wait until midnight

Just after the moon ascended into the Stygian sky, sending unusually mundane beams of light across the earth, Maili kicked the silk sheets that were sticking to her clammy skin, off of her legs and let the frigid night air coming in from the open balcony doors wash over them. She had had another nightmare. And she was afraid. Not of the events that her sleeping brain had conjured up, but of the emotion that had been burning in her soul the minute she closed her eyes. The blinding anger that had seized her and caused her to do unspeakable things. She swung her legs off of her high mattress and retracted her foot quickly as it touched the burning cold stone. She slowly brought her foot back to the solid ground and pushed herself to stand.

 Anger. It was a new word. It wasn't supposed to exist. In fact it didn't exist. Anything that happened to you that might make you mad, it was expected of you to laugh it off, to let it go, move on. Maili had never once been able to quiet the red hot anger that churned in the pit of her stomach and burned in her chest. Once, when she was a small child she remembered having pushed a boy into the river after he politely told her that she looked like his pet rat. When his head surfaced, everyone surrounding the two of them stared at Maili disbelief and disappointment evident in their features. They avoided her like the plague for years thereafter. There were soft whispers that followed the girl around wherever she went. So she learned to hide her anger, to turn her face away when she felt the spark so that the fire in her eyes could not be seen. And over Maili's lifetime, it had built up inside her, every incident putting a little more pressure on the restraints she had given herself. And that's what caused her to wake up in the middle of the night at exactly 11:45 each night and walk through her town. She let her slender legs drag her along, her mind very far from her body. She walked though the halls of the fortress that provided shelter to the wealthy men and woman of the village, her nightdress rippling around her body in the air the was softly blown through the arches in the sturdy building. She walked though the bolted doors and on to the unkempt green the sloped into the cluster of hastily thrown together buildings that was where the impoverished portion of the society resided. 

She would walk barefoot over the uneven cobblestones. The soles of her feet were calloused from the many nights she repeated the same steps. The moonlight barely shone through clouds that sailed up above. She walked straight through the town looking forward and her gaze never faltered. Had anyone seen her they might have cried out in fear, screaming about a ghost. They would see the young woman staring at the air in front of her, seemingly at nothing, but so purposeful they would have doubted themselves. They would see her pale gown fluttering around her and her nimble fingers clenched in a fist. It only took a few moments before Maili reached the other side of the town. Dew stained grass tickled her feet and dampened her dress. She would walk a few more steps west, out of the sight of the village deeper into the field that lay beyond it, and then pick up a rusted shovel that lay, concealed in bushes, and start digging. She would dig and dig and dig until the smallest trickle of light could be seen grasping for the open sky. Then she would set the shovel down and wipe the sweat off of her forehead. She would gaze down at the perfectly rectangular, human sized, hole she had dug and relax her shoulders. Then she would burn a name in the ground above the hole. A message, a warning. The name of a tormentor, the name of someone who had angered her. And with a low growl, for she could do nothing else, she would turn on her heel and sprint back the fortress, faster than she had come with muscled tensed and sight tinged red. By the time she had reached her room, the sun had started to appear over the distant mountains. She would throw herself back into her bed, a little of the pressure relieved and would tell herself that it was all she could do. The holes she had dug in her anger had to remain empty and useless. 

 That was until an evening in October when Maili was sitting on a stone bench gazing at the moonlight as it traveled over the mountains. She closed her eyes and inhaled the sent of the earth and the sky and felt herself relax for the first time in many years and she stayed relaxed until she felt a body appear next to her. She opened one eye and suspiciously gazed at the boy who had sat next to her. Andrew. The boy she had pushed into the river many years ago had been trying to make amends with Maili since the day she had lost her cool, but every time he did, something more horrible each time came out of his mouth. First is was telling her that she was a coward, then came the insulting of her family, and after that there was the time that he sat on the roof top with her and pushed her off causing her to fall three stories down into a conveniently placed hay bail. That didn't stop her from receiving a few broken bones. She might have forgiven him had the look in his eyes not been so malicious when he let go of her hand. So she tensed herself when she saw him sitting beside her now.

 "Maili" he greeted, a smug tone to his already annoying voice. She closed her eye again and grunted.

 "Hello monster" he stood and held out his hand for her,

 "Fair lady, won't you let me walk with you to your stable? I'm sure you can't wait to be back home." And there it was. The tormenting. She ignored his hand and pushed her self off of the bench, cursing her legs for not being able to walk faster. Andrew followed her. She found her self walking out of the fortress her brain far away again and she squeezed eyes shut at Andrew's harsh words. Her vision became blurry as tears pricked her eyes. She let her legs guide her body down the lawn of the ginormous building behind her. Andrew trailed along as he laughed, amusing himself at her dispense. When they reached a fence Maili looked around seemingly lost for a moment and Andrew took the opportunity to pick up a rotted board riddled with nails and swing it at the girl. Maili had started walking again just a second too late and the edge of the board sliced her arm. She screamed in pain and she felt warm, sticky blood start to flow down from the wound. She lifted her hand to hurt the man before her, but he caught her fist. 

"Ah, ah, ah," he teased, "that's not very nice is it?" Maili's vision turned red and she started running through the village again, the cut on her arm stinging like the devil. Andrew followed her all the way through town until they reached the field, damp from rain, and buzzing with life. As Maili stepped into it, Andrew faltered.

 "Maili, we're not supposed to go over here," he whispered. And Maili smiled sickly. She had heard fear in his voice and she knew, for the first time in her life she had the upper hand. This information filled the girl with malice and relief. 

"Oh Andrew," she taunted, "nothing is going to happen to me." She purposely left Andrew out of the reassurance for she sure as hell would not let him leave unmarked if at all. He tentatively stepped over the fence on the edge of town and followed the suddenly confident and almost amused girl.

 He couldn't see in the dark. Everything around him was invisible except for the girls glowing eyes which he was following. But Maili knew exactly where she was. She had walked this path a million times. She could sense the trees and the shift in the earth as she started down the slope of a hill. Andrew followed the girl slowly, his confident demeanor faltering as he wasn't sure where he was. Maili suddenly halted and turned to him with a sadistic grin on her face. Andrew shivered.

 "Now Andrew," She sang," all those things you did to me, were they nice?" Andrew looked at her In surprise.

 "No," he mumbled. She smiled again.

 "And the times you hurt me, did it feel good?" Andrew took a minute to think and the answered hesitantly. 

"Yes" her eyes suddenly gained an evil glint to them that he'd never seen before. "Good," she muttered," that makes it a whole lot easier to do this." And with her last word, in one swift movement, she picked up a shovel without even having to see it as she had done so many night before, and swung it at the mans head. He didn't see it coming until it was too late. His vision slowly began to tunnel. Before he hit the ground he looked behind Maili and saw his name burned brightly into the earth above patch of darkness over and over and over again.

 Maili's chest was heaving and she felt an enormous amount of pride at the unconscious body at her feet.

 "You are a monster," she whispered at him, "for years you made me feel like I was a curse, like I didn't belong." Her voice broke but only for a moment. Then her gaze hardened again and she continued.

 "I want you to feel what you did to me, I want you to pay for everything you have done!" Her whispers slowly became growls as she heard a whisper in her head.  

Revenge. You want revenge. 

Maili didn't know what the word meant but she knew it was exactly what she wanted. She leaned down close to Andrew's head and whispered softly in his ear.

 "I want revenge." 

Maili was aware of the consequences of her next move. She was so full of anger and hate. She was crying softly and harshly all at once, her vision was tainted red and her heart hurt, damn did it hurt. It felt like it was splitting in two. Maili doubled over as she let out a low scream. She picked up the shovel and placed the sharp end above Andrews heart. She stopped for a moment to listen to her own heart beat. To ask it if it agreed with her division. It did. All it took was the memory of his hateful eyes as he let go of her hand before she fell, and the burning of the nails that had scratched her skin only minutes before for her to drive the shovel into the mans heart. With superhuman strength she pushed the still body into the hole that lay behind her and let out angry, gasping sobs. She knealed by the top of the grave and burned a word over and over and over into the grass until her fingers were scorched and the grass said a clear message. She stood up and with the little voice whispering in her ear,

Revenge, revenge, revenge, 

She left the body in the ground and dragged herself away into the night. The air around her was the devil and in that moment the girl was too. 

They say she turned into the devil and she was never seen again. But her emotions lingered. You could taste the anger and the blood in the air. You could feel the hate. When the town awoke the next morning, with a shrill call from a barking dog, they followed the animal to the field where they found a deep hole the ground with a mauled body inside and the word Revenge burned into the soft grass over and over and over again.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A amazing tale written. You create dangerous situation and interesting character and story line. Your detailed description made the story come alive for the reader. I liked the ending. A outstanding tale.
Coyote

[Izzy L.]

OMG, this is such a good story! I love it so much! I was reading it and honestly got a little scared that she was going to come up behind me and kill me for my sins. The detail is soooo good and I couldn't take my eyes off of the story. If you're ever looking to continue a short story, you should defiantly continue this one because I am hooked and want to read more! It's soooo good. And creepy. And detailed. And scary. lol thanks fro sharing it!