Wait at the Well

By Lila Rahwan and Danielle Maxie
Updating every so often!




Chapter 1

The village was hungry. It often was, but by then the hunger affected even the rich. They had tried to leave but couldn't, for they had sold their jewels, let go of their bondsmen, and ate their Limousin horses. "Rich" did not exist; the hierachy of the world was hungry, hungrier, straving, dead.
The girl's name was Vere. She meant very little to her family, but by then no one would take servants. She never had taken offense; a mouth to feed, even it was their daugther, was still a mouth in a straving world, and as a girl she couldn't do much, so she kept her hair high and continued to work.



On the crack of dawn, Vere's father, Jean-Pierre, made the ordiance that she would go down to the old well in the woods every day, and draw two buckets of water. So there Vere, pails in hand, went.

The well had broken stones, moss, and was very deep. The rope was old and weathered. It was said that her great-grand parents built the well. Kind was her village, for they never drew from the well without permission. Jean-Augustin, her grandfather, however, always granted their requests. And so, her parents suspected, did Vere. But they never made that a mention in the passing of time. Vere tied to her bucket to the rope, and while she was working, she heard a sound.

He said to her, "Nowhere, dear." She stared at him with wide eyes.
  1. He seems so strange...
  2. He reminds me of the cats in the barn.
  3. One stratched me. One became a closer friend than my sister.
The man The girl
Such sweet innocence, girls of 11. Her eyes crinkled. "I haven't seen you around before. Where are you from?"
She doesn't know anything about me, where I come from. It would hard for all of us if she knew. He has a scarf around his neck, a head dress. He is skinny. Papa wouldn't want me around strange men. Why is here? How did he get here?


Chapter 2

The demon quickly amended himself: "I mean, nowhere that you'd know. Outside of France."

"Outside of France," she mumbled. She then obediently turned her gaze to the ground. An insect bounded underfoot. "But why are you here, then? We are all hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"

The man smiled. The girl marveled of how weird his smile seemed. Toothless, coy. She remembered the boys in her village having that smile. She wondered that meant for her.

"I ate already, you needn't worry. I only came here," he seemed to have noticed the question dancing on her lips, "because I needed some water. If you don't mind. I'll draw the water for you, as payment." He touched her bucket. "How did---" she began to say, but stopped herself. Maman would berate her if she was here for her terrible manners. She should let the man serve her, men like that. She handed him the bucket.

But while she did, she touched him, grazed his arm.
Here's what you can have while you wait. MP4 video.