Sun Kissed Innsmouth
Part Seventy Two
“Alright, girl. I get it. Sore subject. Come get some water and then I’ll show you the house we made all those years ago.”
When Felecia still kept her distance, looking off into the dark woods, the old woman spoke up. “I’ve lost my way, girl, with words, with people. Shit fire, maybe I lost my mind altogether. I figured you for a ghost until you kept walking along behind me into these woods, I’ve seen them before on that meadow. Please, do me the kindness of drinking some water and joining me for the night.”
The sounds of something approaching polite discourse got Felecia turning. The hideous carving was back in view but now that the lantern was aimed off at the woods instead of at the cave face it was all slightly easier to ignore. “My name is Felecia.”
The old woman didn’t nod or shrug or seem to acknowledge the implication at all as she eyed the pail before speaking, “Okay.”
Even Phillip understood the simple exchanging of names, even the crude villagers mostly understood the obvious initial bit of most polite discourse. The old woman though, Nana’s doppelganger, she wasn’t budging, nor did she seem the least bit interested to have been given such personal information.
Felecia took a few steps until her feet touched the oddly bare earth that marked the small rise leading to the cave face. “You keep calling me girl, my name is Felecia. What would you prefer that I call you?”
The old woman stopped looking at Felecia and let her milky green eyes settle on the wooden hatch of the well. “If you gotta know then I can’t help you. I know mums name was Nelly, and Pa’s name was Samial. I know my Abe was Abe, and the groundskeeper was Jacob, only spelled and spoke with a Y at the front instead of a J. It’s been too long since anyone said my name, I don’t know it no more.”
Suddenly Felecia felt guilty for her need to always be cordial and socially appropriate. She felt so much guilt that she also had a moment of clarity. Nana always did that. On the rare occasions when Felecia was right, when she knew the answer or the right thing to do, Nana always pivoted from the eldritch authority to the doting grannie. She was always ready to play the dumb card so long as it didn’t bother the natural hierarchy of the household. One on one the unconcerned yet utterly selfish woman always seemed ready to defuse a situation with the simple concept of suddenly not knowing the obvious. She also forgot the obvious and made up on the spot new conditions for existing rules whenever it suited her due to the household staff busily watching her remotely.
Felecia walked up to the well and reached down and took a deep drink from the remainder of the pail and did that three more times before she let the ladle rest in the remnants of the fresh water. Felecia turned away from the old woman and looked out at the dark swamp still caught in the lantern light. “I grew up in the shadows, the outskirts. I wasn’t just the least favorite, I was the only one left. Nana, used to play dumb with me. She used those moments to train me, to push me, to mold me. I learned a long time ago that if I wanted praise, I had to ignore what I wanted and what most around me needed. If I wanted recognition, I had to be willing to suffer and make others do the same.”