Excerpt from the storyDear Diary,
I know it has been a while since I’ve written to you...not since Mommy’s accident two years ago. I forgot to take you home with me last summer, diary, but I guess I haven’t had much to say...or write since then anyway. I just didn’t want to talk about any of it anymore. Daddy said it must’ve been an accident when Mommy slipped, but there are constant reminders. Grown-ups are always asking about everything. I don't know what I would do if it wasn’t for my best friend Zanna. “How are you coping, Elena?” They always asked. “Do you miss your mommy?” (Duh!). “Are you doing OK, sweetheart?” Well, no I’m not. OK? I am not happy! I don’t know if I’ll ever be happy again! Then it would be “How’s your father doing? And little Sam?” Daddy is sad, he’s always sad now. Sam doesn’t remember much. So, please stop asking. Just leave us in peace. OK? Peace and quiet, that’s all we need. I don’t know why Daddy wanted to come here…again this summer. He knows how much I’ve hated camping ever since Mommy’s accident. He said this was his memorial to Mommy, to come here every year like we did in the past before... everything. I think Mommy would rather be left in peace to sleep. Thank goodness Daddy let me bring Zanna with us again this year. He’d promised to take Sam and me to the beach, but the new woman Jessica, she hates the beach you know. No surprise then, here we are at this old cabin. When we came last year, I got covered with a rash all over me. Poison Ivy Daddy said and it itched like crazy too. I think I caught it by the old abandoned well behind the outhouse. We always throw our table scraps in there. Only Daddy and me know about the old well. Oh and Zanna. She knows too, of course. We’re all good at keeping secrets. Oh, and another thing about camping. I hate biting bugs! And my sleeping bag smells old and moldy, like our basement at home. Daddy won’t let me play there but I wouldn’t want to anyway. It’s dark and scary. One time I thought I heard Mommy crying in the dark down there. Daddy said it was just my imagination, but Zanna heard it too. I bet Jessica wishes I lived down there. She tells Daddy that children should be seen, not heard, but I think she’d rather I wasn’t seen either... Anyway, I’m lying on my stinky old sleeping bag while I write this. Zanna and I spread the bag out to share as a pad under us and we’ll pull a blanket over us to sleep tonight. I don’t want to sleep on that stained mattress in the room we share with Sam. It looks like a prop from those murder mystery shows that Daddy says I can’t watch. He says I’m young and impressionable. That’s his nice way of saying I’m immature and corruptible. The stains look like dried blood or something worse and I think a mouse is living in it too. I can hear it scratching in there now. Well, I’m getting tired, dear diary, it was a long drive getting here, but I’ll write more later. Maybe my writing to you will keep Zanna and me from being bored or going mad. Elena Darie, 12 years old last week. Happy birthday to me. Dear Diary, Things have gotten worse since Elena wrote to you last. She said we could share you and we both promised not to read what the other wrote. It’s only our third night here and already Elena’s legs are covered with bites. It looks like she has some kind of skin disease...like leprosy maybe? Her daddy says it’s the “skeeters” getting her but I saw a spider on the window in our room too. We’re not scared of spiders but I wish they wouldn’t bite us or crawl on us while we’re sleeping. The bugs don’t bother Sam, even though we sleep in the same room. Jessica told Elena it was because she’s so fat and eats too much candy. She says that’s why bugs like her sweet blood. Mr. Darie cut his eyes at her when she said that but he didn’t say anything. I whispered in Elena’s ear when I saw her eyes misting up. “Don’t let her see you cry. You can’t let people see that you’re weak or that they’re getting to you.” I knew her mommy always told her that. Still, it didn’t help her mommy any. Spiders and skeeters aren’t the only critters around here. Sam caught a snake today and Jessica screamed when he showed it to her. It was just a little old green snake. I wish he’d thrown it at her, but Sam isn’t like that. He doesn’t like her either though. Jessica told Elena that she was her daddy’s new girlfriend and she might as well get used to the idea. Elena told me she wished her daddy would send Jessica away. But what if Jessica was making him happy? He’s been so sad...what if he sent her away instead? I don’t know what Elena would do then... I’m worried about her. Talk soon. Love, Zanna Read the full story in the Anthology on AMAZON
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