Part 2Forgotten In The Cold Cellar

I scrambled for the wooden ladder, my hands slipping on the damp rungs.

The ladder wobbled dangerously, but I didn’t care. I shoved my head against the cellar door, trying to peek through the crack. The winter light was blindingly bright.

I saw the silver SUV backing out of the driveway, turning toward the main road.

"Dad!" I screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the celebratory firecrackers the neighbors were setting off to see them south.

I pushed against the door with everything I had, but it was heavy, and something felt stuck. Wait for me! I’m not in the car yet!

In my desperation, my foot slipped off the frozen rung.

I fell backward. My head hit the icy concrete floor with a sickening thud.

Pain exploded in the back of my skull. Gold stars danced behind my eyelids.

The sound of the engine grew faint. Fainter.

I tried to scream for help, but no sound came out. I couldn’t move. My hand brushed something wet and warm spreading out from under my head. I didn't know what it was. I just knew I was cold. So cold.

The engine noise vanished completely. They had forgotten me.

Just as the darkness started to pull at me, I heard footsteps above. Hope flared like a dying ember. They remembered. They realized I wasn't in the car. They came back for me!

"Where’d that brat hide herself?"

It was Grandma’s voice. My heart sank. But maybe... maybe they sent her to find me. Maybe they were waiting at the gate.

I tried to thud my hand against the ground. Once. Twice. But I had no strength left. The sound was weaker than a mouse scratching in the walls.

"Whatever," I heard Grandpa say. "She’ll come out when she gets hungry enough."

Grandma let out a sharp, dry laugh.

"Her dad told me before he pulled out—said the girl was making such a scene about leaving, he had to trick her with that hide-and-seek nonsense. Told us to just play along and 'comfort' her once they were gone."

"Hide-and-seek?" Grandpa chuckled. "Smart kid. He always was a quick thinker."

"Had to do something," Grandma said. "She was blocking the car, crying like a banshee. Imagine what the neighbors would think if they saw us just peeling her off the door."

My ears began to ring. They never intended to find me.

"If she hadn't been the one to give me my grandson, I wouldn't even bother with this little debt-trap," Grandma grumbled. "They barely come back once a year to see her. They're probably sick to death of her themselves."

The footsteps faded away.

In the dark, I lay alone. Was I never wanted? Not even from the start?

But Mom and Dad told me they worked so hard in the city for us. They said it was too dangerous and busy for a little girl there. When I asked why Beau got to go, they said it was because he was a boy, and he needed to "learn the struggle."

I wanted to tell them I wasn't afraid of the struggle. I would have worked. I would have done anything just to be near them.

In the deepening shadows, I thought I saw Mom brushing my hair again. I saw Dad lifting me onto his shoulders, running through the tall grass. I saw them laughing.

I laughed, too. I reached out toward the light, trying to catch them, but my fingers only grasped the freezing air.

The world went black. The last bit of light flickered out.