Lilly pt. 2

Lilly used to visit every day. She would look for him, call out his name, cry for her brother.

Now, she hardly ever has the time.

She has a house, a husband, a life. 

She has almost completely moved on. She has accepted the stories whispered around her, that he ran away, that he got lost in the forest, that he was dead.

When she could slip away, though, she would visit the place where he disappeared from.

There are so many stories about this well. It is dry, it is deep, there is no way to climb back up. And yet it had been Aesop’s favorite place in the world. 

What a creative child he had been. He told Lilly stories every day about what was at the bottom of the well, about the woman that lived there, how boring she was. About how much he wanted to explore, and how the Lady never let him.

Lilly doesn’t remember all of the details now, but he would tell her about it every day. 

Even if the Lady was boring, she liked Aesop. She let him stay with her, there at the bottom of the well. He told her stories, just like the stories he told Lilly. The Lady had loved them.

He’s tried to get her to leave the well, tried to take her home to show off to Lilly and their parents. But she would never leave her post.

Something about needing to keep watch.

Lilly is there at the well today, staring down into the depths. 

Aesop had told her that he could climb down, but she doesn’t see how. Even a boy as noble as him would struggle to find a foot hold on his way down.

Aesop must have been making it up. There was no way to climb down, and certainly no way to climb back up. He must have been playing games with himself, and he must have played a little too hard back then. He must have fallen in, and fallen hard. 

Lilly leaves the well, thinking about her brother. 

Thinking about why he would ever try to climb down into the dark.