Grounded

1.CHARACTER: Adelaide Bennett

-Age: 7

-Gender: female

TIME: 8:43 PM

-Date: August 27

-Year: 2005

SETTING: in the woods

-Surroundings: oak trees

-Company: a skittish canary called Feathers

She was sitting under a large oak with Feathers on her hand. The bird was terribly frightened and chirping to make it known but Adelaide, being only 7, took his frantic cry for delight.

“Isn’t it nice, Feathers? I bet you wish you lived out here, in the trees. I wish I lived here. Did you know, people do live here! I mean, not really people, but animals do—all kinds of them! I bet it’s a lot better than living inside a stuffy house that has no trees in it. I want to live here, Feathers. Right here far out in the forest, and I can eat berries, and make fires, and fry fish…but I don’t know of a stream around here anywhere, so i’ll just have to go without the fish, but that’s fine. All I really need is the trees and the ground and the dirt and you…let’s sit in the quiet for a minute… Feathers I hear mom yelling for me. I don’t want to go, and I know you don’t either, I’m sorry. Wait, do you want to stay? Oh Feathers I would miss you so much, but I know I can’t stay…but I would come back to see you as much as I could! You will have so much fun! You might even make other birdie friends! Feathers if only I could live out here with you, I would give anything! But you have to go now, before it’s too late…mom is getting louder…fly! Be free, Feathers! Make a pretty nest in that tree and show it to me when I come visit! I love you so much, Feathers. I promise to come see you everyday. Goodbye!”

The poor little bird flew off into the trees, scared and confused and terribly cold in the growing darkness. Adelaide had no way of knowing that Feathers, being raised in a cage, didn’t know how to survive outside. The innocent girl felt elated at having set her beloved pet free, and couldn’t wait to visit him regularly. Adelaide kept her promise, and in the months that followed, she went to the forest everyday and looked for Feathers but evidently she never saw him again.

2.CHARACTER: Adelaide Bennett

-Age: 12

-Gender: female

TIME: 3:56 PM

-Date: June 5

-Year: 2010

SETTING: in the pacific ocean

-Surroundings: blue water

-Company: her mother on the beach

Adelaide was in the ocean very far from the shore. Her mother, who was sitting on the beach in a folding chair, struggled with the distance while anxiously watching her daughter. She would have asked her to come back to shore, but Adelaide was a good swimmer, and she loved the ocean.

The gentle rock of the waves is just like a cradle, lulling me to sleep. I could just fall asleep and let the ocean rock me forever. I could become the water and rock forever…just rocking and rocking…I could sleep on the ocean floor and burry myself in the sand and be the earth…I could be the earth…forever. No more pain, no more sadness. I would be lapping against the shore and crashing over the rocks, I would be resting and growing and supplying and providing and resting…resting…

Adelaide’s Mother had begun to scream. Her daughter had slipped under the water and hadn’t come up. The lifeguard was already on his way into the sea. He swam out to where the girl had been seen last, and dove under the waves. An agonizingly long second later, he broke through the surface with a limp body in his arms.

When they reached the shore, the girl’s sobbing mother threw herself upon them and searched for any sign of life. The lifeguard was calm as he asked the hysterical woman to please move aside. She did so reluctantly, and the lifeguard quickly began CPR. Eventually there was a choke. A sputter. And as Adelaide coughed up a lungful of saltwater, her mother burst into a fresh round of sobs, holding her daughter close and thanking the lord…again and again and again.

3.CHARACTER: Adelaide Bennett

-Age: almost 15

-Gender: female

TIME: 10:12 AM

-Date: January 13

-Year: 2013

SETTING: a shrink’s office

-Surroundings: sky-blue walls

-Company: a shrink named Mike

They thought she needed help. She was anti-social, and at times she seemed depressed. She didn’t always seem entirely sane. Her mother and sister were worried. She might have needed help, but not the kind Mike could offer. Mike was starting to understand that Adelaide’s troubles were beyond him. She was like a wild bird, caught and caged and stuck inside four blue walls against her will. She had complained about the walls, said they were false, said she preferred the sky. Of course she preferred the sky, just as she preferred the trees, and the dirt, and the wind against her face. All things that could not be given to her in Mike’s blue office.

I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy. Why do they think I’m crazy, what have I done? Why am I here, I shouldn’t be here. I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, am I crazy? Is there something wrong with me? What is wrong with me? No, I’m not crazy, am I crazy?

She could have been crazy. No one could be sure. Her mother refused to believe it, but her sister Jasmine wondered. Jasmine was thirteen, and mature for her age. She loved Adelaide, and wanted what was best for her. She didn’t think a psychologist was the answer, but she respected her mother’s decision to try it. Jasmine was right about most things. It was always best to trust her instincts. This was no exception. Mike couldn’t help Adelaide. Jasmine knew it, Mike knew it, and Adelaide knew it, but their mother had a shred of hope, and so they went along with it.

4.CHARACTER: Adelaide Bennett

-Age: 17

-Gender: female

TIME: 5:02 PM

-Date: November 30

-Year: 2015

SETTING: in the woods

-Surroundings: oak trees

-Company: none that she can see

Adelaide was clawing at the ground with her fingernails, digging the ground away, pushing the dirt aside, blackening her dress with the rich soil. The sky grew darker and darker, and the hole got deeper and deeper. Jasmine was at the edge of the woods, silently watching. Deep in the back of her mind she knew what her sister was planning to do. She knew that Adelaide was tired. She was tired of walking, talking, feeling. She wanted to escape, she wanted to let go. She was never meant to be Adelaide Bennett.

I wonder if they will ever forgive me. Not that it matters much anyway. They already think I’m crazy—they already know I’m crazy. Still, I wonder if they’ll understand. Jasmine might. I’ve waited so long to be free, to be at peace. I would never truly be happy without the earth as my home.

Adelaide brought from her pocket six pink oleander flowers. She looked at them and smiled. Calmly, she brought the flowers to her lips and then into her mouth. As she chewed, she carefully stepped into the hole she had made, and began to shovel the ground back on top of her. Jasmine was watching from behind a tree about ten yards away. Silent tears were streaming down her young cheek, but she knew she couldn’t stop her. Adelaide had never been happy in this life, and Jasmine knew that her sister would now have what she’d always wanted: Peace.

She was never meant to be Adelaide Bennett.

The next day, Jasmine went back to Adelaide’s grave, and scattered tulip seeds over the mound of dirt. She wept for her dead sister but had no regrets. From then on, Jasmine watered the tulips every week, and when they died, she planted more, so there would always be a vibrant patch in the woods, where Adelaide rested.