by Mav Skye
“So, when I put their little faces under water, each of their faces, I thought of you. I thought of your face. Your lovely face. And I saw the life in their eyes. I saw the terror. I felt their terror, their kicking legs. And I thought of you. How I wished you had done the same to me, for me, when I was their age.
But you kept me alive. You couldn’t possibly have done what I’ve done, because you don’t care.
And I cared too much.
They tell me I’m getting the juice. They tell me Yellow Mama is going to spank my girlie ass. That I’m going to ride the lightning all the way to hell.
And I say, I say… I’m already dead.
I was dead the moment you birthed me.”
Cecilia re-read the words to herself, her eyes pausing on: when I put their faces under water, each of their faces. Had she done that? Was she capable?
She peered at herself in the mirror, drawn to her lips. Her lips that used to be pale pink, but were now Dead Sunset Red.
Dead, they were all dead, her children. Her three children.
Evening descended, casting its dark shadows over Cecilia’s reflection in the mirror. Her gloss red lips twitched the truth. The truth her mind had erased.
The truth was: “Guilty.”
4
Awake
1. Truth
If it feels too good to be true, it is.
2. Denial
Powder clouds dust the skies above. She arches her back to it, and he raises her lavender dress up her thighs to the curve of her stomach. She clutches at the weeds and grass when his tongue buries between her thighs. She buries her bare feet into the earth feeling alive, flying to the sun. After, he unbuttons her dress with his teeth and takes her to the moon.
3. Truth
One cannot go to the sun or the moon.
4. Denial
A pale white body hangs from a rope. It turns in pirouettes, round and round, in gentle slow spins. The noise the rope makes as it spins sounds like whispers. It hangs from the doorframe of her bedroom. She cries and looks at the body from her bed.
5. Truth
She is scared of herself.
6. Denial
She is covered in mud. There are graves everywhere and she is digging one. Now she is sliding a black bag into the dark hole, then filling it in.
It is raining. Hard.
7. Truth
If one can’t handle truth, deny it.
Click here to get started: http://geni.us/Harvester66
Afterword
In case you haven’t noticed, I have a slight obsession with writing psychopath women. Most of it is because of the way I was raised and who I was raised by. I feel that I am constantly trying to understand and make sense of heartless souls. I am fascinated with the manipulation skills and ultimate control a single person can possess over others. It disgusts me and yet leaves me in awe.
Now, not all women who kill are psychopaths. Sometimes, a woman may develop into one out of fear and desperation. I wrote Dead Sunset Red after reading multiple books on Andrea Yates. She drowned all five of her children in the bathtub. I remember every woman I knew at the time calling her a monster, but the woman I read about in the books loved her children. She was very ill, and made more so by the doctors she and her husband entrusted her care to. I’m not saying she didn’t deserve what she got, because obviously she should have to face the consequences of her actions. However, I feel that her doctors should have been held responsible as well and stripped of their licenses.
In Pillow Talk, Henrietta appears to be the sort who was born a predator, but if you knew her background, where she came from, you’d realize that she was quite the opposite. I wrote this story years ago. It was nominated for Spinetingler’s Best Short Story on the Web award. The crime and horror communities were both horrified and delighted by her. I realized that I needed to explore Henrietta’s character further. While writing the first book of Supergirls, I knew exactly where Henrietta had come from and where she was going. If you care to be reacquainted with her, feel free to grab Supergirls 2: Night without Stars.
And Mantra? Well, let’s just say Rhiannon is a good old fashioned wild card. The same for our protagonist in Awake, though you will meet her again. I have a longer story in mind, probably novella size, called Stark as Silk. She is hauntingly beautiful in the most deadliest of ways. In fact, she is the very person who inspires Velva (my drop dead gorgeous femme fatale in Wanted: Single Rose) to start her very own graveyard, but that’s another story, my friends, another story for another day.
As usual, thanks so much for reading.
Until we meet again,
~ Mav
About the Author
Mav Skye does not have dead bodies in her closet, though you may find a skeleton or two. If you examine the closet walls closely, you may find words scribbled in faded color crayon, a mantra of sorts. Her short stories have been published all over the web and have won several awards. She has just published her first full length horror novel, Wanted: Single Rose.
I’d love to hear from you. Hit me up!
@MavSkye
mavskye
www.mavskye.com
[email protected]
Also by Mav Skye
Stand Alone Novels
Wanted: Single Rose
Clown with a Hatchet Series (Coming soon!)
Girl Clown Hatchet
Chasing Clowns
Clown Apocalypse
Supergirls Series
Supergirls 1: Behind the Black Door
Supergirls 2: Night without Stars
Supergirls 3: Ghost of a Chance (Release later this year)
Tales to Chill Your Bones series:
Scarecrows
Witches
ShapeShifters
BunnyMan
Abyss
Tales to Chill Your Bones, Boxset 1-5
Graveyards
Deadly Women
Werewolves
Dolls
Short Stories
The Undistilled Sky
Harvester of Days
Bibliography
The Stories in this collection were first published in the following publications:
Pillow Talk, Beat to a Pulp, © 2010 by Jodi MacArthur
Pillow Talk was also nominated for Spinetinglers Best Short Story on the Web award, 2011. And then also in Beat to a Pulp: Round Two print anthology in 2012.
Mantra, Pulp Modern, © 2011 by Jodi MacArthur
Dead Sunset Red, Voluted Tales © 2014 by Mav Skye
Awake, Pulp Metal Magazine, © 2013 by Mav Skye