Ella

            
             She had fled from the house seeking somewhere calm; somewhere she could think. The dusk air was still warm from the baking of the sun. The heat acted like a giant hand and enclosed her within its fingers from the moment she stepped outside. Then, as the sun loosened its grasp on the land, so did the fingers of heat.
             As the sky darkened, Ella pulled out the candle she had managed to salvage from the mess inside. Along with it, she had borrowed a lighter from her unwitting sister. Watching the ravenous little flame engulf the tall white wick, she felt an understanding form between the wick and herself. She knew how hopeless the wick felt against the flickering flame. She also knew that no matter how much the wick resisted, the flame would catch it in the end.
             Likewise were her feelings about her family. For twelve years they had raised her under the idea that all that she ever needed was right there on the farm with them. On this small Ohio farm, Ella helped her mother cook, her sister clean, and her father tend to the animals. Her brother had left a few years ago, claiming that he was leaving to be with the woman he loved. But she knew the truth " love had been an excuse for him to finally leave the clutches of their parents' firm expectations and ideals.
             Both Ella's mother and her father had grown up on farms and continued to pass the farm life onto their children. They each lost family members to the city life, and found the entire idea frivolous and completely undesirable. The thought of having to prove themselves to others and live among a city full of complete strangers appealed none to them. .
             Ella watched television; she read the papers. She knew the world around her was nothing like the one that shrouded her. But her parents would watch and read with her. And whenever someone remotely successful came on the television, they clucked their tongues and shook their heads saying: "Now why would they leave their family to have their own success? Their family must need them back home.