Slut. Whore. Skank. Easy. Sleaze. Hoe.
The words were almost like childhood nicknames; taunting words I had heard starting from 5th grade all the way until my senior year in high school. It wasn’t just because I had black underwear and Brad Pitts face plastered all over locker, no. there was other reasons, for starters I was radiant. Not cute or pretty or beautiful, I was radiant as a fresh white rose.
My Father called me Thana, which was a nickname that never made sense with my real name, but it made me feel special so I just went with it, that was, of course, before he bailed on my mother and I. After such a tragedy as that most good mothers would assure their children that it was most definitely not their faults their Father had left… But not my mother, she found every possible chance to remind me that it was my fault he was gone… I was Satan’s child, I was no good, I was pretty on the outside but evil and dark on this inside.
Cruel right? Sure, but on the other hand it was true, so true it hurt even to think about. No, I’m not saying this because all the years of her torment have made me think badly of myself. Her curses and spews had no effect on me at all. Sometimes I actually quite enjoyed to watch her make a fool out of herself, throw all her insecurities on me, hoping to break me down piece by piece. I always found it very entertaining almost-what’s the word? - Oh yes, delightful.
My father was the devil, of that I am quite certain.
Laugh if you want, but this is no joke. I’m not crazy; I don’t belong in an insane asylum, perhaps, a prison though. I knew my Father was Satan from the very moment I could recognize people and place names to them. Of course, I never really understood the meaning of that until I was in the first grade at an all Christian school, and the whole class learned about good and evil. Miss. Oakwood mentioned something about the devil. I raised my hand and asked her what a Devil was, some kids snickered, and others grew pale and shifted nervously in their chairs. Miss. Oakwood simply smiled patiently and explained that the Devil ruled H-E- double hockey sticks (as she put It) and he was a bad man who inflicted sin, temptation and hatred on people.
I wasn’t a professional or anything, but the way she said it sounded almost incorrect, although I didn’t say so. When I went home that day I waited for a chance to talk to Father alone, because even back then, when he was still around, Mother always had a hysterical cruel edge about her. Safe to say Father was my favorite parent. I told him what Miss. Oakwood had said about a man known as the Devil, Father’s eyes had seemed to grow ten shades darker as I explained, and his body appeared to cast an odd shadow shifting into different forms. The room grew dimmer, and cold and goose-bumps pricked my arms, as he leaned forward and smiled a melancholy, but dangerous smile.
“Don’t listen to her Charlotte. The woman is as crazy as a loon, and she certainly knows nothing about the Devil.”
That’s when I saw it; his face seemed to, flicker, transform almost, into something…inhuman. The very sight chilled me to the bone, but I didn’t retreat, and then the door opened and we heard mother come into the hall. The room lost its chill, gained its light, and Dad’s eyes went back to normal. But I never did forget his face when it changed, nor will I ever.
Second reason people think ill of me, is that boys seemed to flock around me like Seagulls at McDonalds. Partly because of my looks, but mostly because of who my Father is. It seems as if boys are attracted to the devil’s daughter. I also had this ability, no one knew about it except my two man-friends Tyler and Reese.
It was a gift from my Dad I assumed, and an odd one at that. I used it from time to time, a lot through high school, mostly for vengeful reasons. I could-with a lot of concentration and energy- will people’s souls from their body and manipulate them to do my biding. As far as I knew it wasn’t that dangerous if I didn’t keep their souls out too long. Since the body and the soul are two different things, I just simply willed their souls out, and therefore had the ability to command their beings to do whatever I pleased, and then when I got bored, or felt that the connection between their soul and I was weakening, I’d just will their soul/spirit thingy, back inside and BAM, it was as if nothing had happened to them.
