The NeverDue Well

People of Sanderson County hadn’t thought of it in years. Perhaps that would have been best. Some thing are best left buried and gone.

Marly Sanderson would have done that except for that pesky college assignment. It was 2020 and the coronavirus was sweeping the nation. As a result, college and university students had been sent home and were given assignments that they could research more readily from home. So here Marly was searching through old dusty files and historical records trying to find some tasty tidbit that she could write about.

Sanderson County was small and sparsely populated. In fact, there was no need to practice social distancing since everything was already great distances apart. No one for miles and miles had gotten the virus. So people were careful but went about their daily business as usual. So spending time in the deserted library was no problem for Marly. Ms. Taylor, the librarian, had given her a distant nod as she had entered.

Hours later, Marley puckered up her eyebrows. Reread the entry in a 1894 newspaper. “Marlin Sanderson Disappeared..” She scanned through the weekly papers for the month before and the month after the first article. Nothing more appeared. This just might be her bit of a gold nugget.

”Ms. Taylor, could I ask you a question about this article?”

The old librarian looked over her reading glasses at the article Marly pointed to in the dusty yellowed paper. Her hand flew to her heart and the sound that escaped her lips was one from another world. “Let me have that!” she rasped. “You let that be. Pretend you never saw that.” She abruptly turned taking the paper with her and disappeared into a back office.

Marly could not let it go. She kept thinking about the disappearance of a person she had never heard of. And his name was Marlin Sanderson.

The next few days Marly spent hours at the County Courthouse. She dug deep into the records from 1894. She finally found a record of a Marlin Sanderson listed. He had been born in 1965 at the end of the Civil War. That would have made him nineteen when he disappeared The same age Marly was now.

Going back to his birth year and searching forward to his disappearance Marly discovered a few more entries. He had lived on an old now abandoned road. Marly was familiar with the road and an old house they said was haunted back in her high school days. Sometimes they had parties there. They had known their parents would have been furious if they had known the kids went out there. Or was it frightened?

The next day Marly decided to go out to the house to see if this might have been Marlin‘s home. The abandoned dirt road was now overgrown with grass, weeds and wildflowers so Marly would need to hike the mile or so to the remains of the house.

Vines had engulfed the house and at some point a large tree had come down on the roof. The weather had had its way with the house inside and out. The front door still stood open and Marly slowly peeked inside. Everything must have been left just as it had been all those years ago. Marly thought it must have been a beautiful home with its ornate woodwork and brocade drapes.

As she carefully picked her way through the house she could hear the scurrying of small creatures and the flutter of wings above. Marly noticed the small roll-top desk in one room that must have been the library. Rows and rows of dusty old books lined the shelves. Papers had been blown and scattered over the floor. Marly picked one up. It appeared to be a bill of sale for something she couldn’t make out. The other papers seemed to be the same. Was it gold sales?

She finally made her way to the desk and tried to open it. The dust and dirt of 120 some years made it difficult but finally it budged. As she slid the top up, it squeaked and made the horrible sound of wood grating against wood. Two items lay on a perfectly smooth and shiny desk top. A skeleton key and a large nugget of gold. Marly picked them up and turned them over in her hand examining them carefully.

She put the gold in her pocket and decided she would try the key wherever there was a lock. Most of the doors had locks but the key did not open or lock any of the rooms. Carrying the key out the back door, Marly looked to see if there was any place else to try the key.

Near the back door was a small building. When she peeked inside she realized it must have been the kitchen house with its large fireplace, tables and kitchen utensils. Next to the kitchen house was a covered well. It had an ancient padlock on it. Marly looked at the lock and then at the key. She slide the key into the lock and turned it. The lock sprung open. Clearing the vines from the top of the well, Marly carefully opened the door on the well. Nailed to the door of the well was a metal box. Marly opened the box and removed a leather pouch. Age and the elements had caused it to be hardened and stiff so Marly carefully opened it and removed the contents.

It was a small book. As Marly scanned through the fragile papers she came to the last page. It was signed by Marlin Sanderson. November 23, 1894. It was a diary.

Marlina Sanderson had her story. Her ancestor had been a murderer. He had murdered his family and buried them in the basement. He then felt remorse and his body was at the bottom of the well. How had the body gotten in the well and the top padlocked? Her great grandmother had become pregnant by Marlin Sanderson and she had locked the well at Marlin’s request. Marlin had left her a bag of gold to help pay for the baby who became her grandfather. It had been a well-kept secret.