins to tremble and shake uncontrollably. Daniel crosses his mothers field of vison to see that she is just staring off into the distance, this gives him a very strong sense of unease. Finally Daniel moves his eyes down to the things in his mothers hands. As his eyes slowly drop down he sees that it is the lifeless body of his sister Emily with a clear wound located directly on her right temple. The gash is large and deep, no blood flows from it now but his mother is covered in blood. This sudden occurrence causes Daniel to reel back losing his balance and falling back onto his butt in front of his mother and now deceased sister. For the fist time since Daniel entered the pen his mothers eyes move now staring deep into his soul. She slowly scans him up and down as if she had never seen him before in her life. Her mouth begins to slowly open as she quietly and shaken asks Daniel what happened to his sister. Still shaken from the sight before him Daniel doesn't hear his mother and sits there still staring into the lifeless eyes of the corpse in front of him. Again his mother opens her mouth slowly and asks him what happened to Emily. This time he hears her though he wishes he didn't. Shocked he looks up at his mother and claims that he doesn't know what happened to his sister or why she was in the pig pen. He tells her through the tears in his eyes that he had just laid down in the grass to take a short nap in an attempt to deceive her and create his own alibi. For a moment his mother sits in silence, then all of a sudden she raises her head up aggressively to look at him staring deep into his soul. Daniel she says if you are lying to me in this moment you shall burn in hell for all of eternity. Nothing will be able to save you from this fate. Again she lowers her head as she begins to play with her daughters blonde hair. She asks him one final time what happened to his sister, again Daniel affirms that he knows nothing.

His mother stands, her daughter in her arms and walks out of the pen in the direction of the house. As she leaves the pen she instructs Daniel to grab a shovel and begin to dig a grave for his sister in a nice open space in the family graveyard. Daniel reluctantly shakes his head to confirm that he understands his task as he runs off to the shed to retrieve the tool and begin his hike to the graveyard.