Terror Tales

They're, There, Mother

     She had killed them, she had killed them both. She had held their small flailing frames beneath the water until they became still and neither float nor sank. Caught within the weightlessness limbo of the surface and the bottom of the lake. Then she had walked away and left them there. There had been no conflict and it hadn't been done a moment of anger, no, it was purposeful. Yes, purposeful. They were her children, but she just wanted them gone, she just want to be free of them, to start her life anew. Free from the bonds of motherhood and the responsibilities it held on her. Little Mary had been seven at the time and Jacob had been only three. They had both loved and trusted their mother unconditionally as children will. So when she had lead Mary by the hand as she carried little Jacob out into the water down the boat ramp that night they didn't even think to question it, they were with their mother.

      That had been many years ago for she had been on death row alone for the past nineteen years. Now she just wanted her children back, to show everyone they were wrong. She had never been able to convince herself they were really dead, that the things people were saying and said that she did, were real. To her it was some sort of mass conspiracy against her. That is why she pleaded not guilty at the trial. The problem was that no matter how much she tried to convince herself and others of her innocence, she had been ultimately found guilty of murdering them, and sentenced to death. She just knew that if she could get out of here, then she could find them, she could, she knew it. This amalgamation of the reality she sat in and the delusional dream she had constructed is oddly what held her together, and she awaited the outcome.

      Then it came, today was the day. The day she had been excited about and afraid of all at the same time. Two burly guards entered her cell, sat her down and began cutting off her hair with oversized scissors. She said nothing. She just stared blankly forward, watching as the strands of silvery hair fell in front of her, feeling them softly land upon her lap. She just kept thinking that when she got to hell, that God would know that she hadn't done this horrible thing and he would then take her to heaven. Then the guards began to roughly shave her head, still she uttered not a word. Once completed they walked her down a long, long hall, newly adored the chains around her ankles clanged against the hard concrete as she took each and every step and her hands were shackled firmly in front of her. There at the end of the hall, she could see there was door sitting open. Two guards with masks stood as sentries on each side, their eyes glowing within the sewn holes of the black fabric. She never faltered, not once. Boldly she walked in staring at the archaic looking wooden chair centered within the room. One of the guards turned her slowly and she found herself staring into a mirror. Obviously a two way, so those who accused her could see her without having to actually face her. One of the masked guards knelt and removed the shackles from her hands and feet, then sat her down in the chair. He then began to re-shackle her hands to the armrests, while the other guard placed a wet sponge on her now clean shaven head, then trapped it between her and a copper helmet he placed on top. The water ran down into her eyes as he tightened the helmet to her, but she never even blinked. Then once she was bound tightly they both moved back where she could see them in front of her and one asked if she wanted to say anything. She looked at him and said "I want to find my children."

     The guards then moved out of her sight and she heard the word "Ready" Then the lights went dark and she felt an intense pain run through the course of her. Then it was quiet and there was nothing. Then a shaft of light came down from above her brilliant, and bright, turning on its own axis working its way toward her. She then felt as though she were rising, higher and higher, as if she were weightless. She then could hear music playing, beautiful music. Then again it was quiet. She found herself standing alone, everything was without form and white around her and beautiful. Then something caught her eye, it seemed to be coming toward her she couldn't make it out at first, then she realized it was man. She touched her head and realized her hair was back her beautiful hair and she knew, she knew this must be heaven, she had been taken to heaven. She was right and she ran toward the figure, then stopped just before she got to him.

     "Thank you lord she said."

     "What is your wish?" he asked."

     "My wish?" she answered. "I want to find my children."

     "Then go, go my child, look for them and know, on the day that you find them you may return."

     "Thank you lord, thank you."

      Then within a flash she found herself standing waist deep in the water, she reached down and touched the cold liquid as she looked around. She knew this place? Why, she was on the old boat ramp, the very place where this whole nightmare had begun, she looked all around and she called out.

     "Mary, Mary, Jacob, Its mother, come to me."

     "Mary, Mary, Jacob, Its mother, come to me."

     The lord sat in his throne and gazed down upon her, watching her from heaven as little Mary and Jacob played beside him.