Page 6 of Apples Dipped in Gold

Plumes of dust blinded and choked me, and my fingers slipped on the loose bark, but I couldn’t stop, and I didn’t until the fence collapsed.

My chest ached with each panting breath as I staggered back, dropping the log at my feet. I screamed until my anger was gone and I had no strength left to stand. I fell to my knees, my throat raw, tears burning my eyes. The rage that had fed me turned to panic.

“No, no, no.”

I got to my feet and moved the rug, which had fallen into the mud. It was ruined, and so was the fence. Two posts were broken, and the rotting rails that ran between them were shattered.

If my brothers came home and saw the fence broken, the punishment would be severe—likely a beating with the very log I used to destroy it.

How could I be so stupid!

I looked toward the Enchanted Forest, wondering how long until my brothers returned. Could I repair the fence in time? My eyes shifted to the pile of wood by the barn. Or could I hide it?

Something furry brushed my ankle.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find some wood, Mouse?”

She paused, looked up at me, and meowed, then took off, trotting toward the side of the house. I followed as she rounded the corner and found her sitting beside a pile of wood, but it was not wood for the fence. It was the kindling I’d gathered for the fire, and it lay beneath my eldest brother’s window.

I thought I’d been pushed to my breaking point already, except now I knew otherwise.

This was my breaking point.

But it didn’t feel like I had expected. It was not the anger that had stolen my sanity moments ago. This wasn’t even emotion—it was a lack of it. I was no longer worried about what would happen if my brothers returned to find the fence broken or the rug destroyed, because neither of those things mattered, especially because I would not be here for them to punish.

I turned and walked down the sloping hill behind our cottage. At the very bottom, two rounded rocks marked where my mother and father lay. I continued past them, knowing if I stopped, I would succumb to the guilt that had kept me obedient.

I followed a worn and familiar trail through the woods. These were not the same ominous trees and dark pines of the Enchanted Forest. There was a creekat the bottom, and I followed it as it twisted and turned through more rolling hills, all covered in decaying leaves and pine needles. I walked until my calves hurt and my feet ached. I could tell when I was near my destination because the sky seemed to open up before me, and as I came to the cliff’s edge, it was truly endless. The clouds hung heavy and low, casting large shadows over the rocky valley below. That was my destination, where the earth would cradle my body, eat my flesh, and consume my bones.

I thought that sounded beautiful. Peaceful even.

I desired anything but what lay behind me.

Sand and stones tumbled over the cliff as I inched closer, until the tips of my toes hung over the edge. A wave of dizziness rushed to my head, and my legs shook. I should have closed my eyes, but I didn’t. Instead, I spread my arms wide, letting the cold wind wash over me, and as I did, it began to snow.

“Are you going to kill yourself?”

The sudden sound of a strange voice drew my attention. I turned my head to find a man standing near. He was handsome with large blue eyes and dark hair, but he was almost too pretty. His skin was unmarred by sun or scars, and his lips were full and pillowy, not cracked and dry. He wore a heavy wool cloak, and though it concealed what he wore beneath, I suspected his sleeves were threaded with gold. He held a hat against his chest. A long red feather was stuck in the band.

I looked away and answered, “I have not decided.”

“It would be a shame,” he said.

I thought I could feel him draw nearer.

“You are too beautiful to die.”

“That is a foolish thing to say,” I said. “Death does not care about beauty.”

If he had, he would not have taken my mother or my father.

He would have taken my brothers.

“Every man cares about beauty,” he replied.

“You believe death is a man?”

“Do you think a woman can take a life?” he returned.

---