Broken Branch by John Mantooth Page A

pointed at the tangled limbs, the vines twisted together and swaying as one thing in the wind.
    â€œI don’t see,” she said.
    â€œCome closer.”
    She did, and the wind shifted and the mass in the willow blew toward her, inching forward. She stopped. The smell. Oh, Lord, the smell was too strong. She covered her mouth and turned away, gagging.
    â€œYou’ll get used to it. When I came on him a few days back, it was the smell that brought me. Thought it was a dead animal. Imagine the fear that I felt when I saw who it was.”
    Who it was?
Trudy felt her knees go weak and collapsed to the ground. Though she didn’t want to, she turned to look at the thing tangled in the willow branches. It spun slowly, and as it did the clouds drifted clear of the moon and she saw his face, his sweet, dead, dreaming face.
    Simpson. Trudy screamed, howling out into the night until Ben clamped his hand over her mouth and whispered that it was okay, okay, okay, that God was in control today, tomorrow, forever, but Trudy kept screaming into his hand, until her voice came back and echoed inside her open mouth, falling as silent and impotent as everything else.

23
    â€œBreathe,” Ben said. “Just concentrate on breathing.”
    Trudy sat down heavily on the ground and buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t bear to look at it, not one second more. What creature could have done such a thing?
    â€œI was out with my bow, hunting, the other day when I found it,” Ben said. “I went and got James and Otto. Otto was pretty torn up about it. First time I ever knew him to be speechless. Then I reminded him that God was in control. That this tree was God’s will. James agreed with me, Trudy. It was tough seeing Otto so scared, so weak. Me and James tried to explain to him that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy God gave him, and I think eventually, he come around, but you know Otto, he loves people, and he always loved that boy.”
    â€œLoved? What does Otto know about love?”
    â€œI saw him, Trudy. I thought the same thing, but this wasn’t the work of no man.” He held out a hand to help her up. “Let me show you.”
    Reluctantly she took his hand and stood up. As terrible as it sounded, he had been right about the smell. It was still there, but somehow it didn’t seem as pungent, as offensive to her as before. Yet her stomach continued to roll like there was an ocean inside her, thick and warm and unsettled with grief and sickness. She thought of the demon, and she wondered if this would finally be enough to wake him from his restless slumber.
    â€œSee,” Ben said, turning the body. “It’s like he got tangled up in the branches and suffocated. There’s not a mark on the boy anywhere.”
    Trudy couldn’t make herself look. The simple truth was that she didn’t care. Marks or no marks, it wouldn’t change what she felt burning inside her. Otto had done this. Otto had killed him and hung him up so the others would see, so the others would continue to fear the God he claimed to know so intimately.
    â€œWho else has seen this?” Trudy said, regaining some of her composure.
    Ben put a hand on her shoulder. “Everyone, Trudy. Except the children.”
    Her mouth dropped open as she realized why everyone had been so quiet and aloof around her the last few days.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œOtto didn’t think you were ready. He said you were planning on leaving and this would set you off. He said he didn’t want to see you make a mistake. But I knew better, Trudy. I knew you were brave but not stupid. I knew you’d see the evidence in front of your eyes.”
    She shook her head and backed away from him.
    â€œTrudy. Please,” he said. “Please don’t look at me like that.”
    â€œI know you meant well, Ben, but the fear has got you locked down. You need to get past it and see what’s happening