MYSTober 2024

31 vignettes based on single-word prompts. One story.

23. Barren

Jacob stood eye-to-eye with his father, with tears in his eyes. "I'm not going back. You can't make me."

"Jacob, I'm your father, and until you're old enough to contribute to this town on your own, you're under my roof, and you're coming to church with your family."

"No! I'm never setting foot in that building again!"

His father shook his head. "You know how important this is to your mother–"

"Why is what she wants more important than what I want?"

"Because she has a very good reason for what she wants: it brings us together as a family for positive messages and beliefs. The only reason you've ever given for not wanting to go is just that you don't like it." His father exhaled exhaustedly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We've had this argument so many times, son."

I have a good reason, but I can't tell you what it is. "Why isn't hating something for this long a good enough reason?"

"When you're out on your own, you can decide things however you like."

Jacob's stomach was churning. He felt flushed. All he wanted was for his father to say, 'It's all right, I trust you. You don't have to come tomorrow.' But he knew that would never happen.

"Jacob," his mother said from behind him in a soothing voice, "I know you don't like going to church, and I wish you'd tell us why. I just want us to be able to talk. Since I do put my faith in him, I've invited Mordecai here to speak with us as a family tonight."

Jacob's heart sank to his pelvis. His vision went dark, and he had to press his hand against the wall to avoid falling over. "What? No. No! That man is never coming near me again. He's a monster!"

Before his parents could say anything, Jacob was throwing open the door and racing through it. He shrugged someone's hand off his shoulder without looking and sprinted for the woods. This isn't happening. He needed to get away from the person who was hurting him, and right now that meant getting away from his parents. He needed the necklace.

He sped into the woods and stumbled over a fallen branch, catching himself with his palms against the dirt to avoid falling. He braced against a tree for just long enough to get his bearings, and then rushed deeper between the trees. When he came to the large one with a hole in its side, he stopped to rest against it for just a moment, then reached his hand inside to pull out the necklace.

It wasn't there. All he found inside the safe hole with his comfort item were twigs and leaves. "No, no, no!" He frantically tossed aside everything green and brown that he could, but found nothing.

MYSTober 2024

Table of Contents

23. Barren