"Mommy, Mommy," I hear it crying.
It's been screaming for hours and it won't shut the fuck up. The milk it wants is in front of me, along with some cheap vodka and Kahlua. I mix another White Russian, slam it down. I'm not drunk enough.
The screaming stops. Now the demons come out to play. "MOMMY," it says again, its voice barbed wire and mutilated dogs. The crib creaks and it's climbing out. Coming for me.
I look down. Rosary. Bible. Knife. Gun. Nothing's worked. Each time it eats more of me.
"BREAST, MOMMY. BREAST." The trailer creaks with each step. The air stinks with sulfur and shit. I vomit up a drink or two, manage to catch it in the glass.
"BREAST, MOMMY, OR ANOTHER DIES. THAT WAS THE DEAL." Yeah. It could breastfeed, or it'd kill another child in daycare tomorrow. Hell of a deal, right? The deal I made with the demon in the skin of my son.
Except that breastfeeding the monster was like having leeches on my soul. It was eating everything good in me. Turning me into it.
Climbing into my lap now. My son's face, only not. Red. Twisted. All mouth, no eyes. It pulls at my shirt.
"Deal with this," I say, pouring the alcoholic vomit onto its face. It howls. The rugs ooze pus and the walls bleed.
I pick it up, put it in my son's high chair, strap it in. I empty the vodka over it.
Then I find a match.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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It's hard to get dream sequences right, to pull the reader in with you with just a few short paragraphs ... but damn, when a writer nails it, it's a fine, terrifying thing. You managed to wring out blood and wrongness with just the right amount of description to leave the really horrible bits to the imagination. Very nicely done.
ReplyDeleteI feel a little or maybe a lot disturbed.. but that may be due to all the pregnancy hormones dancing madly in my veins..
ReplyDeleteAh ha! The internet has removed its restraining order and I can comment again!
ReplyDelete"its voice barbed wire and mutilated dogs"
This is a fantastic sentence as each reader will construct a unique and personally tailored terrifying audio to go with the already freaky dream imagery.
The 'evil in the guise of something usually harmless' dream is a shocker to have and it'll be great to see where this goes.
Also, no eyes? Yeesh! Nice.
Nice work with the imagery. You leave more to the imagination than you describe, and you weave both to support each.
ReplyDelete