"I'd make a deal with the devil, for beauty. I'm not overwhelming. I'm not breath taking. And that tears me apart. Take my breath. I'd cry for nothing but myself. I mourn the freedom of my childlike confidence. But ever since I was a girl, I've been fucking with my eyes. I've been twirling my hair. I'll bat my eyelashes and move ever so slow, liquid air. Watch my body move. I'm screaming want me, want me, want me. Do you dream about my presence? Are you remembering my lips, recalling my thighs? Drink in my skin, breathe through my veins. Do I make you fantasise, do I make you care. I want you to want me. I'll grow out my hair till it touches my waist, skip breakfast and lunch. I'll stain my lips, pinch my cheeks. I'll go to sleep extra early for you. I'll lather my skin, breathe into the frigid mornings, bright eyes, young face. I'll do whatever it takes for you to give in."
The three girls crouched around the mossy altar.
One brung ash.
One brung jasmine.
One brung pearls.
Water glistened on the ancient stone, carved and marked, wetting the parchment paper, bleeding ink.
Angelina placed a hand over her heart.
"I'll cry for a thousand seas, a thousand rivers. I'll fill your lakes with my tears. Wet my brow, wet my chest, wet my feet. I'll gather rocks to form your borders, plant reeds among your hairs. Let me flow, let me go. Let me flow, let me go. I'm offering my self. I'm ready to lose."
They held hands, they formed a circle around their starry realm. Gauzy sunshine breathed into the forest clearing, the waterfall turning to cascaded glass.
Vivienne spoke, a rage burning within her chest.
"I'll leave my hands on the hot embers, I'll dip my feet into fire. I'm breathing for now, for then, for when. I'll singe my hairs on the flames of your home. I'll burn with agony, I'll scream your name so I don't forget. Then I'll break the iron, I'll break the brick. I'll cast hell from my lips, gather stains on your name. I'll beat until bruised, I'll torch until dead."
Blood dripped from their fingers, they raised them above their heads. It trailed down their temples, lay to rest at their brow.
"Take my breath, take me...I'll make you give in..."
"I'll fill your rivers...wet my chest..."
"I'll leave my hands...I'll cast hell..."
They chanted in hushed voices, lazily moving their fingers to their necks, to their collarbones, to their breasts. They swept up their thin gowns of cotton and lace, and brushed, and brushed. They went round again, again, white cloth stained with red, feet damp from the moss. Ash marked their hearts, jasmine scented their hair, pearls clasped their necks.
They were undoing. But it was only the beginning.
YOU ARE READING
FEMANIA
General Fiction❝ it was like the words had been ready to spill at any minute and this moment, with the cherry laced smoke from the new cigarette, and the fresh sweetgrass on the breeze from the school field, the coolness of the Formica tiles on her thighs, and the...
