Template:Contestwinner/November 2017

Anna and her father looked down at the bloody goat carcass on their porch in silence. It was the third of their livestock to be slaughtered that month. The bodies always ended up in front of the house. This one was closer than the others. They stood there for some time, side by side.

Anna was a thin girl of thirteen with dark blonde hair that hung down over her shoulders in limp curtains. Had she lived a different life, she probably would have been almost beautiful, but her face was hard and perpetually determined in an unnerving sort of way. It mirrored her father’s. Her eyes were large, round and grayish-blue. They were alert but flat and somewhat calculating. The few folks in town who had had the rare chance of conversing with her, found that it was somewhat unnerving to have those cold eyes look at you. They seemed to know just what you were hiding in your head. No pleasantries necessary with this young woman. Her disposition made for a good farmer though, like her father. She was precise with her work and unbothered by the business of raising and slaughtering animals on the farm.

Her eyes flicked up to her father. He, Jareth, a mostly silent but not unkind man, turned his eyes, which were not at all flat, but fiery and golden brown, back to her. He nodded. They hauled the body to the back field together, although one of them could have moved it alone. It was not a large goat, and it was missing its head and innards, which lessened the weight significantly. (Read more...)