Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BURIED (04/01/21)
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TITLE: Forgiven Secrets | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ruthie Alekseeva
04/07/21 -
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Arina had run, her lungs bursting, toward her grandfather’s house. “Papa, there’s a dead body in the river, and then I saw another, and another and another,” she had heard herself sob, her voice not sounding her own. “What?” he had exclaimed, clearly shocked, but then his breath had caught and his face had flushed. He grew silent and it appeared as though he had trouble looking Arina in the eyes. “Papa, what’s wrong?” she had said, but he had not answered.
In her rush, Arina had not noticed her mother also stood in the room, but now she saw her mother also appeared uneasy. “The mass grave,” she heard her mother say. Arina stood looking from her mother to her grandfather, then to her mother again. “What mass grave, and why do you both look so uneasy?” Her grandfather smashed the backdoor open with his hand, stomping outside but not before revealing a tear sat in his eye. “He’s different now,” she heard her mother say. “Times are different now. I hope you understand what I’m saying and that we can just leave it at that.” Then, she left the room also.
Arina, her mind reeling, walked toward the city centre. It was clear the news had flown like wildfire, and she couldn’t help but notice the crimson faces of the older generation, their eyes cast toward the ground. Arina heard two bystanders whispering. “Over time, the eroding effect of the river’s current must have uncovered the haphazard burial of dozens of bodies from long ago.”
Arina continued walking. She recalled she had first walked the river’s length with her grandfather when she had barely reached his knees. Her tiny fist had clenched the thumb of one of his hands and with his other hand, he had plucked pink, yellow, and blue wildflowers growing in the grass that sprawled beside it, saying, “Here Arina, a posy for my princess.” Even at that young age, it had made her smile. She, a tiny tot still in pigtails, a princess? But she had clutched the scrubby blossoms with her fingers anyway, her chest swelling with pride.
Sometimes, he’d bring his fishing rod. She would watch him fish awhile. He never had much success, although the water was clear and free of algae. She’d lay on her side while he fished, giggling and laughing as she rolled over and over down the grassy riverbank. “Not that far, Arina,” she would hear him chide. “The bank gets swampy there.” And then, as she was walking back up the bank, readying herself for another roly-poly, “Ah, now you’ve done it, Arina. You have mud on your stockings and smock. Won’t your mother scold us?” But there was always a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes, as if he quite enjoyed bringing her home a little smudged, with him the one scolded for breaking his daughter’s rules when not so long ago, it had been her mother copping an earful for breaking his.
As Arina continued walking she knew that when, and if, she returned to the river hollow, this time it would remind her that despite our best efforts at covering our sin, often they pop up again in the future. Once again, recalling her and her grandfather’s trips to the river hollow, Arina marveled at the change in her grandfather’s heart since those times and praised God that He is so big, He can forgive and restore both perpetrator and victim. Arina thought a little longer, then said, “If God can forgive Grandfather, I will too.”
*This story is based on a YouTube documentary (which I can’t find anymore) about a river that uncovered a mass grave.
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