My Brother Promised to Save Me on Day 365,I Died on Day 364

The day my brother got assigned a job in the city, he did something he'd never done before: he bought me, his little simpleton of a sister, a whole big bag of candy. Three hundred dollars' worth, easy.

The candy hadn't even finished melting in my mouth when my brother told me:

Only one a day. When they're all gone, Vera Abbott and I will come back for you.

I spat the candy out, frightened, and asked him why he wasn't taking me along.

His brow knotted tight. The plant had only approved one family-relocation slot.

Vera was an orphan, he said. He couldn't let her be abandoned all over again.

My brother rested his hand on my head and made me a promise:

"One year. In one year I'll bring you to the city and get you treated, I swear."

After they left, the whole village said my brother had taken Vera off to live the good life in the city, that he'd long since washed his hands of his idiot sister.

I didn't believe it. I squatted at the edge of the village every single day, waiting.

The village bachelors egged each other on, saying that if I'd just marry one of them, my brother would come back for the wedding.

I refused, so they beat me.

I went home with my face swollen and bruised, crying, and the pain was so bad I couldn't help eating a few extra pieces of candy.

I only wanted my brother to hurry and come get me, so I could tell on them to him.

Until Daisy Quinn noticed my belly was slowly swelling.

She read my pulse, then looked at me, her face grave. "Thelma, you're pregnant... Whose baby is it?"

My head ached so badly I couldn't get out a single word for the longest time.

Daisy held me and cried for a long while. Word reached my brother, but all that came back was a single letter: "Whoever in the village will claim her, marry Thelma off to him."

But by then the whole village had already scorned and berated me, and I couldn't survive the torment. I died in childbirth.

When I opened my eyes again, I was just like always, going to the edge of the village every day to wait for my brother and Vera.

The only difference was that the bachelors never came to bother me anymore. They didn't even spare me a glance.

It was only when they gathered together to smoke that I'd catch their broken bits of laughter, as if they were talking about me.

I crept closer to listen.

"Thelma's a simpleton, sure, but there aren't many girls in this village as fresh and pretty as her."

"Lucky thing her head's not right. Otherwise her brother would've taken her to the city long ago."

"Yeah. Lucky her brother wasn't around, and lucky she ended up dying in Gerard's house."

"Otherwise we'd never have been able to explain ourselves."

They jabbered on and on, and I couldn't make sense of most of it.

But one thing I did understand.

They were saying my brother thought I was too stupid, and that was why he wouldn't take me with him.

I puffed out my cheeks and shouted at them, furious, trying to set them straight:

"My brother said he never once thought I was stupid!"

"Just you wait! When my brother comes back I'm going to tell on you, every one of you, for bullying me, and he'll make you pay for it!"

That evening, on my way home, I passed the barren hills.

I saw Daisy busying herself with my candy jar.

She was setting the candy left in the jar, one piece at a time, on the little mound of earth beside my parents' graves.

She'd planted a wooden marker there too, with my name written on it in neat, careful strokes: Thelma Matthews.

I squatted beside her, grinning.

"Daisy really is the smartest. She's pretty, and she writes so nicely too."

"And she knew to write my name, so nobody can come steal my candy, right?"

Daisy didn't answer me. She turned and slowly poured a handful of grayish-white earth into the emptied candy jar.

She was entrusting it to a fellow villager headed into the city on business, telling him to get the jar to my brother no matter what.

My eyes went round as saucers.

"You're going to find my brother! Can you take me this time?"

Daisy still didn't answer.

But at least she didn't stop me.

"Heh heh, Daisy, if you're not saying no, I'll just take it as a yes!"

I was overjoyed, scampering along behind the village man. At last I could go to the city and find my brother.

He pressed the jar into my brother's hands, murmured his condolences, and hurried away.

Conrad stood frozen, the familiar candy jar in his arms, his face all confusion.

I rushed forward, joyful, ready to throw my arms around him, but my body passed straight through.

Vera, who I hadn't seen in so long, stepped up to him and asked softly,

"What's wrong?"

Conrad knit his brows, staring at the jar, lost in thought.

"Isn't this Thelma's candy jar?"

"That man just said 'my condolences' and walked off. Could something have happened to Thelma?"

Since moving to the city, Vera had painted her nails a pretty red, and a shiny ring circled her wrist. She looked lovely.

She let out a light laugh and took the jar from him.

"You know how Thelma is."

"She must have eaten all her candy and roped some villager into hauling her precious jar over here, all to guilt you into buying her more."

"Conrad, don't go spoiling her this time."

"She's about to be a mother, after all. Too much candy isn't good for the baby."

Hearing that, tears welled up in my eyes.

I pointed frantically at my stomach, scrambling to explain.

"Brother, I was scared you'd find out and be angry, so whatever I snuck I made up for later."

"And the little baby in my belly is gone now, so candy doesn't matter anymore..."

"I just missed you and Vera. I came along to see you both."

But Conrad didn't react, as though he couldn't hear a word.

Then, as if something had struck him, he turned and asked,

"The jar feels like it's got some weight to it. Is there something inside?"

The truth was, Vera had already quietly opened the jar earlier and spotted the letter inside.

She shook her head, certain. "Nothing. Just a jar of dirt."

With that, she tipped out the contents at the base of the tree in the corner of the yard, using it as plant fertilizer.

The pale gray earth buried the letter completely in an instant.

Conrad sighed, a melancholy weighing on him as he asked her,

"Was I too hasty, deciding to marry Thelma off?"

Vera took his hand, her face full of conviction.

"Conrad, Thelma was always going to have to marry someone. Did you really think you could care for her your whole life?"

"What's done is done now. Blowing it up wouldn't do anyone any good."

"Better than handing her off to some idiot. Isn't marrying a normal man the best place for her to end up?"

"Besides, Thelma's mind was always muddled. She doesn't understand birth control, so her ending up pregnant without knowing how, that only stands to reason."

"That whole string of names in the letter, those are just men suspected of having had contact with her. It doesn't say any of them actually did anything. Why fixate on it?"

"Setting aside that you'd be wronging them, if I hadn't stopped you last time, word that she got pregnant out of wedlock would have spread everywhere, and then Thelma's life really would have been ruined for good."

Conrad was left with nothing to say. In the end he nodded, letting it go.

"If I hadn't grabbed the wrong medicine when we were kids and burned out her mind with that fever, Thelma never would have turned out this way."

"At the end of it all, I'm just afraid of her being mistreated."

The words had barely left his mouth when an older man walked into the yard, his face bright with good news.

"Conrad! The plant approved your family leave!"

"Get moving, hurry up and bring your sister to the city to see a doctor."

I followed Conrad all the way back to Clearbrook Village.

The same few bachelors stood clustered together at the village entrance.

I pointed at them, hurrying to tattle.

"Brother, those are the ones who beat me!"

Sure enough, the moment they saw my brother, they scattered in terror, heads tucked low.

But Conrad cut off their path.

He reached into his bag, and what he drew out wasn't a fist, but a handful of wedding candy.

"Thelma got married in such a rush, I never made it back to help arrange things."

"I heard you all pitched in at my brother-in-law's place on the wedding day. That was good of you."

"This wedding candy, consider it the gift I'm making up for now!"

Then he started handing out candy to them one by one.

My eyes burned red with anger. I lunged forward to stop him, but my hands closed on empty air.

Vera stepped up too, smiling as she passed the candy around. When she reached the last few handfuls, my brother put out a hand to stop her.

He whispered to her, : Thelma loves candy. Save some so she has a treat.

But I couldn't care less about the candy.

I pointed at each of those faces, one after another, and accused them through my tears.

Donald Lawrence slapped me. He tied me up with a cane.

Merlin Chavez and Nathan Gray gagged my mouth so I couldn't cry. Every time I cried, they hit me.

And a bunch of others. They said since I didn't want to marry, they'd beat me until I did

Conrad, why won't you protect me anymore?

I demanded it of my brother, my eyes brimming with tears, but he still wouldn't speak to me.

I clawed at my arms until they were streaked with bloody scratches.

Before, the sight of it would have made him cry from the pain of it. But now he didn't even turn his head.

Behind me came the brazen laughter of those bachelors.

Nathan, their ringleader, cupped his fists at my brother and said with a smirk,

Conrad, you really know how to hold it in. We've got to hand it to you.

My brother frowned, not quite catching what the words meant.

He was about to press further when Vera nudged him on toward home.

Nathan peeled open the piece of wedding candy and tossed it into his mouth, staring at my brother's retreating back, puzzled.

This Conrad, does he not know that idiot girl's dead?

One of his lackeys behind him gave a cold snort.

Didn't Daisy write a letter to tell on us?

I figure he's just a coward. He sees there's more of us, so he doesn't dare say a word to our faces.

Maybe he thought that idiot was in his way a long time ago.

Look at that Vera next to him. No blood between them, and pretty as a picture. You telling me you wouldn't have your eye on her?

Hearing them, I even forgot to cry.

So my brother was tired of me.

I followed him home, careful and quiet.

He pushed the door open. The whole place was a wreck, the chicken coop empty, only a few feathers scattered across the ground.

My brother let out a sigh.

This Thelma, she didn't take a single word I said to heart.

But I had listened

The five chickens my brother left behind, I'd thought about feeding them three times a day.

They'd all grown into plump little hens that laid eggs, more eggs than we could ever eat.

It was Gerard Lawrence who said it. Once he married me, everything in the house belonged to him.

If I didn't give it to him, he'd burn the yard down.

Before Mom died, she told us this yard was to be kept so my brother could bring home a wife.

I didn't dare cross him. All I could do was hide in the corner and watch Gerard empty the house out, not daring to cry out loud.

Conrad, you... came back to see Thelma?

Daisy stood at the gate of the yard, her face pale.

My brother put away his disappointment and forced out a smile.

Daisy, is Thelma at her in-laws' place?

Help me call her home. Tell her I'm not angry with her anymore, tell her not to be scared.

Daisy's hand clawed hard at the doorframe, her voice trembling so badly it broke apart.

Conrad, didn't I have someone bring you the candy jar?

Thelma, a little while ago... she already died.

Daisy, it's bad enough that Thelma's simple. Now you're talking nonsense too.

Daisy opened her mouth, but before she could make a sound, Vera had already stepped up smiling, pressing a few bills into her palm and murmuring low,

If Thelma doesn't want to come back tonight, that's all right.

Take this money home to your dad. Ask him to come help put on a banquet tomorrow.

With Thelma's wedding and all, we've got to have the whole village over for a meal, make it a proper celebration.

Daisy opened her mouth, but in the end she swallowed the words back down, clutched the money, and turned to leave.

The next day, Daisy and her family came pushing through the door.

He saw the whole yard strung with decorations, a ring of red lanterns hanging all around, and stopped dead in his tracks.

Daisy's father even stammered as he spoke:

"Conrad, this banquet today isn't being thrown for Thelma, is it?"

My brother kept nodding as he busied himself hanging the red silk:

"It's for Thelma. I couldn't make it back when she got married off, and it's weighed on me ever since."

"Thelma had her disabilities, so the cost of this banquet is something we, as her family, ought to pay back to the groom's side. Call it making up for the trouble we owe them."

The words were barely out before Daisy's father was shaking with rage. He flung the money down hard on the ground and turned to leave.

On his way out the gate, he didn't forget to curse:

"Everybody in this village knows exactly why Thelma ended up the way she did."

"Sure enough, you go to the city and come back heartless as a wolf, and then you turn around and help the Lawrences throw a wedding feast? Mark my words, lightning'll strike you down sooner or later!"

With that, Daisy and her family walked off into the distance.

Only Vera came chasing after, grabbing hold of Daisy, demanding to know the truth.

Daisy pointed toward the barren hills, tears spilling over:

"Thelma's dead. Gerard tormented her to death, plain and simple. Mother and child, both buried up there in that grave."

"You never came back to stand up for her. Fine, you shoved her into that pit of misery and washed your hands of it."

"But she's gone now. What are you doing helping the Lawrences make up for some wedding feast? There's no decency in this world that allows for that!"

Vera stumbled back into the yard. My brother was hunched over scrubbing a pot.

He was muttering, angry too:

"I don't know what's gotten into that family. If he won't take the money, then we'll find someone else to host the banquet!"

Vera was hemming and hawing, about to say something, when a clamor rose up behind her.

That sound there was none I, Thelma, knew better.

"It's that pack of villains from the edge of the village! They've come to steal our things again!"

I hid behind my brother, but he rose with a smile to greet the guests.

At the head of them was Gerard.

Amid all the jeering from the crowd, he bowed and scraped before my brother, cringing, and called out, "Big brother."

My brother looked around for a long while, and when he didn't catch a glimpse of me, disappointment flickered in his eyes:

"Is Thelma sulking because I came back so late? Won't show her face?"

Gerard sensed that my brother knew nothing, and in an instant his whole face changed. With more and more villagers crowding in, he dragged Vera out the gate.

Afraid he'd hurt her, I hurried out after them.

Gerard's expression had turned ugly, and he stuck out his hand with malice in it.

"Where's the money you promised me every month?"

"You don't pay up, and I'll tell Conrad Matthews you're the Lawrence family's real daughter. See how you go on living the good life at his side then!"

I froze where I stood.

So it turned out Vera's own brother was this very Gerard, the one who tormented me day after day.

Vera slapped his hand away, disgust all over her face.

"You still have the nerve to ask for money?"

"Thelma's dead a thing this huge and you dared keep it from me?"

Gerard scratched his head, his face full of impatience.

"You only told me to marry her in and tie her down so she couldn't go to the city. You never said I couldn't sleep with her."

"Besides, she's the one who couldn't hold up. A couple of rolls in the sheets and she died in childbirth. Who knows, maybe somebody'd already worn her out before."

Vera was shaking with fury. Her hand flew up and cracked across his face:

"She was pregnant! How is that the same thing?"

That set Gerard off. He lunged and clamped a hand around Vera's throat, grinding the words out through his teeth:

"Other men's wives carry to term and come out just fine. What makes her so delicate? She got what she deserved!"

"And who even knows whose bastard she had in her belly. The two of them, alive, were nothing but dead weight!"

I cursed him with everything I had, screaming for him to let go, but it was all for nothing.

I finally understood.

Every single one of them, my brother included, could no longer hear my voice.

Gerard's threat came out vicious: he had to have the money before he went back to the city.

Otherwise, he'd expose her.

It was right then that my brother's voice came from behind them.

"Gerard. What you all just saidwhat did you mean by it?"

At the sound of his voice, Vera's whole body went still.

She turned, stepped carefully up to him, and ventured cautiously,

"Conrad, when did you get here?"

My brother pointed toward the cook he'd hired for the yard, his expression easy.

"The cook's arrived. I figured I'd call my brother-in-law in for a few drinks."

"Just now, from a ways off, I heard you all say something about exposing somebody What's all that about? Expose who?"

Vera's face was strained, but she let out a breath all the same.

Her eyes slid away on instinct, and she made up some excuse on the spot to wave it off.

But once Gerard had swaggered back into the yard, Vera grabbed my brother's hand and pressed him about when, exactly, he could go back to the city.

My brother ruffled her hair fondly and soothed her.

"What's this? The older sister watching her little sister get married, and now you're getting anxious yourself?"

"Don't worry. When your day comes, the whole affair won't be one bit less grand than Thelma's."

"Besides, once this banquet's over, we still have to take Thelma back to the city to get her treated."

Vera's feet froze where she stood, her face full of panic.

But my brother didn't notice. He'd already strode over to Gerard and pulled a thick cash gift from inside his coat.

With everyone at the table watching, he pressed it into Gerard's hand and told him,

"Thelma married you, and I, her brother, couldn't get back in time."

"This bit of moneycall it the dowry I owe her."

"It's a year's wages I saved up. You two newlyweds take it and set up a household."

That pack of bachelors from the edge of the village stood there with their wine bowls, and at the sight of it they forgot to drink.

Their eyeballs were fixed dead on that bulging cash gift, staring until their eyes glazed over.

Vera tried to speak up and stop him, but my brother raised a hand and cut her off.

He clapped Gerard on the shoulder and smiled. "I've gotten a solid footing in the city this past year."

"I know you've never had a real job, big brother here already had someone line up a position for you in the city. Work hard from now onputting food on the table, that's what matters."

At those words, every one of them suddenly couldn't sit still.

A wine cup shattered. It was Nathan, who had tormented me.

Liquor egging him on, he jabbed a finger at Gerard and let loose.

"The kid in Thelma's belly isn't even Gerard's! What gives him the right to have every good thing land on him alone?!"

Vera stepped forward and cut in fast.

"What drunken nonsense are you spouting! Somebody get over here and haul him off!"

But my brother raised a hand and stopped her, his gaze locked dead on Nathan, his voice dropping a few degrees colder.

"Go on. What do you mean, no telling whose kid it is?"

Nathan let out a cold laugh and spat at Gerard's feet.

Reeking of liquor, he leaned in close to Conrad, calling him "big brother" with every other breath.

"Big brother, I'll be straight with youI'm real fond of Thelma. She's been mine for a long time now."

"So that lump of flesh in her belly, that's my seed."

"This thick stack of dowry, no matter how you slice it, I've got to get a share, don't I?"

"You don't believe me, go on out to the barren hills and dig that mother and child up."

"She's only been dead a few days anyhow. Drag her to the hospital, run a blood test, and I guarantee it'll come back as my own flesh and blood."