Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS writer.
It was quiet, no sounds came from the house. She stood at the back door to her grandparents’ house, her faithful dog by her side.
She had escaped the noise of her own house – the constant crying of the new baby. Her baby brother did nothing but cry. Nobody knew why. It was not unusual to see her mother crying too, unable to soothe him or to fix what was wrong.
This little girl felt invisible, overlooked, lost. Unseen by the mother who was now so prepossessed by the new baby, she felt like she no longer mattered to her or to anyone. She found some comfort with her grandmother, a few doors down the street. Her own mother resented the little girl going there, to the in-laws, treating the girl like a traitor. Thinking a three year old could make conscience choices of allegiance.
She wandered. Not far, but away. Her dog with her all the time – the quiet bodyguard who always stood between her and danger.
The dog wasn’t allowed in her grandparent’s house. “That dog can’t be trusted,” her grandfather would say.
“Gramma?” she called out. No answer came. She’s at the other end of the house, she thought.
Slipping in through the door, leaving her dog behind, she saw the signs of activity in the kitchen, the beginnings of dinner but not her grandmother.
She walked through the house to the front bedroom her grandparents shared. She walked in. Her grandmother wasn’t there. A shadow fell across the door.. She turned to see the looming outline of her grandfather, menacing. She asked him where her grandmother was, trying to make her way out of the room as quickly as she could.
“She’s gone down the shops.” A fair walk, far enough and long enough that she knew that she was in danger. He grabbed her as she tried to move past, she tried to squirm free of his grasp, free from the hands that had sought her out before. Free from the hands that had touched her, confused her, hurt her. She couldn’t get free. He was dragging her to the bed. A foul taste filled the back of her mouth. She didn’t know what to do.
She screamed. She screamed as loud as she could, and kept screaming. Her dog barked at the back door. He barked and barked, ramming at the door and starting to howl.
Her bodyguard had saved her again. Her grandfather loosened his grasp and she was able to run. Run to the back door and out to her protector. Then she kept running, through the yard, through the back gate out to the commons with her dog hot at her heel.