One Small Life
A New Genre of Mystical Fiction
by
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Section 1: In The Beginning
The flowers
and berries turn slowly and gracefully towards her as she walks among them in
the strong noontime sun. They know her as the one who brings water when they’re
thirsty, shelters them from the cold with warm hay, and speaks softly of her
gratitude for their beauty and their life-giving fruit. Today, she knows, they will gladly give of
their abundance so she and Grandmother can stay strong and filled with
life. Joy flows from her dancing fingers
as she fills her dish with berries and the earth echoes that joy back to
her. Absorbed in the bliss of her
activity, she scarcely notices a cold breeze begin to sweep the landscape and
the earth fearfully turn its attention outwards.
Mari looks
up from the side garden as the men slowly and furtively approach her home,
where Grandmother lies deep into her afternoon nap. Quickly and quietly she
moves sideways into the rows of golden corn, becoming invisible in their
protective arms. She watches as the two
men, like ghostly invaders, silently approach the front door. A dark
shadow moves with them, covering each of their footsteps, killing the plants
they walk over and polluting the air around them, rolling slowly, slowly
towards her in her hiding place.
Swiftly, she scooches down in the corn rows - grateful for their
presence and for their height and density.
One of the men takes a knife from his belt and pierces the screen on the
unlocked door, reaches through it, and slowly opens the door from the inside. She feels her breath quicken and the hair on
the back of her neck lift as if it’s been electrified.
She hears
nothing from inside Grandmother’s home.
Nothing during the terrible days when she fears that even the arms of
the corn won’t be enough to protect her.
Nothing during the nights when darkness closes around her, and she
ventures to peek into the windows of her home where Grandmother lies still, and
where the intruders sleep in their beds and eat their food.
Finally,
they depart as abruptly as they’d come and she leaves the shelter of the
cornfield and goes back inside.
Grandmother lies still and quiet.
The redness in her hair has turned brown and hard and she knows that
grandmother will never again wake up.
Others come
- this time, more men and women too. And
this time, she doesn’t hide. Nothing is
left inside the little home that makes her want to stay, and she doesn’t
protest when these intruders lead her away.
She is weak from hunger and lack of sleep, dirty and disheveled and
grief stricken. The life that she knew is
ended . . . .
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About the Book
One Small Life tells the story of Mari, a young girl
who loses the only person in the world who cares for her, her grandmother, in a
brutal and senseless act of violence. Because
she is so traumatized that she cannot speak, she is taken to a mental institution
where she is left to live out her life in darkness and despair. When Cindy, a nurse, comes to work at the
hospital and starts to develop a special relationship with Mari, she begins to
ask questions about the grandmother’s murder and finds herself pitted against
forces of evil so strong that they threaten to cost her everything she holds
dear; her children, her friends and even her own life.
Because Cindy and her friends are willing to give up everything that
they they value in order to get to the truth and solve this mystery, they are led to realize an even greater truth -
that the smallest and most insignificant of lives may
be the one that is most able to save us all.
About the Author
Bernadette Chambers has been telling stories since she could talk, first
to her younger brothers and sister and then to her students during the course
of her teaching career. She believes
that telling and listening to stories helps us learn to appreciate, understand
and connect to each other and to make sense of life’s mysteries.
Bernadette is a Canadian who married her American husband thirty five
years ago. They live in the small town
of Tyngsboro, Massachusetts and have raised four children. Bernadette is a short story writer. This is her first novel.