Here is my submission for the Halloween Write, Edit,
Publish bloghop. Our challenge was Horrible Harvest.
Write, Edit, Publish is a group of writers doing what
they do best. Write. Started by Denise Covey and continued on by our host; Laura, Nilanjana and Olga.
This challenge made me think. What could I write? I
wanted something original and finally came up with my story, which is indeed,
horrible.
I am scheduled to have surgery this coming Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. I’ll
try to get everyone’s post read, but I may not get them all done so please
forgive me. To read these awesome writers and their idea of a horrible harvest go here.
Stolen
Tears
Lilith dodged the arrow meant to pierce her arm. “Go
back to your cave, you dung wasp.” Laughter followed the insult. She fled the
faerie village, the few packages she needed in her arms. At her cave she set down
the goods, material for her new dress, black lipstick and chocolates. She
opened the confection popping one in her mouth, but the sweet did nothing to
still the churning anger in her gut. She ran her fingers over her blue-black
hair, cropped short to her scalp by the town’s barber. A sign that she no
longer belonged. An outcast.
She’d
made up her mind and now was the time to act. She flew to the back of the cave,
to the portal hidden from sight. She stepped on the round polished rock and
tapped it three times with her wand. A gust of wind shot her straight up and
then out, hovering in the light of a full moon. Tiny black pearls dripped from
her black gossamer wings, falling from her and hitting the ground sparking into
fire. Their burn was short lived, hissing and turning into ash.
The
half-moon crystal embedded to the side of her left eye glowed with her intent. She
paused in the sky, listening. Her faerie
ears keen for any noise, but especially for an infant’s cry. As soon as she
heard the wails, she flew past a dozen houses and peered through a bedroom
window. The human mother lifted her child and took it to a rocker. In due time,
the mother put her child in its crib and went back to bed. Lilith used her wand
to make a small hole in the screen over the window the size of a penny. She
squeezed through.
She
flew closer to the sleeping child. Extracting her wand, she drew tears from the
child’s eyes. Each drop lifted one at a time as she capsuled the precious gifts
in her pearls. As they entered, they turned the gem from black to white, subduing
each so it no longer burned.
*
Home once more, Lilith prepared her cauldron in the
back room. She added water from the dead pool inside the cave, the capsuled
tears, thistle and thorn. As she stirred, she sang.
“Never
a tear no more, never hope or life.
May
death kiss your lips and swallow your spark.”
When
finished the white pearls had a green slime that oozed from its sides. She took
them to her forest shelter and buried them in a pit.
*
Autumn brought wind to the faerie lands. Lilith waited
for the full moon before venturing out. Far away she could see the lights from
the Halloween faerie dance. She never attended, that is, except tonight…
she
would have her revenge, for all the hurts caused her. For every insult slung at
her. For being ostracized.
The half-moon crystal
against her left temple glowed.
At the pit she used her
wand to cause the earth to separate revealing her pearlized tears. They had
turned grey. She lifted one, smelling it and testing it for consistency. It was like soft gel. Perfect.
Bundling the lot into her
leather pouch, Lilith flew toward the faerie dance. She hid at first, watching
the dancers and hearing their gaiety which grated on her nerves. Her thin,
black painted lips sneered as she crept toward the punch bowl and opened her
pouch. The pearls fell out and plopped in the drink. She glanced about to be
sure no one saw her and the, Lilith stirred the punch and the pearls dissolved releasing
their poison.
“What are you doing
here?” An old fae asked her.
“Getting a drink.” Lilith
poured punch in a glass.
“Be gone with you, little
wasp.”
She obliged him, flying
back to the willow where she hid. Faeries ignored time. It meant nothing to a
people that didn’t die. But for Lilith this night, time had become an
irritation. No one came to drink her punch. No one knew their lives would be
used up. She found a way to end it all.
“Hurry…” she breathed the
word. “Hurry to your end.”
At long last the faerie
ended their dance. They would eat now. They would drink. Each fluttered to the
table. Gathering the food on leaf plates and cups made of hollowed wood.
All sat at the table.
Laughter shredded the little patience Lilith still had. When each one had drunk,
she made her move, flying into the center. Her kin stopped to gaze at her.
“Now you pay for every
taught you sent my way. Now you die by my hand.” Lilith twirled and used her
wand to send a shower of thorns over the heads of the faerie gathered.
A great wail that
mimicked a human babies cry erupted from those gathered. Food spilled. The
faerie flew from their chairs only to stumble and fall like clumsy fools. They
grabbed their throats. Their limbs twisted. Then, one by one they fell,
littering the ground with their bodies.
Lilith grinned at the
sight. Not even one remained alive. She danced above the fallen fae. Her
laughter was like a crazed lunatic. No one would ever insult her again.
*
Several years later in the human world, a little boy
murdered the family cat.
Word Count: 820
Now it's time to tell me what you think. Please leave a comment either here or on one of the post I put on my Facebook page.
Thanks for reading, Nancy
