Arnporst

Chapter 1 or page 1 :)

I cursed as I heaved the pail of water up from the well, wondering why my brother couldn't do this for once or why my father didn't ever speak up for me when I asked. In fact I found it hard to recall the last time my father ever had spoken up about anything. I sat by the well which I had been gathering water from and thought of my mother. Two years now since she passed and I still feel the loss every day.
I've always known I don't fit in with my family. Even when my mother was alive and I had some experience of a happy life. Ever since I could remember I felt different, I have a brother and a sister named Anna both with shining blond hair, brown skin and bright blue eyes, then there is me the eldest with pale skin and dark black hair. Even in the height of summer my skin stays pale. Only the foreigners who pass through have as dark features as mine and the kids at school along with my brother Sam say I am a b*****d child, that my mother must have had an affair with a foreign man. Mother caught Sam saying this one day and absolutely blew her lid. After that he lay off me for a while. But now she's gone and father has lost all will to do anything but work and drink, while Sam plays tyrant to me and my sister although Anna seems to be a lot better off than me. As I sat and contemplated I must have lost track of time I startled as I realised the sun was setting it was almost a half an hours walk back to the hamlet from here. I gathered the water into my bucket and threw the pail back into the well. As I set off back to our home village called Arnporst I hoped my sister wasn't angry I was late with the water, I quickened my step as the shadows slid through the trees on either side of the dirt track, in under twenty minutes I reached the clearing in which Arnporst was located the path drew down steeply here into a grassy meadow with the town stone walls all lit with torches.