Jars of Peaches
This story started as a joke between a friend and I but quickly grew into something not very much like a joke at all. Please enjoy and feel free to comment below.
Trigger warnings for violence and gore.
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Part I: The Girl and the Grove
I ran away.
I ran as fast and as hard as my legs could take me.
I could still hear them laughing as i dashed from the opening of the Waters family barn.
Tears streamed down my face as the illuminated barn got further and further away in the distance.
I was such a fool, I had begged my grandma to let me go to the dance tonight, and she had finally given in. All those months of hearing about the Waters farm having a dance in their barn, and all of my friends made it to every one, save for me. I couldn't remember the last time I was able to really enjoy a night off.
My grandma always said be careful what you wish for and now i guess i knew why.
I wore the lovely blue dress that my grandma fashioned for me from the old window curtains by the front porch door. Not the prettiest fabric choice but it looked decent on me. It also was one of the only outfits I owned that didnt include something covering my legs, like pants or overalls.
I had put my hair up, even put on some makeup, although i had to steal it from my grandma's dressing table. Just a touch of scarlet blush on my cheek and some gold shadow around my eyes.
I felt beautiful as I left my farmstead, like I was powerful and enchantingly feminine.
But that awful girl from the city was there, Veronica, and when i tried to dance with Jacob Waters she pushed me down to the dirt and called me a flat-chested hick.
Veronica is much prettier than me... she has much more confidence and her family has wealth to spare. I had little doubt that the dress she was wearing could have paid for a whole weeks worth of groceries from the general store back in town.
She was wearing her tits out on full-display for any of the boys to see. I was trying to be more modest but she was probably right... and that's why everyone had started laughing. They all knew it was true and so did I. Jacob's younger brother Christopher helped me up after i sat there for God knows how long, then i ran out with laughter and jeers at my back.
So, I ran.
I was barefoot of course but it didnt matter. I'd always been good at running and as a little girl I walked these fields enough that by age ten, my feet might as well have been carved out of wood.
I had workboots that I wore all the time to plow the fields and herd our livestock but being barefoot was my natural state, I loved it. All that work in the field really helped me out in the endurance department, too.
Deep down I know if i really wanted to stand up for myself, I'd tear that bitch Veronica a new mouth to breathe from but... my grandma always tried to call me modest. Gram doesn't mean modest, when she says modest. What she means is bashful.
I'm extremely shy.
I do so much work around the farm for my grandma and grandpa so I'm hardly able to get out and haven't done much getting out for all eighteen and a half years I've been kicking rocks in this dusty old place. Such a small amount of real exposure with people my age makes me... awkward.
I'm like a cat on the oven when I get too much attention on me. So when i get pushed down, instead of standing up for myself and giving Veronica some of what i got... apparently i just cry and run away like a baby.
By the time I realized how long I'd been running I was nearly halfway back to the farm. That was a good thing. The faster i get home the faster i can get to sleep for work tomorrow... i guess. I did slow down though. I didn't want to trip and scratch up my legs with my skin exposed in this stupid dress.
Who wants to go to a stupid party anyway, with dumb Jacob Waters and his ridiculous Record Player. By the time I had arrived there, they were already tipsy off the liquor that Big Joe had taken from his dad's liquor cabinet. I had never tasted liquor before but my grandpa loved to talk about it. Loved to drink it even more.
I really wanted to try it... maybe I would steal some for myself when I got back to the farm. Have a little one-person party of my own.
I was close to getting home now and the dark shape of the farmhouse was visible against the cornflower blue of the moon. The moon was full tonight and it looked so beautiful, seeing it almost stopped me from remembering how awful the night had been... almost.
As i passed by my corn fields i looked out and saw a crow pecking at one of the fresh cobs on the stalk. Black soulless eyes, staring blankly.
"Hey! You there. Shoo, go on git." I drawled at the bird and it flew away with a caw in my direction.
"Did that scarecrow get knocked down again? What keeps happening to that damn thing?"
I followed the walking path through the fields and looked out midfield to where the scarecrow should be. One glance was enough and I saw the space was empty where he was supposed to be on watch. A few feet away, scraps of cloth and bits of wood littered the ground and decorated the cornstalks.
Sure enough it had been knocked down like the others over the past few weeks. Looked like something smashed it to bits, too. I thought about picking up the pieces but decided I'd had enough for one day and left them for the morning.
I passed by my Gram's peach grove and made a quick climb up one of the trees to pilfer one of the fresh ripe peaches from the branches. This had become something like a ritual for me. Picking the right tree and toned muscles from work around the farm made for easy work as i scaled quickly up the vertical surface.
I sat down on a sturdy branch and while i sat there, i bit into the peach that i snagged. It was sweet as sugar and warm juices ran down the front of my face when i bit into it. The juice dripped down off my chin and spotted on the front of my blue dress. I laughed and felt a little bit better. After all, what did it matter if i messed up my outfit or my makeup. I found myself feeling much more comfortable here and sat for some time while I finished the peach. Tossing away the pit, i started to get down from the tree but something caught my eye and stopped me dead.
I could see a strange pattern in the air, it almost looked like smoke billowing in front of me but... it wasn't smoke. Smoke moved like chaos, impossible to predict but this substance in the air was moving in a wave. Lacking chaos completely and following some unseen motion. Wind kicked up and rustled the branches of the tree and the wave moved with it, drifting softly, almost dancing with the breeze. Something about the presence of it hypnotized me and i found myself unable to look away. Almost afraid to miss it, lest i see another beautiful pattern emerge.
Thoughtlessly i reached up and plucked another peach from the branches and ate a second one, still unable to break my focus from the beauty of it. This peach was even sweeter and juicier than the first one and more juice spotted the front of my lovely dress. My grandma cultivates these peaches and everybody around our small little homestead comes to get jars of my grandmother's peaches. She makes the best peach preserves anywhere and I would put them up against any peach preserves in the entire state.
Thinking about my grandma's preserves made me realize i was hungry.
Very hungry.
My stomach felt like an empty void and i hungrily licked the peach juice off my fingers with lavish. I looked back up to see the pattern again but found that I could no longer see it. That would have saddened me but the longer i sat there, the more hungry i was beginning to feel. I quickly scaled my way down the tree and grabbed a third peach on my way into the farmhouse.
Behind me, the leaves danced and shook with delight in the calm night air. Shadows writhed unseen, moving like billowing smoke hidden in the leafy coverage of the peach grove.
I creaked open the porch door as i bit into the delectable fruit and juice spattered the front of my dress again. The cloth very well might get ruined but i didn't care much, my stomach felt so empty and the peach tasted almost frightfully delicious.
I was finished with it by the time i arrived at the door for the cellar. I tossed the pit into my grandfathers spittoon and it landed square in the hole with a metallic clink.
I swung the door wide and it banged against the wall as i took the steps down, two at a time. Distantly i realized I should have been worried about my grandparents waking up but... i didn't care.
I couldn't care.
I needed to get down to the cellar and taste the preserves. They would be ready within a day or two, so i knew they would be perfect without the least sign of bitterness.