Chapter 30
Then
My mind abandoned me, leaving me untethered, sitting against the hard wall behind me. The greenhouse. The creek. This land that was all ours.
The Robbins women and their legacy. A legacy that found me before I could run.
Somewhere, someone laughed at me. No. No, the laughter was mine. My mouth snapped shut. Now was not a time to laugh. It was only time to dig.
Dig, dig, dig.
Where?
I jumped to my feet as if being summoned and bolted into the forest, legs pumping, sharp breath scraping against my lungs, until I found it and dropped to my knees.
As my hands found earth, the song crept to me. A hymn sang in Aunt Hattie’s haunting alto.
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses.
In the same moment, I could almost hear feet tapping against packed earth, the swish of the rope brushing the ground. A jump. A jump. Another. Little girls chanting.
Rotting willow
Roots so deep
Searching for some rotting meat.
If we die
That is fine
The rotting willow’s
Roots will dine.
Ashes to ashes
Nourish and live
How many years
Will my corpse give?
One. Two. Three. Four…