“My 76-Year-Old Grandpa Took Me Into the Woods Every Day and Made Me Undress Until I Was Half-Naked. But One Day, My Mother Secretly Followed Us and Heard Strange Screams Coming From Deep Inside the Forest. When She Got Closer and Saw What We Were Actually Doing, Her Heart Couldn’t Take It. She Fell to Her Knees and Burst Into Tears…”

He lowered his eyes.

“I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

For a moment, I thought he might finally reveal the truth.

Instead, he picked up his tools and returned to work.

That was when I began to resent the secret.

I also began to fear that something terrible would happen if I refused to help him.

I knew, deep down, that he would never intentionally hurt me. But fear doesn’t always listen to reason. The stream reminded me of a story my mother had told me since childhood, a story about an accident that had changed her life.

I had never seen the place where it happened.

Until Grandpa brought me there.

And once I recognized the details from my mother’s memories, the sound of the water became unbearable.

My mother, Sarah, noticed the changes before I realized how obvious they had become.

She noticed that I woke up tired even after sleeping for hours. She noticed that I sometimes stared into space whenever water ran from the kitchen tap. She noticed the damp shoes, the mud on my clothes, and the way I checked my phone nervously whenever Grandpa called.