When You Were Young

She opened the door to the pantry cellar, a shaft of light falling onto Helena and Phyllis huddled together on the floor. "Have you come to let us out?" Helena asked.

"No. You two stay here until I need you," Veronica said.

"But-"

Veronica slapped Helena across her grubby face. The little girl's eyes welled up with tears. "I hope you learned your lesson. Don't question me again." She turned to David. "Grab one of those barrels and let's go."

Helena pressed herself against Phyllis to muffle her sobs. Veronica felt a moment of pity until she remembered the night she spent on this same floor three years ago thanks to Helena and Phyllis. Maybe she did have something else to look forward to even without Samantha.

She left the two girls curled up on the floor, following David through town. Some of the children broke off from a game of tag to fall in next to Veronica and David. "What's that?" a boy asked. "Where are you going?" a girl asked. "Can I go?" another girl asked.

"Out of the way, kids," Veronica said. "We have important things to do. We'll be back later."

"Can't we come?" one of the girls asked.

"No." The children continued to follow along, pestering them with questions. "Don't you brats have chores to do? Go get to work before I smack you."

The children flinched in unison and then scurried away. "Don't you think you're being hard on them? They're too little to know any better," David said.

"I don't care. Coddling them is Molly's job. Let's hurry up and get this over with." As they continued towards the cave, Veronica thought of what to do with the children now. Unless they got rid of the algae, she would need them to work the land as they had done under Reverend Crane. At least until she was old enough to return to civilization. The hell with them after that, she thought. She might burn the whole fucking island up at that point. And if this did work, she might throw the whole lot in after Samantha.

Veronica entered the cave, red light bouncing off the walls, mocking her. The red algae still topped the pool; if anything it seemed thicker than she remembered it earlier. "You're going to get yours," she said. "Dump it in."

"Here goes nothing," David said. He opened the barrel of cooking oil and dumped it into the water. The grease coated the surface of the water, mixing in with the algae. David took a box of matches from his pocket. "Stand back," he said before lighting the match.