Write, Edit, Publish. Horrible Harvest, Stolen Tears

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