The Fallen Queen (Winner of the Write Way Award 2013) #Wattys2015 #MyWattysChoice #Featured

Chapter 14: The Nymph

"Have you been talking to your friend again?"

"What friend?" I pondered. I did not have friends.

"You know what I mean. The ghost."

"Ana?"

"Are you playing dumb with me?"

"No..."

"Yes, Ana. Are there other ghosts in the house apart from her?"

"Maybe, sometimes I think so, but other times I think I am dreaming. In any case, I only talk to Ana," I replied.

"What? There are other ghosts?"

"Maybe, but I don't know them."

"I heard a voice," she said. She looked shocked; she looked fragile. "There were people laughing."

She was trembling. I felt sympathy for her. I did not understand her, but I felt sympathy.

"Do you know of any ghosts having to do with water or snakes?" she asked, shaking my shoulders.

"Water? Those are not ghosts. They are nymphs. I told you I had seen mermaids, but they were nymphs. You saw them too?" I suddenly became excited and happy to have something in common to share with my mother.

"They are evil. Evil is near. Why are you smiling?" She was not afraid anymore. She was angry. At me.

"You are the evil one. You are the one attracting these creatures. Evil only brings evil," she said. She looked at my dad and added, "What will we do with her? We need to bring her to the pastor. He might know how we can purify that lost child."

Could that be true? Even Daddy said mermaids were the creatures of the devil. If they were, nymphs certainly were too. I could not be sure what Ana was either. Mother said she was a ghost. I am quite sure ghosts were not good either. Oh, Lord! What have I done? I talked with the devil and he seduced me into his mischievous play.

"You have to do something with her," my mother said to the pastor after the following Sunday's mass. Daddy, Jeremy, and Audrey were waiting for us at Brother Richard's house where we were invited for dinner. "I have her praying for hours every night, reading nothing but the Bible, but she is still evil!"

"Sister Angie, she is only a child."

"She doesn't accept the word of God. She keeps talking to demons. And now they are attacking us!"

"Are you sure the demons have anything to do with her?"

"Yes! You think I am crazy, don't you? She is evil. She summons them. She admits it. She says they are her friends!"

"Marie, do you have anything to say?" asked the pastor bending down in front of me so our heads would be at the same height.

I said nothing.

"All right," said the pastor. "I will put oil on her head and say a few prayers. I need to see someone else first though, so if you could kindly wait outside the office for a while."

My mother grabbed me by the arm and brought me outside. We sat in the church pews. I did not like those seats. If we sat on them too long, it hurt. They were so hard. None of them matched each other either. It was as if they salvaged them from Catholic churches that were throwing them out. Some were a light wood color, others darker. They were all of different shapes, boxy or triangular.

I had a hat. My mother said that when she was a kid, she had to go to church with a hat and gloves. I did not wear gloves, but I was quite fond of my hat. It had a big white flower on it. It went with my floral princess dress.