Ink [A Collection of Short Stories]

Purity

© Emily Jonatan

All Rights Reserved   

Hey there, everyone! So this is a collection of short stories I have written over time, and I thought I would share them with you! They were originally posted seperately, but they started to build up so I made them into one big story. I hope you enjoy them!

NOT EDITED

------------------------------------------

~ Purity ~

Leaves and twigs crunched under the young girl’s bare feet. She looked not a year older than nine, and her face was covered in dirt. She was petite for her age, and wore a tattered dress of the darkest beige; caused from the constant use and treks through the forest. She had a sad face that always wore a look of wisdom – more wisdom than any girl her age should have.

She knew of the terrible things that happened throughout her town; starvation, thirst, sickness, and poverty were common in households. Her mother was currently very ill, and the girl was out in the forest looking for the herbs that may heal her mother’s sickness. The girl herself was becoming ill, due to the exposure of the virus that plagued her mother.

Despite all this, the girl refused to use any of the herbs, food, or drink that she came upon; only giving it to her mother in hopes to cure her. She believed that other people’s well being was above her own, and she helped anyone in need if she could. Once she had been lucky enough to have found enough bread for both her and her mother, but when she came across a half-starved boy on the street, she gave him her share of bread without a moment’s hesitation.

The girl had stumbled upon a spring a few years back, and was delighted to find that the water was pure and untainted. She brought back gallons of the sweet water back to her mother whenever she could.

Unfortunately however, this miraculous discovery did not go unheard of. She had only been using the spring for a couple days before a stranger approached her on the street.

He informed her that he had been observing the girl’s trips to and from the forest every day; each going with an empty pot and returning with a brimming one. He demanded to know where she was getting the water, and hoping that it would help another in need, she told him.

The next day the spring was contaminated and dirty. The once pure water that ran there was now an ugly shade of brown, and she knew that she could no longer rely on its much needed sources.  

The girl’s life has mainly consisted of terrible disasters and bitter disappointments – the most significant of which occurred when she was first born.

When her mother gave birth to her the father became angry. He didn’t want children and said they were too much of a burden; especially in the conditions they were living in. He would never want the mother to feed the child because he believed that the food should not be wasted on the baby.

Finally, when the father went so far as attempting to drown the baby girl, the mother ushered him out of the house – and out of her life. The woman loved her child too much, so she knew she had to get rid of the love of her life to protect it. From then on the mother was an empty shell; devoid of emotion. She took care of the girl, Rayne, always filled with nostalgia for the easier times in life.

Rayne believed that she was a lesser being after her mother explained the lack of a fatherly figure. Thus, the reason she always gave up her own resources to others – even if they weren’t as in need of them as her.

She treaded lightly on the leaf strewn ground, wary of stinging nettle, prickers, and poisonous bugs. The skin on her feet was raw and bleeding already, and even though mud and dirt clogged the cuts, she was determined to find the herbs.