Member-only story
In One Cruel Blow Two Young Lives Were Brutally Cut Short
in the midst of living their lives to the fullest
A few months after moving into her new house in the country, Gabriella noticed her neighbour chiseling away at a tree stump close to the rock wall adjoining their properties.
He was a grumpy old codger, atypical for the neighbourhood, where everyone else was friendly and welcoming, so whenever she saw him she made sure she smiled or waved to him, hoping she could change his surly demeanour.
A grunt on one occasion was about the only acknowledgement she ever got back from him…and the stump was eventually forgotten about, it seemed.
Within a few weeks, his house was on the market, the new, much-younger owners, John and Sarah, being eager to restore the garden to its former glory.
Every moment of spare time they had would see them out creating the perfect edges, filling in blank spaces in the garden beds, planting bulbs, and accepting cuttings from the many helpful neighbours.
But the stump still remained.
It remained, except Blind Freddy could see it was bursting with energy, eager to strike out beyond the shady confines of its neighbouring vegetation.
