Marrying A Snapping Turtle

A Prank Gone Wrong

* Twenty minutes ago *

Kensley, now eight, hated Ida with a passion. For some reason, the little spitball of a girl would rub him the wrong way and they would end up fighting. His mother would chastise him for not being a gentleman. His father would look at him with disapproving eyes and even his grandfather never took his side. Only his twin brother, Harry, seemed to sympathize with him.

“She’s annoying,” Kensley muttered. He side-eyed Ida who was playing with her dolls under an old oak tree a little ways away.

The other three boys stopped their game of football to nod in agreement. Although John and Jason were Ida’s older brothers they still found Ida’s strong outspoken personality grinding. She always had to win in an argument and as the only girl in the family, she got her way most of the time.

As they kicked the ball around, Kensley couldn’t help but keep Ida in the corner of his eye. Seeing their fathers preoccupied, he suddenly had an idea. With a smirk on his face, he called out to the other three boys.

“Hey! I’m going to take a quick break. You guys carry on without me.”

The boys grunted and continued to play as Kensley trotted over to Ida.

“Hey!”

Ida looked up with her signature blank look and murmured, “Hey,” before playing with her dolls again.

Kensley chewed on his lower lip, displeased with her lack of enthusiasm. Without warning, he bent down to grab a doll out of her hand and bolted for the woods.

Kensley laughed as he ran, hearing Ida’s footsteps in hot pursuit. Although he was a good two years older than her, girls naturally grew faster than boys so she was keeping pace behind him.

Kensley darted to and fro, weaving between the thick trees. His heart beating rapidly, enjoying the rush of the chase. Suddenly he was jerked back with an “urk”, feeling his collar tighten around his neck.

“Give… me… back… my… doll!!” Ida panted. Sweat trickled down her heart-shaped face. Her amber eyes glowed as rays of sun trickled through the leaves landing on her face.

Kensley, with a streak of stubbornness, pulled out of her grip and tried to run again but Ida grabbed his arm and bit down hard.

Kensley’s blood-curdling scream rented the air, startling the birds in the bushes around him and they all flew up in a screeching feathery tornado. Both Ida and Kensley threw their arms up to shield their eyes and they stumbled around in confusion.

Kensley tripped over a tree root and with a squeal, he fell. His cry was cut off when his head hit a rock on his way down.

When the woods cleared, Ida opened her eyes hesitantly to look around only to find Kensley passed out by her feet, blood trickling from a wound on his forehead. Her little body trembled and her eyes welled up with tears.

“Help!!! Someone help!!!” She screamed hoarsely but all she could hear was the sound of nature around her.

Curling down she hugged her knees and waited beside him, hoping her father would come quickly.

***

Sniffle sniffle

When Kensley came to, the first thing he noticed was the head-splitting headache, the next was the crying figure curled up next to him.

He groaned and tried to sit up but the skull-piercing pain was unbearable so he laid back down. Ida heard him and her eyes snapped to his half-hooded ones.

“You’re alive,” she shrieked, burying her head into his chest as she sobbed.

Kensley coughed slightly, “Won’t be alive too long if you suffocate me. You got bricks for brains?”

Ida stopped crying immediately and she looked at Kensley with murderous eyes. “Shut up, you big bully!!”

Kensely chuckled and closed his eyes again with a groan. “How long have I been sleeping?”

Ida shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Kensley sighed. “Can you find your way back to get help?”

Ida shook her head again. “I don’t know where to go.”

Kensley pointed to the trees and said. “Follow the cherry trees. Grandpa planted cherry trees around this forest, as long as you see one you’ll eventually find your way back.”

Ida wailed, “All the trees look the same to me!!”

Kensley gritted his teeth and forced himself into a sitting position, his head drooped down listlessly. “What can you do?”

Ida sniffed. “I can play the piano, I know two languages—”

Kensley raised a hand to cut her off. “Will you be able to carry me? It’s going to get dark soon and we can’t stay out here.”

Ida sniffed. “I’ll try,” she stammered and got in a squatting position.

Kensley snorted softly and scooted towards her. Throwing his arms over her shoulders he encouraged her gently, “Okay, try to stand.”

With a groan, Ida strained hard and with wobbly feet, she got up. Kensley’s feet still touched the ground but with most of his weight distributed across Ida’s thin frame, he could walk. The two stumbled along with Kensley whispering along the way.

”You’re doing great.”

“You’re so brave.”

“You got this.”

When they finally cleared the forest, they both collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Kensley turned his head towards the house and saw their fathers running across the yard from the porch trailed by a hoard of policemen; it appeared as if the full force moved out to help with the search.

Before Ida passed out she heard Kensley murmur next to her ear.

“Thank you, Ida…I’m sorry.”

***

When the adults got to them, Ida was sweating profusely and pale due to heat exhaustion. She was immediately rushed to the hospital where she ran a high fever. When she came to, she couldn’t remember anything that happened.

Kensley was also at the hospital in a different room. After a medical checkup and diligent treatment, his parents interrogated him. Through it all, he kept his mouth shut and for the first time in his life, his father raised a hand to his rear end. Kensley just gritted his teeth and took the beating, his eyes were cold and mature for a young child. Katy felt a chill run down her back as she looked at her son, grabbing Lawrence’s hand before he was able to strike again, she shook her head as she met his furious eyes.

“Enough! Kensley is still injured.”

Lawrence growled before turning to roar at Kensley, “You put Ida and yourself in danger! If anything happened to Ida, how would I explain it to Thomas? I expected more of you!”

Kensley bowed his head but didn’t say a word.

“Speak! Did that bump to your head make you mute?!”

Lawrence fumed but paused after the thought settled in; he looked at his son anxiously. “Kensley? Are you okay?”

Kensley looked up with a blank expression.

Katy covered her mouth to stifle a whimper and rushed to kneel in front of her son, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“Oh! Baby! What happened? Why can’t you talk?” She sobbed into his small shoulders.

Lawrence also bent down and rubbed his son’s shoulders gingerly, tears lining the bottom of his eyes; his face contorted in pain and regret.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. You’re still just a kid. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

As his parents bowed their heads in remorse around him no one saw Kensley’s expression. A soft smile graced his angelic features and it was then that he found his true calling.