Chapter Eleven: The Truth I Wished I Didn’t Know:

My whole life was a life. My family left me to die. Left me and my baby to die in the woods. Leaving us to be picked clean by the vultures and bodies to be swallowed up by the red mud. Mama Betty told me everything. Every cruel and twisted truth of this town. I wanted to scream at her to stop. I thought my head was going to explode.

“Don’t try to block it out,” she said. “You have to know this.” She didn’t spare the rest of the details. I never knew the truth about my village before. Up until now, I thought everything was normal. But now…

I drew my knees to my chest as I shivered.

“Why did you tell me this?” I asked in a shaky voice. Mama Betty reached out and patted me on the head.

“I’m not going to let an innocent baby be fed to the mud anymore,” she whispered.

“I don’t want to die,” I said.

“I know, I know,” Mama Betty whispered. My eyes filled with tears as I lifted my head.

“What am I going to do?” I asked. The tears rolled down my cheeks.

“Stand on your feet. Survive out here in the woods and do better for your baby,” she said. It didn’t help, but I knew she was right. I didn’t have any other options. I was dead to everyone in that village. My family cut me off. My job already hired someone else. My friends wouldn’t talk to me anymore. I was just alone. Alone with this baby inside of me and Mama Betty.

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked.

“Not much,” she said. “I’m just going to house you here for a few days. Make it look like I sent you off to the monster. And then I’m going to release you further into the woods. I sniffled.

“What am I going to do then?” I asked.

“Look at me, girl,” she said. Mama Betty grabbed me by the cheeks and forced my eyes on her. The stern look on her face unnerved me.

“I’m not going to hold your hand and tell you how to survive,” she said. “You have a baby coming later this year and I don’t have long to live.” I became confused.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“It’s because I spared you,” she said. Mama Betty pressed her lips together as she looked away. I heard the story, but I still didn’t get what she was talking about.

“I was like you once,” she said. “I… I got pregnant by a drifter thirty years ago. My parents found out and left me out in the woods to die. Instead of consuming me, I made a deal with the monster.” Mama Betty shook her head.

“It was so stupid, but I was only a scared kid who didn’t want to die. It let me live in return for keeping it fed,” she said. I froze as a horrifying thought crossed my mind.

“Don’t tell me…” I said, covering my mouth. The sad look in her eyes told me all that I needed to know. She turned and put her hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t make the same mistakes I did,” she said. “I broke the deal and now I don’t have long to live. Until you can break this curse, you have to feed monster to keep their damned village alive.” I stared at her as the color drained from my face.

So that’s how I started my former village’s downfall. I didn’t directly cause it. That’s falls into the hands of my child when they will be born. Thinking about it made me angry all over again. I placed my hand to my stomach.

“It’s okay, baby,” I whispered in the darkness. “I won’t feed you to any monster or die.” Mama Betty’s words circled my head.

With all of that being said, I now had a burning rage and desire to keep living.