Once Upon A Mind

Blood

"Did you enjoy your little present?" the hag smirks, laughing at my tears.

She showed me something I will never be able to forget. 

Caleb and Jake, alone, eyes closed, shivering. 

Their wrists were bound, mouths covered in duct tape. 

I shudder to think where they are. 

"Why?" I whisper, my heart shattered.

"Because these little boys were too much trouble. Their spirits couldn't be broken," she breaks into a wheezing laugh, "But their legs could." 

She is full on cackling now. 

"You're sick. You know that right?" I manage, shaking the whole time. 

"Well of course," she gives me a twisted smile,"We are the lost souls." 

"What- what do you mean?" I  gasp, my eyes widening in terror. 

"Don't you see? We were the worst people when we were alive, you could call us. . .special. We all have something especially gruesome about us." 

She notices my horror, and she seems to grow from it. 

"Murder. They threw rocks at us, they hated our talent."

She calls being a killer talent?

She asks a girl near the front to step forward,

"Analicia? Tell us your story, would you?" 

The girl takes a shuddering step forward, and something seems off about her. . .

No. I finally realize what it is, and I press my hand against my mouth to keep from crying out. She is nothing but skin and bones, her ribs show through her tattered dress. The girl begins in a hoarse voice,

"My name is Analicia, Ana for short."

"Analicia, how do you lay your victims to rest?" the circle around her chants. I jump, I didn't even notice them. 

"Starvation," she states calmly, "I was born in 1920, in a small farm village. Up until I was 18, I was the prettiest girl by far, I was perfect, honey blond hair, eyes like a cool river. Or at least that's what they told me, the boys in the village. 

"The only thing I remember about my mortal body were numbers. 80. It never changed, from when I was 13 until the time I was 18. They loved me for it. 

"I got a visit one day, a big time producer from a modeling company. They said I had the perfect body, stereotypically skinny. 

"It all changed in an instant. A runaway horse trampled me to death, or so they thought. I lived, but I was never the same. A merchant found me, and used me for advertising after he stitched me up. He made me sample all the food he made in his shop.

"I got fat, so fat. My numbers rose, 85, 90, 95, and then finally, 100. At long last I escaped him then, running in the night. I got back to the village, but no one would look at me. I was fat. A new girl, Alice, had moved in, taken my place. 

"I stopped eating, except when necessary. I was skinny again, but I was hungry for revenge. I stole those foolish townboys back, and Alice came crying to me for help. I agreed to help her, never letting her out of my sight. 

"Three months later, she was skinny. Another month, now she's on her deathbed. She cries to me for food, to save her. I tell her she's not skinny enough. She died there, a single tear tracing her hollowed out cheeks.

"I had to flee after that, I was wanted for murder. Did I mention that I broke open her skin every time she ate? 

"I went to the big time producer, but he was disgusted by me. He said the sight of my bones scared him, that I was too skinny. 

"He didn't fool me, he was just jealous. They all are.

"Now I help fat little girls and boys turn beautiful like me. If they aren't strong enough to take it, how's that my problem?" 

She shakes off the blood on her hands as if it's nothing. Imagine how many people she's killed! 

Other girls tell stories, murders so gruesome, they make Jeffrey Dahmer look tame. 

These murderers converge, twisting lives and killing the innocent. The ground is sprinkled with the blood of the sinless, the guiltless, the blameless. 

Will I be their next victim? 

Or will I be their sister in blood?