crybaby

Chapter 1: Crybaby

On August 4th, 1964, at 9:15 am in Queens, New York Hospital, a small crying baby girl was born to John and Mary Martinez. Mary was beautiful with long blond hair piled on top of her head, while John was a tall, lanky man with dark hair. They already had an older son, Jonathan, or Jon Jr. However, that morning when the baby was born, John was nowhere in sight. It was just Mary and Jon Jr. present.

As Mary gave one final push, the doctors pulled the baby away. Mary groaned, "Ugh, what a crybaby, Jon dear."

"Yes, mother?" Jon responded.

"Will you please light my cigarette for me?"

Jon pulled a small red lighter from his pocket and lit her cigarette. Afterwards, he slipped the lighter back into his pocket and turned to a sheet of paper—her birth certificate. Beside it was a pen. Jon picked up the pen and began to scribble something on the paper. Once he was done, he placed the pen down and walked away. On the line for the baby's name, in big wonky letters, it read "CRYBABY." Soon, Crybaby was swaddled and handed back over to her mother, now peacefully asleep.

Suddenly, John, her father, busted through the door, breathing heavily. Without saying anything, the doctor handed John the birth certificate. He absentmindedly wrote his name before handing it back to the doctors. Picking up the baby from her mother, he gave her enough time to write her own name. But no one ever really acknowledged her name, so Crybaby it stood.

A few months later, Crybaby sat in her room, up in her little high chair, crying. Her mother stumbled into the room with a bowl and a brown bottle. She took a swig from the bottle before dropping the bowl in front of the howling Crybaby. Tears streamed down her face as she held her hands out as if reaching for something. Mary picked up the spoon with white gooey mush and forced it into Crybaby's mouth over and over until the bowl was finally empty. She took another long swig before picking Crybaby up and placing her on the floor beside her crib. Mary picked up the bowl and left the room, slamming the door, leaving poor Crybaby all alone, howling and wailing.

Suddenly, her tears began to fill the room, and her toys crawled towards her, laughing and pulling her hair, making fun of her until Crybaby sat in a small pool of her own tears. Then, an unknown woman walked into Crybaby's room. She gently picked Crybaby up and rocked her until the small child slowly fell asleep. The pool of tears began to fade, and her toys stood still. The woman placed Crybaby into her crib and quietly left the room.

Author's Note: One thing I'm not completely sure about and is never really confirmed is whether or not her father actually cared about her or the rest of her family. Also, one thing that is never shown is her father in the "Crybaby" music video when she gives birth. But I know that at some point, he needed to be there, so I made it like he was late, which gives the reader free roam to think about where he could have been. However, in the actual music video, no one else shows up. But I like to think that despite not showing it, Lilith, her guide, would probably have taken care of her, even though Lilith isn't really shown until "K-12," at least from what I know. If I am wrong, please tell me in the comments.