It´s still early in the morning, as the sun starts to send its first rays over the horizon and the rooster announces a new day with its crowing. The 15 years old Annabelle yawnes and forces herself out of the bed, with her long black hair all messed up by the pillow. She makes her way to the big mirror next to the wardrobe and gazes upon her own body. She stood 5 feet and 4 inches tall, well curved with a B cup, average wide hips and a fitting firm ass. She gazes at her mirror image for a while to check if the mosquito bite she got on her chin a few days ago, still is noticeable, before she moves to the bathroom.
After taking a quick bath, she prepares herself for a new day and leaves the house with a bucket to get some water at the well, as she does every morning. The first rays of the sun shines on her increadible beautifull face and the way she walks to the well in her simple clothings gives the impression that she has no idea of her own bodily assets and beauty. She attatches the bucket to the rope on the well and lowers it into the deep, untill she hears a splash. Her eyes are focusing on the sunrise while the bucket is filling with water and then after hesitating a short moment, she finally pulls the heavy bucket up to the surface. After she watches the sunrise for a while, she picks the bucket from the hook and walks to the barn, to refill the drinking troughs for the pigs and the chicken. There after she refills the bucket at the well and returns to the house to prepare the breakfast for her 36 years old father George and her 12 years old brother Henry before they wake up.
They all live together on a rather small farm without any land to grow grains, so they only live from the chickens, and pigs they hold and from the apples and vegetables that grow in a small garden behind the house. The farm has been a family property through generations, though it once was far bigger. A tragic carriage accident which claimed her mother's life, forced the poor family to sell most of their land to make up for their loss. Back in the days when her mother was still alive, they both prepared the breakfast together so she got used to the routines and now continues alone after her death. Same goes for the laundry and the rest of the chores while her father and her brother are taking care of the animals.
As her father and her brother got ready for the day, bathing and get into their clothings, the breakfast was nearly ready. The usual menu is a boiled egg for everybody, some bread, butter and ham. A mug of applejuices is also on the table and a cup of coffee for the father. As both of them are entering the kitchen and sitting next to the table, she is finishing cleaning the kitchen from the preperations of the breakfast and joins them at the table.
"Its time to slaughter another pig", George says to his children, to which Annabelle frowns with disgust.
The father is expecting this, he and the boy know how much Annabelle hates it when animals are hurt, or rather anyone is hurt at all. Thats why he and his son got used to do this kind of work without the help of his daughter and they dont mind. He accepts this kind of character trait at his daughter, or rather he´s happy about it. The world is after all filled enough with violance and brutality, so he hopes that his daughter someday would be a benefit for the world, in one or another way.
Thats why he adds "Its ok Annabelle, your brother will help me as always, you dont have to help me there" He smiles to her which she appreciates with a nod and smiles back.
Henry simply nods to the whole conversation and eats his breakfast without a word. He quickly finishes his meal and tells them both that he´ll prepare the tools for the slauthering, so that they are ready when George has picked the best pig for it. His father nods and eats his food while Henry leaves the kitchen. He picks up a sliece of bread with ham on and takes a large bite of it. With crums sticking to the corners of his mouth, he takes a sip of coffee and turns to his daughter to speak with her.
"How was your night, Annabelle? Did you sleep good or..", he pauses for a moment watching her for a few seconds. As he gets no response right away he continues "still that Nightmare?"
Annabelle sighs and nods with an antic of sadness "Its still the same dad. Me and mom on the carriage before the horses get mad and.." she stops and takes a sip from her applejuice to clear her throat.
George stands up and moves to the chair next to his daughter to hold her in his embrace after he´s noticing her first tears. She beginns to cry as those memories of her mothers accident come up in her mind once again. "Shhh" he holds her gently "Its all right, let it out dear, its all right." They sit there for a few minutes till Annabelle calmes down again, he kisses her forehead gently and she begins to smile slighty. Then her father gets up and moves to the barn to start his work, but not before he once again turnes to look his daughter in the eyes and asures himself that she´ll be allright. As she´s the last at the table she continues her breakfast while the details of the accident which caused the death of her mother went through her mind.
It was a sunny afternoon, she and her mother where on the way back from the town where they sold the overage of apples, applejuice, eggs and meat on the market to buy everything they needed for the household, like flour, salt, fruits and milk. Their farm was already in reach and they where passing through the gate as a snake crossed the path which scared the horses. Her mother lost the controle over the carriage and got throwen off her seat, between the carriage and the horses, wich caused her to get overrun by one of the wheels. Her neck got crushed by the wheel and she was dead instantly. Her father who worked outside the house, chopping wood for the oven, ran up to the horses as quickly as possible and calmed them down, but for the mother came any help came too late.
This was a shock for the little family, who was now throwen into a time of grief and sorrow. But Now, five years later George and Henry could accept it and continue their life, but Annabelle who was present at the very accident, still didnt fully get over it. She still can hear the crunshing of her mothers neck in the back of her mind, while she ontop of the carriage ran over her and there was nothing Annabelle could do about it.
She wipes away her tears and swallows hard while she gets up and clears the table, starts to wash the dishes and cleans the table there after. Then she prepares a few slices of bread with ham for herself, her brother and her father for dinner before she starts to do the laundry and clean the house. A few hours later, George and Henry already had killed the pig and are working at cutting it appart, while she has done all the work in the house and moves into the vegetable garden.
In the garden she begins to remove weed between the vegetables and cuts off leaves wich begins to be eaten by bugs, dropping both of them in a bucket at her side, gazing up around the garden in between every now and then. She places the leaves very carefully in the bucket to make sure none of the bugs get killed in the process, because in her eyes even they have as much right to live as every other living beings in the world. The garden isn´t big, just big enough to support them with the vegetables they need for their own consumption. It´s Annabelles own little world, because neither her father nor her brother ever set a foot in there, it´s all her responsibilty and she likes it this way. After the daily work in her garden she drops the weeds and leaves on the compost heap and moves on to the apple trees to pick up fallen fruits from the ground and seperates the usefull from the bad ones in two different buckets. This work is done rather quick because the main harvest time for apples will be far later this year.
As the work in the garden and the house is done, the day is nearly over and she returns to the house to prepare the evening meal which then is consumed rather silently because everybody is too exhausted from the work. After the meal she cleans the kitchen and gets ready to sleep, they all wishes each other a good night and goes to bed. She puts out the candle on her nightstand, cuddles into her comforter and closes her eyes, hoping to dream of something nice this night.