Ink and Hammer

I was at my desk again. My pen hovered on the page I had opened.Blank. Absolutely blank, my mind,the page, both were blank.

The distant sound of the carpenter came through my window in a heartfelt tango with the evening air.

The sheets of papers on my desk slid off by the coaxing of the wind.

I ignored them. Blank. They all were reminding me of how I had nothing to write.

The white sheet stared back at me and the ink on the tip of the pen stained it’s purity.

Defeated, I stood from the table to the window to see the world around me.

A lonely country side. The grass spread as far as the eye could see and farms dotted the regions all around. The sound of nailing reached my ears again.

The carpenter. He knew everyone and everyone knew him. He learnt his trade from his father who, according to stories the carpenter told, also learnt from his father.

He never ceased to raise his head in a silent prayer to the heavens. A good hearted man yet without a child and a bride of his own.

My own wedding came to mind and I shrugged the thought away quickly. It cannot be as bad as I thought, I encouraged myself.

Night had fallen, I stood again at my window looking at the fields. The carpenter passed below.

His movement was laboured and his bag of tools slung over his shoulder. He stopped and looked up with a smile and tipped his hat to me.

I smiled back and with a slight wave of my hand I retreated, mostly embarrassed at being caught. I slipped under my sheets and fell asleep.

---

The carpenter looked up and smiled at the young woman at her window.

A beautiful young woman he thought as he tipped his hat to her and watched in amusement as she recoiled into her room and he walked on.

Father was right he thought. This makes me happy and keeps food on my table. He shifted the load from one shoulder to the other.

The moon waltzed across the dark night sky and shone a gentle light over the sleeping world.

The window of his store room hung open,forgotten and the moonlight stole it’s way inside.

The half completed furniture was scattered all over the room and it smelled like decaying flesh to the point of being nauseating

The rats on the floor scurried at the thought of being found out. Those on the walls nibbled on the faces of the heads that has been hung up on the wall.

The blood dripped off the newest addition, down the walls to the ground and the rats cooled their thirsts.

The heads of the people who the carpenter had killed hung on the walls with nails in their forehead and eye sockets to keep them in place.

Third time is the charm

The owl hooted close to the window.Third time already, but no one seemed to notice

The world was asleep. The lanterns slowly went out in various homes as the parents retired to bed, their young ones put to sleep.

The doctor’s house on the outskirts of town was alive with movement.

Downstairs, the expectant father paced while his wife was being delivered of her baby by the doctor and his assistant.

His palms sweaty.. a third child he thought. He could not do it. He just couldn’t.

Everyone said he’d done a good job, that he was a good man. But he didn’t believe that. He just couldn’t he take care of a third child.

His wife’s screams interrupted his thought. He looked towards the stairs with worry.

Upstairs, sweat, blood and tears filled the small dimly lit room. The only light, was near the baby’s entrance to the world.

She held the sheets tightly as pain racked her body. She closed her eyes and pushed one last time.

Finally, the cries of the infant forced it’s way out of it’s little body and the mother heaved a sigh of relief.

She lay back and closed her eyes.. she’s asleep they murmured. Take him to his father to be taken care of the doctor whispered to his assistant

Footsteps retreated as they both left the room and she opened her eyes to look about her.
For the first time, though this was her third birth in the house, she saw the room in which she lay..

She had arrived unconscious and left unconscious after being given the news of her children’s deaths.

The previous births had also been boys but she’d only heard their cries.

She couldn’t lose this chance to see her baby boy. Jed,I have to see him she thought. She got on her feet with much difficulty and walked out of the room using the walls as support.

Downstairs, Jed held his little child and shed tears.. the doctors gave him a solemn nod and left him alone.

He walked to the back of the house, cradling his baby and cooing that all will be fine.. he smiled sadly when the baby grew quiet.

He pulled out the sack from his coat and put his baby in it, with tears rolling down his face.

Jed let out a small cry and with the knife be brought along stabbed the sack in every way until it dripped with blood

He turned slowly, the sack in one hand and the knife in the other,saw his wife and froze.

She stood there with many thoughts as she watched him drop the knife.

They told me it was the weather she thought. They told me it was a disease. She’d never held the babies and didn’t see their lifeless bodies.

His face streaming with tears and blood and his heart and mind stained with pain and guilt. He took a step towards her.

She turned to ran, but she was weak.. she called out for the doctors.. screaming for help…

The doctor rushed down and held the woman’s head in his hands.. she frantically pointed at her husband and sputtered her words as she tried to explain

Jed, what have you done? The doctor asked. The concern on his face switched to anger as he said how could you be this careless that she’ll see you in the act…

His wife’s face crumpled with horror and realization as the doctor with an almost sympathetic smile, turned her head all the way around, the bones snapping noisily with the movement and her eyes rolled in their sockets.

He dropped the body in a crumpled heap and stood. You said in the agreement, that you’ll take care of them he growled walking towards him menacingly. Now you’ll have to find a new wife.

She haunts the night.

The door knob turned slowly and the heavy door swung open noiselessly

She tiptoed into the room. Her eyes flaming and her smile as beautiful as ever.

She walked around him for a while then giggled as she pulled his blanket off his half clothed body.

She drooled at the sight of his slightly wet well-contoured body and she gasped as she traced her fingers over his biceps.

He woke with a start and looked in shock at the beauty beside him.

His eyes widened with recognition.

What on Earth are you doing here? He asked terrified.

She put a finger on her lips for silence then grabbed his neck and pinned him down with a spell.

Her other hand found its way inside his lower clothing and felt him get hard.

She bit her lip in anticipation..
I see you don’t mind making love to me. She giggled.

Her eyes shone like two little flames and her skin was flawless and her smile,enchanting.

Her voice flowed out of her mouth like melting butter on hot pancakes.

He struggled but it was futile since the spell was stronger.

Would you relax? She said as she ripped his pyjamas apart slowly with her sharp nails and licked her lips at him.

He looked on helpless and tried to shriek. Even if he had a will in his body, it was long gone since he was under her spell now.

Her evil spell. She took his hardness in her mouth and sucked till she could feel him throbbing with want.

Good boy.. she whispered.

She took him inside her and made little sounds as she took over his body against his will.

She bit into his neck gently as he released his seed inside her.

She sighed happily and got off him. Now time for dinner..

She held him by his hair and dragged him behind her as they climbed up the basement stairs. He cursed his luck for falling asleep in that room again.

He struggled and begged for mercy with intermittent gasps for air.

His body was powerless under her spell. Why…are.. you.. doing this? He said with much difficulty. His reply was a hysterical laughter

Up the stairs, they went. His legs dragged beneath him from weakness. A nail in the steps pierced his calf, he shrieked in pain and begged her but she dragged him on and the nail licked through the flesh of his legs parting it in two.

Tears flowed down his face as the pain increased with his screams.Too weak to even whimper now, his blood left a trail as she walked out of the house into the night air.

She giggled and chattered with herself like an excited little girl. She stopped and lifted him by his hair, licking her lips..

It’s a pity, such a waste of beauty. I’m sorry little brother.

She run her fingers over his body one last time… Her mouth stretched open inhumanly wide and in two blood curdling bites, he was gone.

She licked her fingers and sniffed the air and chuckled to herself.

How insanely sexy.. another male is awake out there…

She smiled a breathtaking smile and looked at the window who’s lights just went out.

Once upon a happy Bride..

She showed up at the entrance of the asylum, dirty, tired, crying and in pain..

Bruises marked her body from her head to her soles and she won’t stop looking over her shoulder.

She seemed to have come from a distant city and she smelled like she had been crawling through sewers.

Traces of beauty to marked her face but as if they knew they were noticed, they disappeared and left a horrid looking creature on your sight.

This was a place for her and others like her. She held nurse’s hand as she was led away and mumbled..

They told me to do it . They said they’d make me happy, give me a family of my own . I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

She had left messages written in blood on the walls of her cell and they weren’t noticed till her disappearance.

She wanted her sister’s life, stable, happy and fulfilled. She wanted a man of her own.

Jealousy made her do it…

She killed her sister’s husband to be in his sleep. A knife in his chest. She gouged his eyes out but lost them on her way to offer her sacrifice.

She has been tortured ever since…

The dream…

Her sister glided down the aisle. Smiling to those who smiled back and nodding politely as she made her way to the groom on the other side.

A beautiful bride she was. Slowly her smile fades as she gets closer to her groom.

The faces of the people seemed to melt as their facial features contort.

She stopped in her tracks and looked around her. Everything moved slowly.

The brightly lit room was turning dark . Blood poured from her husband’s eyes and mouth.

Howling and screeching were coming from all over the building. She put her hands to the sides of her head and looked around.

Her white and silver gown was getting soaked with the blood of the people from the edges that touched the ground upwards..

She shut her eyes as the darkness seemed to engulf her and screamed so loud that those hearing might have bleeding ears.

The cell she occupied shook in its foundation as she screamed again for the umpteenth time that night.

She wrote all this on her walls and it seemed it was all she dreamed about.
The iron on the cell bars seemed to be bitten and bent in odd places.

The night she left, one of the inmates, saw her crawling in the hallway in the middle of the night, on all fours but not in anyway human.

Her fingers were shorter than normal and rugged like they were used to scrape a rough surface.

Her mouth was opened,teeth were missing and she drooled heavily and arms were covered in deep bites and bloody palm prints that showed that she escaped through a window which was high off the ground.

The same window that the cleaners used eighteen foot step ladders to reach.

Mama knows best….

The rickety bus made its way slowly away from the city and the tired young woman sunk deeply into one of the torn leather covered seats.

The bus was noisy and hot even though it was in the early hours of a Friday morning, just a little past midnight.

She sighed deeply and looked out the window as the bus passed many buildings.

Slowly the people reduced on the bus and their noise with it.

She hummed a little song to herself when the thought of her children at home came to mind. Clara and her little boy Sam. She smiled to herself.

Her own mother had sung this song to her as a little girl. The thought of ending up like her mother saddened her and she held back tears knowing she’d work harder for all of them.

The bus came to an exhausted stop at the foot of a hill, she picked up the groceries and got off the bus, waving to the bus driver.

She started her journey up the hill to the lonely house on it’s very top… She kept humming.

She found her way up and finally she stood in front of her house. The poor structure shook with the least puff of wind, it’s amazing how they weathered the storm last year.

She turned and looked at the sleeping city below and tears threatened to fill her eyes. One day she’ll be rich enough and they would live among the fine ones.

She walked into the house. It was dark and she knew her children would be asleep upstairs.

She went to the kitchen to unload her groceries. She went upstairs to her room, stepped in to shower when she was done downstairs,for a warm shower and a run down of what she’d do in the morning for money.

She settled into the bed which creaked loudly. Thoughts run through her mind.

Many years ago on a night like this, her little brother disappeared and her last memory of him was his loud screaming.

Guilt consumed her as she thought of the fact that she just went back to sleep thinking to herself that her brother was making too much noise.

Her mother had changed after that day, overcome with grief.

Sam begun to cry.

She sat up with a start and listened, her eyes staring blankly ahead of her.

She threw her feet off the bed and listened again.

Sam cried on.

The candle went out suddenly and shadows appeared where they should be. The room got chilly and it couldn’t be blamed on the wind since her window was closed shut.

Her pupils dilated as she stood from her bed wearing a small sad smile.

She started humming as she walked to the children’s room with slow careful steps.

She turned the door knob slowly and walked to her son.
She sung..

My little one do not disturb the night,
My little one, Mama’s here do not fret..
Mother knows best, mother knows best
And mother likes her children silent..

When Sam wouldn’t stop crying, she helped him down to his feet and walked out of the room with him moving with more steps.

Down the stairs to her kitchen. Sam cried on. She opened a cupboard and took out a bodkin and shoemaker’s thread.

She sat down and beckoned to him. He came to her crying and rubbing his eyes..

Bless your poor heart.

She smiled a wider smile, so wide all her teeth showed from corner to corner and her eyes went white.

She placed the boy on her lap and placed a finger on her lips but little Sam refused to be comforted.

She held his lips together and slowly drove the bodkin up the lower lip through the top one and threaded it.

Innocent little shrieks filled the night air and she continued.. in and out, in and out again sewing her son’s lips together.

Clara stood at the entrance horrified as she had been awoken by the shrieks and scream grew in the pit of her stomach and she opened her mouth to let it out when…

My little one do not disturb the night,
My little one, Mama’s here do not fret..
Mother knows best, mother knows best
And mother likes her children silent

She lifted her eyes to Clara and put her bloody fingers on her lips.

Another for dinner.

They sat at the dinner table..

Only cutlery could be heard hitting plates.

The aroma was divine and the lights were dim and it provided a serene setting for this perfect family night.

He was her family and she was his. They lifted their eyes and smiled at each other. Sometimes their eyes would meet other times they could just stare briefly and think how much the other means to them.

The meal was small, hardly satisfying and they both knew that soon they’d starve if they don’t eat the food she said she’d stored up.

But no one knew when the search for the kidnappers would end,when they’d be allowed to walk the streets again.

They stared and smiled, smiled and stared and ate their meal with as much joy as they could master.

He placed his fork down and locked his fingers under his chin staring. What? She asked. I want more he said licking his lips.

More…the forbidden word.

More…the word of the greedy, the selfish.

More…the word that made her smile from ear to ear with pleasure.

More.

She pulled out the storage key from her bossom and and let it glimmer in the dim light.

She wore the sickening smile as she stood from her place by the table and proceeded to leave the room.

She turned around with the most menacing look on her face and pointed her lovely finger at him and beckoned.

He rose and followed her to a small door in the far end of the hallway. She opened the door, lighted a torch and led the way.

His breath quickened as he followed her down the steps . Spiders fell on his shirt and in his hair.. rats crossed him severally as he followed this woman who now seemed to be gliding.

She came to another door. Still wearing the menacing look, she handed the torch to him, holding the key infront of the door and with slow movements unlocked the door.

A wave of stench drowned the dusty but breathable air around them. It was nauseating. Something.. or somethings moved in the darkness of the room.

A little cry, a low groan.. quiet sobbing, all came from the room.

She turned her head to him and said choose.

He stepped forward , dizzy from the odor which got stronger as he neared the door.. with shaky hands he lifted the torch’s light into the room and gasped.

Children, Children of all ages. Some dead. Some alive. Sickly looking, sunken eyes.

He saw a little boy of about five sobbing quietly. The smell of unwashed body, and excreta roamed his nose.. he couldn’t.. he stumbled,the room spun and the world shifted below him. His mind gave way to unconsciousness.

More.. more.. more..
His eyes opened

More..

He was back at the table, his head on it.. he lifted it sharply and smelled aromas of cooking.

He touched the back of his head convincing himself that he had a nightmare. He sniffed deep and long..

More, more he heard her chant as he stepped into the kitchen.. his heart stopped.

From behind, he could see the key hung around her neck as it dangled on her back, his eyes widened with shock.

The head of the little boy he’d seen, lay without it’s body on the side of the chopping board.

Blood covered everything .. yet she kept cooking.. he looked at his leather shoes whose soles were now covered in blood.

His head reeled. His heart threatened to burst.

Her head turned all the way round to face him as her hands continued to stir and her body faced the stove..
More, more, more, more.

Finally, a happy ending…

Imagine a life where everything was peaceful and where every little storm that you faced was muted almost immediately and the joy overshadowed the sorrow. Good.

Yes,now stop imagining..

****

She was running down the stairs as fast as possible and the pain in her abdomen wanted to slow her down.

There was no way she’d leave the building in time she thought and her heart raced uncontrollably.

Behind her, footsteps were thundering after, come back woman, she heard him say.

She gasped and shrieked as the man caught her by the hair that was flying behind her and pulled her down violently.

Her back hit the wooden steps wildly. Her body shook with pain and tears flooded her eyes as the pain in her abdomen intensified.

She whispered loudly… Please, please let me go.

You turned from your family and friends for me, For me! He replied as he proceeded to drag her down the stairs. And you want to escape with my child he continued… Not a chance..

Her half concious self registered his beard, his sunken eyes, his strong sweaty odor and the vanilla-scented candles that burned innocently around the house.

She let out a small whimper as her weight crashed the steps each time as they went down.

Outside, the streets were alive and drowned the screams of help coming from the beautiful mansion.

He dragged her to the kitchen, got her standing and poured himself a glass of wine.. he looked over her with disgust and spat in her face. He took a step towards her and she instinctively stepped back.

He fumed at this and punched her in the face and proceeded to hit her continuously.. she lay still and quiet as she endured.

When he had stopped,he was panting and watched her struggle to her feet again. He turned his back to her and leaned on the counter. She went round the table with small smile as she said,I’ll stay my love, I’ll stay.

He smiled and showed his beer stained teeth and proceeded to kiss her broken lips leaving the smell of cigarettes lingering.

She let out a cry and stabbed him. She pushed him down and stabbed him in his face, in his neck, in his chest , every available spot she could reach and she didn’t stop till he looked like he had passed through a mincer.

She staggered to her feet and looked at the exit with double, maybe triple vision and her tears washed the blood down her face.

Shaking with hope and happiness of her new found freedom she held her tummy and said we’re going to be fine.

She swayed from side to side as she reached the door. Down the steps she went.. a step, then another.

Her legs dripped with blood from the miscarriage that was oblivious to her.

The blood made her slip,the cables for the Halloween lights tripped her.. a new life, a happy ending she thought as she fell to the ground.

The spikes of the decorations from they’d put up around the house drove straight through her head, into one ear and out the other..

She lay there, with her eyes opened… A happy ending she had thought.

Annaliese…

His hair was stained with mud and still looked unwashed from long before the rains.

His beard unkepmt and flies seemed to be his only companion. His lips were dry from thirst.

He wouldn’t let go of the bag. He carried the weight on his back. His treasure, his world.

He cried and walked slowly, his tears leaving a trail behind him. He shouldn’t let anyone touch her he thought…

He run from it. The sickness of the village, no it wouldn’t reach her.

He stopped..

The smell about him was revolting and made you think of the nastiest things possible.

He opened his mouth to speak and it revealed rows of dirty teeth and a sickly thick tongue. He quickly shut his mouth and moved on .

He walked..

Then suddenly familiarity hit him.. the grass, the flowing river near by, a shiver went down his spine.

He desperately tries to turn back, but the spell was too strong…

He looked up against his will and dropped the bag.. above the children,he could hear their laughter..

But their dead pale faces only held their lasts thoughts and feelings.. their young decaying bodies hung over the village they’d played in.

He shrieked.. a hoarse, heart wrenching shriek, he had brought his eyes down and the bag he carried had burst open.

His little girl was in the bag, dead and rotten along with her dog that she’d played with and her rug doll.

He looked at her with unseeing eyes and pulled the body closer and rocked it..

No harm would come to you Annaliese… No harm..

No More

The day was breaking..the sky was pink with youth and the sun gently kissed the cheeks of the little girl who swung dangerously from the tree

Her grey eyes overlooked the still lake.. where her brother must be.. she swung on.. slowly

Her brother floated on the surface of the shallows as usual.. enjoying the cool water calm his body and his troubled soul raged on. The birds sung all around

Father was at his workshop. Exhausted from the night before. His head lay in his lap.. and saw dust covered the floor…

Mother was within the walls.. the house was still dark on the inside…well,just her room,which she shared with her husband.The heavy drapes had been pulled down… The shutters closed. She peeked out the crack in one of the windows of her bedroom….hiding.

She gasped for air. She looked around.. her vision distorted… Her hearing shattered… And her touch was made rubbish..

It would come for her too… But she wouldn’t do it anymore.. I don’t want to,she murmured.. she repeated it till she was shrieking

Tears flowed down her face as she lifted her hands… Her bloody hands..

The wind blew hard… The rope strained from her weight,the little girl dropped…her body long lifeless as the rope her mother had used to kill her lay loosely beside her .

Her brother’s body floated lifelessly around the lake he once played in…

And the shed’s floor was covered in blood.. the father’s head, lay dismembered on his lap..

In her room, she continues to chant.. no more.. as she is plagued with the memory of the night before…

Home Wrecker

The candle flame wriggled and moved lazily in the gentle breeze that found its way beneath the flower patterned translucent curtains.

The curtains danced as the wind coaxed its edges up to reveal the nakedness of the window sills.

Outside, the ivy plant crept up to see what they wanted and the flower bed delicately touched with the presence of roses and lilies

The fireplace burnt warm and low. He kissed the line that divided her body in two..

She arched her back at his touch and moved her hands along his arms as if to make sure he was human..

He parted her legs and she opened to receive him. He smiled mischievously as he let his fingers tease her till she dripped wet and warm

She bit her lip in an effort to stop the low gasps of pleasure that forced themselves behind her teeth.. her body shook with want and she begged with her eyes for him to take her.

Chains drag up the stairs and tears dropped on the wooden floors as she made her way up the stairs. She stared at the door as the gasps of sweet matrimony reached her ears as they poured out of the keyhole.

She shut her eyes and phased into the room. Her heart aching at the view before her.

Her nails extended till they were as firm and long as talons.. her chains jiggled around her as she moved to the bed that was hers… That was hers

She dug her fingers into his back and watched as he writhed and shook with confusion.. she, who was below him was drowned in the blood that poured from the mouth of her lover.

She pulled out his heart, swallowing it in two bites and fed it to his spawn that lived within her..

She flung his body across the room and focused her gaze on the woman who stole her man… She smiled at the thought that her presence was not known to this sinful woman.

She fixed her chains around her ankles and walked out of the room, dragging her home wrecker behind her..

She stopped at the door to kiss the lips of the man she had once loved and wept over what she’d done.

She was up again, her face blank and her heart heavy.. she walked on, dragging her..as she screamed in fear confusion and pain…. She dragged her home wrecker behind her.