The Waterfall- 6

wakeupkitty (75)modFree Host Writerin Freewriters • 3 months ago (edited)

The waterfall was the bridge, the only way between the lives of everyone I knew and the facility where I was left like a stray cat.
_{The Waterfall - 1 by @wakeupkitty}

Aku hanya punya 100$ hasil kerja paksa selama tinggal di sanatorium, itupun setelah dipotong pajak.
Bagaimana caranya uang tersebut bisa menjadi 10.000$ dalam sekejap.
_{The Waterfall - 2 by @fadthalib}

Fraud was the only way to make 10 thousand or more out of that pathetic 100$. I knew the old man was a gambler, a gambler, and a drunk. I would make him join the lottery, the one I set up for him.
_{The Waterfall -3 by @wakeupkitty}

Why is this stone so valuable to you?
It's a snake gemstone, whoever wears it will be immune to snake venom. I got it from my grandfather, Wongsodikromo, a Javanese man.
I just smiled a little while saying, how lucky the person who found it was.
_{The Waterfall - 4 by @fadthalib}

Katty, I've been waiting for you, are you here to pick up the receipt? Come in, it's on the table along with the other things left for you. Girl you must be hungry.
With an exhausted Freckle on my lap, I sat at the old familiar table on which two old cards lay covered by a glass plate. I studied them. What did they mean?
_{The Waterfall - 5 by @wakeupkitty}

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Grandfather always had been kind to me.

I remember him well. He must have been close to 90 years as I met him for the last time. It was here in the tiny house. It took me a long to arrive in Giethoorn. I was welcomed and he had left something behind. I wondered why since I left a long time ago with my father. All those years no one ever took the time to look for me. His picture lay in front of me just like the other papers, the maps with marks, and as I slowly ate the rice porridge I wondered how I would find my way to Java unnoticed. There it was where family should be alive and might help me further to unravel the past.

A traitor.. was Grandpa the one?
That sweet, kind always helpful man? As far as I could remember he spent his life in peace and only the last year I had seen him in a wheelchair. No one could tell when he became disabled. Was he, I heard the voice in my head ask, wasn't Grandpa pretending for a good reason?

Finished, she asked.

Startled I looked at the woman next to me. Her hand reached for the** coffee mug**, there's more if you're thirsty or hungry. I shook my head, Questions played through my mind. I escaped from the madhouse my father had left me behind. He had sold me and here I was, back at the place I had considered my home a very long time ago At least it felt like that. And my mother? I observed the woman who was busy tidying up what already looked good.

Who are you?

I am a friend of your grandfather. She smiled and continued her work.

Between the papers was a letter, my name was written on it, should I read it now or was it private? I wondered if Grandpa knew what my father had done to me. I felt the rage inside. Yes, I would destroy that man. No way I would let him live but I had time. There was something I had to figure out about the man who had left all this behind for me.

What happened, I would like to know, my money problem was solved thanks to the envelope.

I don't know more than you my child, she paused, all that, she pointed at the table, and the key of this house he sent to me with a letter to take care of it till you would arrive to collect it. His instructions were clear. I gave up my place and moved in here.

How long ago was that?

About 6 years I'm not sure time passes by slow here.

Did you know... did he know where I was?

I think so.

The wheelchair, is it still here, and.. his cane?

She shook her head. No trace of it I looked for it. Something felt odd, I mean it felt as if something terrible had happened before I arrived. It was in the air so to say, a spirit, a messenger perhaps.

Freckle suddenly groaned and jumped off my lap before I could stop him he ran out of the room barking wildly as if rabies had infected him.

Freckle, I yelled, what's wrong with you?

He didn't listen and as I went looking for him he was scratching at a floor panel in the hallway while howling as if there was a great storm on the way he had to warn us about.
In the light of the petroleum lamp, I removed the floor panel. In a space underneath the floor, half in the water stood grandfather's wooden wheelchair, and on the seat was a leash. No way, he had lifted it in there himself. Lying on the floor, I looked at the shaft. There was a tunnel, was it an escape route across the water? Had grandfather been on the run?

He was a nasty man, she said, it's what he deserved. If you want to go to Java then leave tomorrow before nightfall. All you need is in that envelope, she spat out. If you refuse you end the same way as your grandfather, underground that is. No soul will find you in the peatlands besides you are a wanted dangerous idiot. Take that dog, keep quiet till tomorrow, and you will be picked up put on the boat to Java. You are unwanted. Be wise and never return.

_{Since Katty is still on the run this story will be continued... @fadthalib?}

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Header: Canva/Photogrid
Picture: AI-generated by me - bing.com/create
Prompt: coffee mug - @freewritehouse
Date: 10-08-2024
Words: 750
Story line: @freewritehouse
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