The Sea Below Her

It tears the earth and sun apart
But that's the way that I can win
A victim of your evil sin
New Order-Shellshock.

She was a madwoman. She cackled like a witch on acid. Her eyes looked cat like, yellow and narrow. Her body swayed to an undisclosed rhythm that only she could hear. It looked like a witching dance, one that only ever accompanied midnight. Heather's eyes widened as the sky above the Medusa thundered with yellow and black, clouds scattered and reconvened, circling around the witch that glared down at her. That witch was hideous but Heather had never known. She had trusted her too much. Medusa's feet clattered on the rocks beneath them, scattering tiny pebbles down the cliff face. They were prophetic pebbles foretelling the exact fate for Heather as she clung helplessly to the rocks at the witch's feet. Her hands were growing bloody and tired. With every passing second Heather slipped closer to the shattered rocks below and the ocean that crashed against them. Every time she tried to pull herself up she would slip further into the abyss. The yellow sky of dusk gave way to the black clouds of the storm until finally Heather could no longer see the heathen towering above her.

The clifftop had been the scene of deciphering whose strength would prevail. Before Heather had been taken there by the witch she had actually known her as Judith. Judith had been her Achilles heel, her competitor for Sam. They ducked and weaved and called down storms against one another while he played them off for his own immature amusement. He scoffed at their ability to back away from him. His conspiratorial grin as one left his apartment only just in time to not front the other weaved a web of intricacies and sexual betrayal. He had been the initial wizard that had spellbound them. He had been the wind that swept both of them to the cliff. The jagged rocks of California were no match for anybody of flesh and bone.

Judith stood gazing down at the jagged rocks for a long while. Filling herself with a sense of triumph. She knew that the difference between her and Heather had been so small. A waspish laugh escaped her lips. She emerged from the yellow sunset and walked into the black storm with its white lightening highlights not knowing the violent monster that had possessed her. Maybe she had deceived Heather, she was sure she had. She pitied the girl really. She should have known better but considering her finely honed interest in Sam she clearly never knew better anyway. Judith had taken her as a friend. The coffee breaks and girlish giggles were an attempt to assure her that the competition was over. Both women still stared conspiratorially at one another, occasionally catching one another off guard with a hardened look but they had buried the hatchet. It was unknown to Heather however that Judith had sharpened her knives.

Judith had organised to have coffee with Heather. The innocent girlish dribble of gossip and leg waxing anecdotes had filled Judith's car. Heather felt safe and allowed Judith to drive down the coast road. You never expect an attacker to be a woman. You always see the face of someone malignant as male, it was part of the sanctity of sisterhood. Any woman would help a woman in distress. But Judith was not a woman, she was a witch. Her hair was full of snakes, her eyes full of fire, her heart full of coal and the vengeance of a witch is a storm.

The storm rose up behind the car. The smell of the leather interior started to protrude into Heather's nose. The scent seemed sweet but moldy. The yellow sun set behind them as Judith drove further and further away from any sight of humanity. Her witching tongue slid against her lips as she concentrated on the road. Heather looked around her. She seemed to not be bothered by the remoteness of their surroundings. Judith wondered if she had been taken to a cliff before. She wondered if Heather could overpower her. She wondered if Sam was worth the hellish afterlife that was destined to follow. She wondered if the sunset would rob her of balance and send her plummeting her to her death as well. The plan was in concrete. It had taken months to execute. It was going to go ahead even with the doubts multiplying in Judith's mind. Those awful little doubts would not disperse until she heard fear in Heather raspy, pathetic gasps.

'You're mad Judith!' Heather exclaimed.

This took Judith slightly off guard and she looked at her sternly, quizzically for a long time before she reigned herself in and muttered

'I'm not what you think I am' before exclaiming a cloud of blue cigarette smoke into the small car.

'Then you're even madder than I thought'.

Judith's devilish grinned only made Heather erupt into laughter.

'Does Sam know you are mad?'

'Sam knows nothing. He doesn't even know me. That man would eat a beating heart if his quest for fresh blood was denied.'

'He has a new beating heart you know' responded Heather scowling.

'I know. I have no plans for her but I have a beautiful plan for the three of us',

'What's that?'

'You'll see' sneered Judith. Her teeth gleaming in the shine of the setting sun.

The shiny black Cadillac began to spurted like a chain smoker in a coughing fit. It mounted the hill perfectly driving closer to the edge. The gages on the dashboard lit up like a carnival and cascaded back down again when they reached the summit. A small car park lay spread out on the peak, offering itself to any car that passed by. Judith pulled into the car park with a grunt and a flood of petrol. She turned the key, pulling it out of the engine slowly and staring at it's metallic face reflecting her own. It seemed like forever before she turned to Heather, her eyes only just masking their contempt.

'I'm not what you think I am. I'm not really here. Come to the edge with me. I have something I want to show you' she said to her hoarsely.

Heather was wide eyed. Judith seemed wild, her eyes reflecting unattainable messages for the first time since their departure from the coffee lounge. She tentatively reached for the door handled and pulled it slowly. She had always feared Judith just a little. Not just because she had power over a man that she was in love with but because there always seemed to have been something darker in her, something that was untapped but ready to burst out with the tiniest stimulus. The door opened and Heather planted two feet flat on the gravel of the car park. She had no real reason to fear Judith. Her main fear was that she would steal her lover from her but those fears were no longer an issue. She had told Judith she had moved on regardless of who had him first and she truly meant it.

'Come on, I want to show you something' said Judith as the wind picked up and obscured their vision with fluttering manes of hair.

'Let's go walk along the edge'.

Heather followed behind her. Slowly they came closer and closer to the edge. The spray of salt and water filled the air and clashed with their faces. Heather looked down at the sand laying at her feet. The foot print that lay their seemed almost double the size of her own. It seemed like an animal print. It reminded her of the footprints that she would hunt for when she was a child outside the forest to prove that werewolves existed. The salt and water collided with her face once again, her hair whipped into her face. Her delicate hands went to grasped her mane to pull it back from her eyes and she looked at Judith. Her eyes were wide. Her eyes were narrow. Heather swallowed hard but before she finally pass the lump in her throat a swift thrust by the beast's hands sent her hurdling over the edge.

The witch cackled and snorted like she had found something particularly helpless crawling in her cauldron. The bubbling liquid below still heaving up salt and water onto them. Heather hung with desperate hands. There was little she could do, she had no way to pull herself up and the witch would merely push her back down again. The witch watched her, she grinned a grin that sent shivers down Heather's spine. The witch knelt down as snakes began to ravages throughout her hair and spiders began to emerge from the cuts that trailed across her arms. That witch turned her head to the side and stared at the pitiful creature clambering on the cliff face in front of her. This creature was so helpless. The witch had her vengeance, revenge was the easiest sin. The snakes encircled her throat as she turned her back on her pathetic prey. She was a huntress. She was a lion taking down a beautiful deer. But she knew she was no longer an animal of any description. She had become a beast.