The Thorn in My Shed-Chapter 28: You Were Here.

The world was fading in and out, the days were blending together.

Darkness faded into dim light before fading back into darkness again.

It felt like there was an unbearable pain, or at least like there should’ve been but she couldn’t tell if she could feel it or not.

Did her body even ache anymore? Was it even attached to her head?

Was she dead or alive? Hell or Purgatory?

The only thing she could feel was her own confusion, as if she could feel her thoughts physically swimming around in her head.

Everyday was the same scenery, the lighting rarely changed and her father’s face and voice were all she saw or heard.

She hadn’t been able to get up and walk around either, stuck, bound to this wooden chair.

The dungeon had already smelled terrible when she was first brought in but the smell had intensified. For a while it stung her nose but now that sensation too...she couldn’t tell if she felt it or not.

Were they phantom pains or was her body starting to give up?

Even the temperature was impossible to tell. It was hot, like she was on fire, but at the same time she felt so chilled.

She was sweating but shivering at the same time. Her skin felt like it was being blown with frozen air, but her feet felt like they were walking on flames.

’Where am I....?’

Lord Evans stood before her, watching her as she lulled her head from side to side, her eyes flickering like the flame of the torch on the wall.

"Tch." The corner of his nose twitched upward as a scowl spread across his face.

"Disgusting. Weak. Do you have a right to behave this way? Take your punishment properly. You brought this upon yourself!"

Her eyes were unfocused and she didn’t acknowledge him at all.

’KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!’

Lord Evans forcefully smacked his cane down on the stone 3 times.

"Pay attention when your father is speaking to you! You wretched thing!" His spit sprayed across her face but she still made no acknowledgement of him.

His hand flew out and grabbed onto her hair at the base of her scalp. His fingers curled into it as he grasped the strands in his fist.

Lord Evans pulled her head every which way before letting go, forcing her head to fall back.

He slapped her hard across the face, to which she just turned her cheek.

"Do you have any idea what I have done to secure my place in this world? To secure the reputation of the name ’Evans’?! Do you?! Why did you decide to be born?! Of all the women! It is only YOU that came into existence! Or maybe it’s because you truly are your mother’s child. A woman out to destroy me!"

His hissed. His anger was escalating and so was his volume. He began to pace back and forth in front of her.

"What did I ever do to you for you to try and ruin everything I’ve built? I could’ve thrown you to the wolves and I didn’t. It is because of ME that you are here right now!"

Lord Evans then turned to her and grasped onto her throat with both of his hands, squeezing tight.

"BUT YOU DARE TRY TO ESCAPE ME! KNOW YOUR PLACE YOU FOUL SWINE! YOU ARE NOTHING! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! NOTHING!"

Lightning lit up the room, highlighting Eilownia’s tiny face. Tears streamed down her cheeks much like how the rain streaked the window.

There wasn’t much in her tiny pantry-sized bedroom; a tiny bed, a small dresser for her clothes that she kept her branch doll on and a nightstand with a lamp. The door was on the wall opposite her bed and there was a singular window on the wall to the right.

Yet, those few things she did have cast scary shadows across the walls as the lightning flashed.

Thunder rolled in and shook her room, causing the window to rattle.

Eilownia gasped and covered her head with her blanket. It was the same one that had covered the basket she had been brought in. The blanket was a little too small for her and didn’t cover her enough but it was her comfort nonetheless.

The storm wasn’t letting up and it felt scarier by the second.

She scrambled out of her bed and wiped her tears. She looked to be about 4 years old with her hair in tight double braids. Her pajamas were only a plain white nightgown.

Eilownia wrapped her blanket over her head and tucked its corners under her chin, creating a little cape as she shuffled to Lord Evans’ bedroom.

Her tiny hand reached up and barely fit over the doorknob. She tried her hardest to twist it and finally got it open.

Lord Evans was sitting in bed by the candlelight, reading a book.

"Dada?" She quietly asked, shuffling in.

He paid her no mind, as if she was a ghost he couldn’t see or hear.

She walked over to his bed and tossed her blanket on top.

"Ih!" She grunted as she grasped tightly onto the comforter and used it to haul herself up onto the massive bed.

"Dada. Wiw you wead me stowy?"

Lord Evans glared at her and shoved her off the bed.

She fell onto the floor with a loud ’THUD!’ and let out a sharp cry.

Eilownia sat up and burst into tears bawling hard.

"Someone get in here and do something about this thing and keep it away from me!" He screamed down the hallway.

One of the servants ran in and quickly grabbed Eilownia and dragged her out of the room.

"My bankie!" She cried, reaching her hand out towards Lord Evans bedroom as if she could grab the blanket just like that.

"Leave it!" The servant hissed, "It’s gone now! Forget about it!"

The next day Eilownia was taken out to the garden shed. It was newly constructed the year prior.

She stood there with her rabbit plush and branch doll as she stared up at the building.

The servant guided her inside and knelt down to get on her level.

"This is where you’ll live from now on."

Eilownia clutched her plush tight. "Me no wike it."

"I. I don’t like it." The servant corrected before continuing, "It’ll be fun. Look it’s like your own house. It’ll be like a wonderland and it’s even bigger than the bedroom you have inside."

A slow smile appeared on Eilownia’s face as she looked around the shed.

"That’s right. It’s nice in here isn’t it? And it’s all yours!"

Eilownia nodded as she sat down on the floor and began to play with her dolls, leaving the maid to depart to go tell Lord Evans that the ’issue’ had been settled.

However, once night arrived the ’wonderland’ she had been promised turned more into the place of nightmares instead.

The moonlight cast shadows of the nearby trees through the skylight of the shed and into the interior of the shed.

Tears rolled down her face. All she wanted was a story, was some comfort from her strong and powerful father. If there was anyone that could chase away the shadows of the night, it was him.

Yet he had let them attack her, terrify her, and even added it to her body in the form of a dark purple bruise that was blooming on her arm.

’Why dada no nice to me......why dada no wike me....’ She thought to herself as her bottom lip puckered out and the corners of her eyes downturned harder.

She wanted to go to him, to run back into the house into his room and beg, to cling onto his dominating presence but it was too scary.

Just beyond the door of that shed was a sea of darkness with unknown shadows lurking in its midst, a labyrinth of leafy hedges that threatened to swallow her whole if she dared to lose her way and a large moon sitting high that would stare down at her and laugh at her pathetic attempts to search for safety.

Eilownia sat curled up in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest as she cried. She had her plushie and her doll pressed against her as if to create a shield against her fears.

Now she didn’t even have her blanket to pull over her.

Even worse, as she sat in the dungeon as an adult woman, she had neither her blanket or her plushies to protect her, and her nightmare was a reality.

He let go of her throat and grabbed onto her hair again, yanking her closer as he leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Wherever it was that you were, know that any of the smiles you might’ve had....any of the reprieve you might’ve basked in....none of it was real. You have been here. You have always been here. And here you will always remain."