"All shall be done, but it may be harder than you think."

-C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

One

"Mama's pretty girl is going to stay here while Mama goes to investigate, right Meredith?"

"Yes Mama." I say, scratching designs into the cave floor with a rock. Uncle Laurent and Daddy are standing by the exit of the cave. Daddy keeps ripping off pieces of the rock of the cave wall and throwing them against trees while Uncle Laurent watches.

Mama pats my head before she stands up. Someday I'll be tall like her, with the same long red hair. Right now I am short and my hair is short, and Uncle Laurent calls me Annie, whatever that means.

When Mama stands she looks like a creature, not a human, or even a Halfling like me. She looks fierce and brave and strong, and she promised I will be too, when I'm older and they change me.

"You baby her too much." Daddy says, quietly enough that he thinks I can't hear.

"She's a baby, James. If you didn't want a baby you shouldn't have raped me."

"I didn't know you'd get pregnant from it. You could have always killed her when she was born."

"Then it would be two men against me. I like to keep the testosterone levels balanced around here." Mama said. Daddy scowled and I felt his eyes on me.

"The next time she falls behind, she goes. She ruins my hunts."

"Fine," said Mama , and then I heard the rocks and sticks rustle. When I looked up, all three were gone.

I woke up to cold wet clothes. It had started raining and I had to sit on a large rock to get away from the water. It took a few tries with my numb fingers to climb up onto the rock. My fingers were pink, just like my legs, and if I tapped the rock I was sitting on without looking, it was hard to tell if I was touching it.

I was wearing a white dress that Uncle Laurent had brought me. It still smelled of detergent and the girl who had worn it, unlike the tattered red hoodie I wore over it. Mama had given me the hoodie, and it was usually pretty warm. Sometimes when I was hungry I sucked on the neck part of the hoodie, where someone had bled as Mama ate.

I tapped my feet against the rock, trying to regain feeling. Too cold. I scratched the rock I sat on with my small rock, drawing Mama, and the Uncle Laurent.

BAM!

I fell off the rock and crouched, hissing at the entrance to the cave. The echo of the noise was loud too. I saw a crack of lightning, and then the loud noise repeated. I stood in the puddle that was the cave floor as I watched the sky, captivated. Mama had told me about lightening.

When I had watched enough lightening I splashed around the cave floor. I was already wet, no use in trying to keep warm. Mama had been gone a long time, so she had to be back soon, and I stayed in the cave so she'd probably make a fire when she got back.

After splashing around for an hour I got tired. I shivered as I pulled off my hoodie and squeezed out the water, and then threw it on a rock. Maybe Uncle Laurent would give me his jacket when he got back. He had to be back soon.

I crawled onto the rock and curled into a ball. They would be home soon, and I've been so good. Maybe they're getting me a treat.

"Meredith!"

My eyes opened but my body was slower to respond. Uncle Laurent waded through the water and lifted me up with one arm, grabbing my sweater with the other before holding me to his chest and exiting the cave.

"Where's Mama?" I asked as he ran. It wasn't raining anymore, but the wind against my cold body did nothing for my stiff joints.

"She's helping your father with a hunt." He said, and then was silent again. I shivered in his arms and eventually he stopped to put his jacket around me.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to let Mama and Daddy handle the hunt." He said, and I knew I couldn't ask any more questions.

When I woke up it was colder, but I was dry. I had a blanket around me, along with Uncle Laurent's jacket. I was in another cave, empty except for me, the blanket, and an old tennis ball.

I stood up and rubbed my eyes when I heard approaching footsteps.

"Mama?" I called out, but Uncle Laurent's head popped into the cave, and he was frowning.

"Be quiet, Meredith." He said, and dropped the bags. Human food spilled out, with little cans rolling away and sacks of dried fruit and nuts smacking against the hard stone floor.

"I need to do some… investigating, and it might take a while. Eat very little, because if you leave this cave I'll tell Daddy to kill you." He said, crossing his arms.

"Okay. Is Mama-"

"She's busy." He said, and walked to the end of the cave before tossing a rectangular thing at me.

"Victoria taught you how to read, yes?"

"Yes." I said, and he turned and left.

I walked up to the small rectangular thing. It looked vaguely familiar, and when I got closer I realized it was Mama's. I picked it up and read out the title: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

I opened the cover and sounded out the name in fancy cursive: Vic-tor-i-a Wo-od. It was Mama's book.

I set the book on a high rock, just in case it rained, and then went to explore the shopping bags. Mama only got me human food as a treat, or when someone had it in their pocket when they died. There were dried fruit, canned fruit with pull off lids, nuts, snack cakes, protein bars, a jar of vitamins and a big jug of water.

I sat criss-cross-applesauce and opened a can of peach slices. I drank the juice and sucked up the tiny peach slices. It was super yummy, and it tasted sweet like the stain on my hoodie. Maybe this cave wouldn't be so bad. And Mama and Daddy were never gone long on a hunt, so I wouldn't be here long.

Boy was I wrong.

I ate all the food in two weeks. I counted by scratching into the wall how many nights there were, and there was seven and seven, so that's two weeks, according to Mama.

I read a page of the book every day, front and back, and then I would read it again, until I could start from the beginning and say it all. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of air raids.

I hit empty cans with the tennis ball, but even that became tiresome. I sang gibberish songs very-very softly when I couldn't sleep, or when my tummy growled and there wasn't anything to put in it.

It was four days after the two weeks, and all I did was lie on the ground and repeat the story. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy…

"Meredith! Meredith!"

I didn't move my body as the figure entered the cave, but I stood up shakily when I saw the red.

"Mama!" I launched myself at her, but she stepped back and let me fall. My ribs cracked as I sailed backwards, slamming against a wall. I looked at the figure, struggling to get on all fours.

"Mama?"

Uncle Laurent stepped in behind her.

"Victoria, killing her will do nothing but make the pain worse. Look at her eyes- there is James." He said, and Mama was suddenly in front of my face, her nose touching mine as she stared into my eyes. My eyes were blue, nothing like Daddy's red, but Mama looked into my eyes and began to cry tearlessly.

This was how I found out my immortal father had died.