Ensnared

by Sian B. Claven

As they passed the living room, Jono called out, “Where are you two off to?”

  Sashqua called back, “Just upstairs, honey.”

  Taking her mother’s hand, Amari followed her up the stairs and around the banister to the bathroom. They stopped in-between Amari’s room and the bathroom, almost dead centre.

  Looking around, Amari said, “I don’t get it? There’s nothing here?”

  Her mother smiled mysteriously and jokingly waved her hands in front of Amari’s face, wiggling her fingers like some children’s magician. “Oh, isn’t there?” she cackled before she smacked her hands together, causing Amari to jump and giggle.

  Sashqua raised her hands above her and dangling there was a string Amari had never noticed before. She followed the length of it with her eyes to what seemed like a handle. She was instantly excited.

  “You found an attic!” she exclaimed as Sashqua tugged on the string to release the stairs that would take them into the roof.

  Amari stepped aside as the creaky stairs released and hit the floor with a cloud of dust.

  Sashqua gave a regal bow before heading back for the stairs. “Try not to get too dirty. You can search through all the stuff and if you’re feeling up to it, clean up.”

  Amari was already half way up the stairs and sticking her head through the trap door. “Oh, this is so awesome! I feel like I’m in a book or something!”

  She pulled herself up slowly and sat on the edge of the trap door, looking around. The attic was exactly as one would imagine an attic to be. There were thick levels of dust everywhere. Amari couldn’t make everything out in the dim light, but what she could see was large items that had dirty brown cloths draped over them.

  Searching for a light switch, she finally saw another string hanging from the ceiling. Squinting, she could barely make out that there was a bulb at the top of the string. Pulling herself carefully into the attic so she could stand, she was surprised to see that the space was high enough for her to stand up straight. She reached up and pulled on the string. A few flickers and the bulb started to burn.

  Amari looked around and nodded, mumbling to herself, “It’s bigger than I thought.”

  She put one foot forward and gradually put her weight on it, testing the floorboards. It held. She tested another, and then, using her feet to feel her way forward, she made her way to the first pile of objects hidden under a dirty cloth. She tugged at it and it fell to the floor.

  There were boxes underneath and Amari’s interest was piqued.

  She opened the top one and found what looked like dried plants in jars. She shivered slightly, lifted the box to set it on the floor, and went through the next one. It was filled with odds and ends like candle sticks and pieces of wood. All rubbish. Amari shook her head and moved to the next cloth.

  “Anything interesting?”

  Amari jumped at the sound of her father’s voice.

  His head popped through the trap door and he looked around. “Find anything worth a million bucks?”

  She grinned at him. “It’s mostly just junk.” She tackled another box. “Like whoever lived here before us must have been a complete nutter,” she commented as she pulled out a sprig of what appeared to be dried herbs tied together. They had been burnt slightly.

  Jono climbed into the attic fully and said, “That looks like sage. Some believe that it can be used to dispel ghosts.” He made a strange ‘woooooooohhhh’ noise and Amari rolled her eyes.

  “Seriously, dad, like this place didn’t need to be creepier. There you go and throw in a lame dad joke.”

  Jono chuckled and started searching through boxes himself. “What would life be without a lame dad?”

  Amari put her hands on her hips. “What are we going to do with all this junk?” she wondered out loud.

  Jono came to stand next to her. At five foot seven she was already tall for a girl and she got it from her six foot five father who could also stand tall in the attic.

  “Well, I would like to go through all of it in case there is anything worthwhile in these boxes,” he said, “so I guess since I’m too busy at the moment we could move them to the basement.”

  Amari frowned. “Dad, if you’re going to take a while to get to sorting through it, why would you want to move it to the basement?”

  Jono held his hands up, gesturing around. “Because how else will all your junk fit in here?”

  “Why would I move all my junk in here?” She paused and glanced around before her eyes widened and she looked up at her father. “You mean … I can make this my room?” She waited to see if he was joking and when Jono smiled down at her and nodded, Amari squealed and launched herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

  Jono hugged her before pulling away from her. “Okay, okay, okay … now as payment for your nice new fancy room you get to lug the stuff downstairs. Try not to destroy everything.” He turned and started down the stairs from the attic.

  A few hours later the attic was cleared out of all boxes and dusty covers. Sashqua felt bad after Amari lugged down the fourth box, panting and sweating, so she insisted that Jono join her in assisting Amari. Once everything was out, Sashqua and Amari set about dusting, wiping and sweeping the attic out.

  With the boxes out of the way they managed to get to the windows, and Amari opened them up just enough to let some fresh air in but not too much of the rain. Jono helped them bring up Amari’s things and once everything was in, Sashqua and Jono went downstairs to relax while Amari rearranged her room over and over again to figure out just how she liked it.

  After moving the bed for what must have been the tenth time, she decided she preferred it in the corner of the attic to the left of the window. That way she could get fresh air, but wouldn’t have the light directly in her eyes every morning.

  With the bed in place, she put everything else where she thought it should go. The last item to move was a chest of drawers that had all her clothes in. Amari swore softly as she threw her weight against it and inch by inch pushed it into the corner to the right of the window. That was where the roof sloped down at an angle and she could just fit under this section. Her father would have to bend.

  Amari shoved one more time and with a thud the chest of drawers was in place. She shrieked as something fell from one of the roof beams onto the chest of drawers. After getting over her shock, with her heart still beating out of her chest, she leaned in to see what it was. Whatever it was, it was wrapped up in what appeared to be authentic leather.

  Picking it up, she wiped the dust off. The leather was tied and she laid it on the chest of drawers to slowly unwind the string. Amari opened it to reveal a book. She wondered why someone had taken the time to hide it in the attic. There was no cover or title, so she went to the first page. It seemed to be a hand written book of short stories.

  She gazed at it curiously and made her way to her bed where she sat crossed legged and started reading.

  It was about a girl that was lost in the woods. Her name was Kiara. The story started with Kiara wandering the woods aimlessly, not sure of where she was.

  Amari loved to read and settled into her bed comfortably as her eyes trailed the words.

  Kiara had been lost in the woods for days. She was hungry and tired and wasn’t sure if she was going in circles or if she was heading in a straight line. She looked up and tried to see the sun above her, but couldn’t make out where it was - that was how thick the canopy of the trees was. Rays of sunshine filtered through, but you couldn’t see exactly which way. She wished had taken some sort of survival course, like the ones her father had taken when they were younger, so that she could determine direction by the way moss grew on trees. She was useless at this.

  Kiara felt like she was never going to get out of this God-forsaken place. She couldn’t even remember how she had come to be here. Once minute she had been sitting in her room, brushing out the hair on one of her dollies when she had heard her stepmother’s voice. The next thing sh
e knew she was standing in a forest. She didn’t know how. She just knew she was here and that she needed to find her way home.

  Kiara spent days trying to find her way. She walked for hours each day, with few rests between. At night she found a tree suitable for climbing and would get out of danger in case there were predators. She hadn’t seen any animals though. The forest was dead silent; you couldn’t even hear any bugs or birds.

  The forest frightened Kiara, but there was nothing for it. She wasn’t even sure how many days and nights she had been out here. She was parched. She was hungry. She was scared. She looked up as though she could see the person reading this book and she whimpered, “Please … help me…”

  “AMARI!”

  Amari sat up, surprised. Her eyes were dry and sore and she shivered slightly. Her room was ice cold even though she had already shut the window. It was dark outside and when she looked at her watch she realised it was about three hours since she had started reading. That was impossible. She had barely read a paragraph of that story.

  “AMARI IDA!”

  Sashqua was yelling and Amari heard her mother stomping up the stairs. Her mother’s head popped through the trap door, and she seemed angry.

  “Why are you ignoring me? I have been calling you for over forty five minutes.”

  “I’m sorry, mom. I wasn’t ignoring you, I found this book and …”

  Sashqua frowned. “You and your stupid stories, girl. Your food is going to be ice cold and your father and I are waiting for you so we can eat.”

  Amari scrambled off of her bed. “I really am sorry, mom. I just got carried away in this book. I swear I didn’t even realise I had been reading that long. I thought I had only sat down for a minute …”

  Sashqua sighed and shook her head. “It’s fine. Just come downstairs and come eat. You can do the dishes after for making us wait.”

  Amari tossed the book onto her bedside table and followed her mother downstairs from the attic.

  They sat at the table and with little conversation the small family started on their meal of stew and rice.

  Amari’s mind kept drifting back to the book. Maybe she had dozed off? She generally had a good memory for stories, but she only remembered that one paragraph. The words at the end echoed in her head. She was sure it had said that the person reading the book … that the girl - Kiara - had asked the person who was reading the book to please help her. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t hear what her father asked.

  Jono waved his hand in front of his daughter’s face. “Hey, kid, you okay?”

  Amari blinked and shivered. “Yes, dad, sorry what did you say?”

  Jono frowned and pressed a hand to her forehead. “You don’t seem yourself, are you not feeling well?”

  “I’m fine, dad, I promise. Maybe I am just tired from all that moving.”

  Jono smiled fondly at her and went back to his food.

  Amari’s mind drifted back to the book and Kiara. As she thought of Kiara there was a huge SNAP! and POP! and the lights in the living room went off.

  Jono frowned and stood up, fetching a flashlight from one of the drawers. Amari and Sashqua remained at the table but stopped eating as they listened to him move slowly through the living room and click on the flashlight.

  “Dammit!” he snapped. “The storm must have blown this light. All three globes are pitch black and hanging from their sockets.” He came back to the kitchen and set the flashlight on the table, taking his seat again.

  Sashqua frowned. “So what now?

  Jono sighed and started eating once more, saying between bites, “Well, I’ll probably have to check if the fitting is still okay and if not, replace the whole goddamn thing.”

  Amari looked at her mother before saying quietly, “It’s okay, dad, I’m sure the light fitting itself is fine. Probably just a power surge because of the storm.”

  Jono nodded and smiled at Amari with appreciation. “We can hope so, kid, but I’ll rather check it in the morning when there is better light.”

  They finished dinner and Amari went to do the dishes, the story and Kiara driven from her mind as she worried about her father’s reaction to the light’s blowing. It seemed the cost and effort being put into fixing the farm up was taking its toll on her parents and, wrapped up in her own selfishness, she had failed to notice just how much of a toll it was.

  She inwardly promised to try and be more helpful and positive about this farmhouse, which was easier to do now that she had a decent bedroom. Perhaps things could work out quite nicely here.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  It was hard to make her new attitude last, harder than even Amari thought it would be. She had her new room, which she did love, and was happier and positive about the whole farm idea. She even went so far as to take on extra chores to help out.

  It must not have been enough, because Jono called her down to the dining room one Sunday morning, telling her that they needed to talk, as a family. Needing to talk was never a sign of good things to come, in anybody’s life.

  Amari descended the stairs reluctantly and saw both Jono and Sashqua sitting at the table. Her mother was busy knitting something and her father had the newspaper open in front of him, a pencil in his hand indicating that he was doing his crossword.

  She sat opposite her parents at the table. “Is something wrong?”

  Jono looked at her. “Why do you think something is wrong?”

  Amari shook her head, but didn’t have an answer for him.

  Her father nodded. “Look, Amari, there is no easy way to broach the subject, but your mother and I both agree that it is time. We have given you a great opportunity, but you need to come to the party now.” Jono looked at Sashqua for support, but her mother simply kept knitting.

  “Did I forget to do one of my chores?”

  Jono shook his head. “This is about more than just chores, Amari; this is about life.”

  Confused, she shook her head. “You’ve lost me now, dad.”

  When Jono spoke he was gentle. “That’s the problem though, you are lost. You have no sense of direction in your life and you need to find one.”

  Amari did her best not to sigh, he had tried to give her this speech before and she had avoided it. Jono wanted Amari to have a …

  “Career, you need a career, Amari,” he was saying, and she realised she needed to pay attention and not zone out.

  She didn’t know what her father wanted her to say; she hadn’t made a choice yet. Apparently that wasn’t an option anymore.

  Jono pushed a brochure towards her. “I think that you have a strong sense of empathy for other people so I was wondering why you don’t consider studying psychology.” He glanced hesitantly at Sashqa again, who still hadn’t said anything.

  Amari frowned and looked at the brochure, not touching it. “I don’t think I’d be really good at it … and I don’t have enough credit to apply for a loan to study it.”

  Her father smiled. “I have thought about that and I would like to offer to pay for a correspondence course for the first two years. For your final year we should be more financially stable and then I can send you away to an actual college.”

  He seemed triumphant and Amari realised he had really thought this through.

  She hugged herself. “If we are more financially stable that could work or, you know, I study for two years and then I can’t go further because we don’t make it.”

  Jono shook his head. “Don’t think like that. The fact of the matter is we can’t carry on like this; you can’t carry on like this. You need your own life, Amari-Belle, and you need to move forward in life.”

  She looked at the brochure and shrugged. “I just don’t know what I want to do, dad. I know it’s probably not psychology.”

  Shaking his head sternly, which was hard for him because he was generally so soft with her, her father said, “No, Amari, not this time. You don’t get to the play the existential crisis this time. You not knowing what you w
ant to do cannot be your excuse anymore. You are scared of making a choice, but you can’t avoid it.” Jono took a deep breath before he could lose his nerve. “And quite frankly I need you to do something to show initiative. This farm is our dream, not yours.”

  Amari tried not to tear up; this wasn’t what she wanted to do and crying over it was just childish. Yes, the farm wasn’t her dream, but neither was a career she didn’t choose.

  Sashqua sensed her daughter’s distress and finally put her knitting down. “Perhaps there is a compromise we can reach.”

  Secretly hoping her mother agreed to just one more year off, Amari looked her way for salvation.

  Sashqua smiled and pushed another brochure towards her and Amari eyed it out warily. “You could do a bridging course.”

  “A bridging course?” she asked.

  Jono nodded eagerly. “Yes! You could do that! It would add an extra year onto your studies, but I don’t mind! And if you do a bridging course, it’s a short course between high school and starting college where you can choose four subjects to try out, and if you like any of them you can take them as a major the following year when you start college. It will be like a test run for you.”

  Amari glanced between her parents and realised she wasn’t being given much of a choice. Her parents probably planned it this way. There wasn’t a more perfect method to get her to do the bridging course than saying she should try studying something she didn’t want to. She also didn’t have much time to think about it, because judging from the looks on her parents faces, they expected an answer now.

  She conceded. “Okay, I will do the bridging course, but I get to pick my subjects, okay?”

  Jono clapped his hands together enthusiastically and nodded. “I will sign you up tomorrow when I am in town and you should receive your textbooks within two weeks.”

  Amari gave him the best smile she could manage. “Right, so … I have thought about this and the subjects I couldn’t choose between were English Literature, Art History or Philosophy.”