Nobody Can Say It's You

38

Aurora Ralgnild was the seventh daughter, born to her parents on the seventh hour of Christmas day. That fact alone signaled she was gifted with the 'powers.' 

And if that was not enough, Aurora was born with a caul covering her head. Her family instinctively knew that, like her granny, Aurora would have the 'sight.'

And they were right.

For as long as she could remember, Aurora had been connected to the spirit world, both living and dead. Aurora's predictions were uncannily accurate. Her prophecies always came true. If some folks had a sixth or seventh sense, Aurora was blessed with much more beyond that.

The little girl child was also born into a family of beautiful women. It was evident quite early on that this baby's attractiveness would surpass both her mother and her sisters. 

Her beauty was breathtaking. Thick raven tresses cascaded down her shoulders in undulating waves of silky softness. Her skin was smooth and unblemished. But it was her violet eyes that were her most amazing feature.

And it was her violet eyes that showed her darkest secrets.

As a very young girl, Aurora discovered the traveling circuit preacher who rode the mountains on a white mule was not all that he appeared to be. The preacher was quite popular among the people. He was fond of little girls, too.

Too fond.

Aurora tried to tell her mother to stay clear of this man, but what adult listens to the warnings of a small child.

"Children are born liars," the preacher said. "Born in Adam's sin. Children have wicked imaginations. Do not be fooled by their angelic faces. Do not be fooled. Dismiss their evil stories. They live in a make-believe world.

Oh, Mothers! Cast out the imps that fill your children's minds. If you spare the rod, you will reap the harvests of sorrow. Mark my words."

The preacher was handsome and, even though he was a stranger, his warm laugh and easy way made the mountain folk accept and trust him as a real man of God. 

His charm was his protection. He wore it like a mantle. His Bible stood between him and the usual wariness and suspicion that local people had for outsiders. And he used it like a sword to cut away at their suspicion and natural shyness.

When little Ocey Sodder went missing while picking blackberries, no one but Aurora knew who was responsible for the little girl's disappearance. Aurora tried to tell her father what had happened.

"It's the preacher," she said. "He took Ocey. Daddy, it's the preacher man."

"Such vile lies!" her father screamed. "Wicked imagination! Spare the rod and spoil the child!"

Aurora received the beating of her life.

Her father was outraged. What had possessed his little girl to accuse the nice preacher man?

It was the beginning of Aurora's silence. From that time forward, the little girl kept whatever she saw to herself. As she grew, the visions multiplied. But still, she refused to tell anyone. No one would have believed her. They would only call her impure and evil.

She kept the secret locked deep inside that her father helped deliver her teenage cousin's baby. That after it was born, it was her own daddy's hand that cupped over the little one's mouth, smothering the little girl to silence its cries. 

She never told a soul that her father took the tiny body and wrapped it in cloth. That he took it out into the woods and buried it in an unmarked grave. She saw it all in a vision.

But who would have believed such stories about such a kind and decent man?

No one.

They would have laughed at her wild tales.

Called her crazy.

Or worse.

And Aurora's cousin and her father kept the secret, too. They never said a word about what had happened that day for as long as they lived. It was just as well. The baby was dead and buried.

Aurora had learned her lesson well. The visions came, one after another, but she locked them inside her heart.

***

She was mum the day her sister, Carlyss, married Everand.

She did not tell Carlyss about the death dream.

Aurora watched her sister and Everand speak their vows before the preacher in her parents' house. Carlyss looked so pretty in her white dress. She had white flowers in her hair. Everand was so handsome in his Sunday finest. He looked so proud. They looked so happy.

What would they say if she told them the truth? If she pulled the veil back and let them see tomorrow? Would they thank her? Would they curse her?

She knew the answer.

She looked on as Everand kissed Carlyss and vowed before God Almighty to love and protect her until death. She watched them, knowing that her sister's days were numbered.

In her dream the night before her sister's wedding, Aurora saw Everand as clearly as if he'd been standing in front of her. His features were distorted in anger. His face was red. His eyes were filled with hatred. He stomped out to his shed. His knuckles were white and his jaw muscles twitched as he exited the shed. The ax was in his hand. The fist that clenched its handle was white with tension.

There was a fight. Heated words. The battle had gone on for days. Neither would give an inch. But Everand was the man of the house. He should have his way. He would have his way, he decided, storming out of the house.

Carlyss heard the screen door slam. She ignored it. There was supper to fix. Even if Everand pouted and refused to eat, Carlyss was hungry. She would finish the meal and place it before him and if he refused it, she'd toss the leftovers out the back door. Let him cut his nose off to spite his face. It was no concern of hers.

Her sister was standing at the stove with her back to the room. Everand entered the house as quietly as a cockroach. He raised the ax high into the air and swung it down onto the back of Carlyss' head with all his might.

Aurora awakened with a scream. She was sweating and clutching the coarse sheeting.

"What is it?" Carlyss had said.

It was the eve before her sister's wedding, the last night she and Carlyss would share a bedroom.

"Nothing," Aurora said. "Nothing."

"It's just a dream, Aurora," Carlyss said. "Just a bad dream. You forget it, right now. Go back to sleep. Before you know it, it will be morning and my wedding day! My wedding day, Aurora! I can hardly wait!"

The couple was radiant and smiling as they stood there eating homemade cake.

So in love.

Yet doomed. 

***

Everand and Carlyss were married scarcely three months before they sent for Bill Whittaker to arrest Everand for Carlyss's murder. Both families were beside themselves. Aurora's parents had lost a daughter, and Carlyss was sentenced to death. 

He was electrocuted before the year was out.