Dark Hedges

The Meat Contradiction

Why do people kill themselves?

He was eight when death first brushed his face. Her cool touch, her dark figure and merciless ways stayed in his mind. She lurked in the shadows, patiently waiting for him.

"Hey! Hey, you!"

The voice was high-pitched and slightly off-putting. It took a few more tries before Teddy understood it was calling out to him and when he turned to face the owner of those cries, he couldn't help but be somewhat startled.

He had seen that woman before, during the Victorian Dreams Ball. Back then, she wore a grossly puffy dress and sported a face full of ghoulish makeup that made her look like the Queen of the Goblins. Now, out of all that paraphernalia and lit by the gentle glow of day, she might have looked like any other woman one might pass on the street.

Except she now wore a long black skirt and a white blazer that, paired with the flowery hat that crowned her head, made her look like someone's demented aunt at a Mary Poppins convention. The woman waved her right hand high in the air and Teddy's heart skipped a beat when he saw her holding a gun with her left one.

"Yoo-hoo!" she called again, toing and froing along with the soft breeze.

"Are you talking to me?" he asked, approaching the woman with hesitant steps.

"Yoo-hoo," she repeated, lowering her arm and letting out another cackle. "Hello, child. I remember you, You're the colourful young man who wore that whimsical costume during the Victorian Dreams night, aren't you?"

In spite of the gun in her hand, the woman's voice didn't seem threatening or even mocking. Instead, she seemed rather calm, happy even at the sight of him. Swallowing, Teddy nodded, his lips tightly shut, afraid of speaking the wrong word.

"How delightful to meet you here. I was certain the school would be deserted, you know," she lowered her voice into a whisper and approached him, her right hand covering the left side of her mouth, "because of the whole suicide affair."

Teddy quivered at the words, but the woman seemed to pay no attention to his discomfort and simply carried on.

"Oh, the other parents, they refuse to talk about the matter, but not me. If we refuse to talk about such heartache, how can we possibly face the hardships this cold world has to offer? I shudder at the thought."

Teddy's eyes travelled the woman's frame, trying to find something in her that proved slightly less unsettling. He couldn't. He watched as she walked over to a small table on her left and cleaned her gun, humming absentmindedly, hey eyes only paying half-attention to her hands.

Tremors punctuated every syllable in his words. "Forgive me, miss..."

She interrupted him with a piercing voice, her entire face lit up at the sound of his words. "Miss, oh bless your heart, child," she said, her free hand pressing against her inflated chest. "Mrs. Camilla Harley Rutherford. I'm the mother of your little friend, Renata."

Teddy thought he could actually feel the bile leaving his liver and travelling upwards, all the way to his tongue. The bitter taste took over his mouth and suddenly, the strong desire to throw up became far too obvious to ignore.

"Ah yes, Renata, such a sweet girl, indeed" he said, a fictitious smile accompanying his fictitious words.

"She is quite the cruel little bitch, isn't she?"

Mrs. Rutherford's words made Teddy choke on his own saliva. Coughing and bending, he tried to make sense of the woman's statement. His eyes went to her grinning face, searching for any trace of irony or deceit, but found only clarity and straightforwardness.