Devil

-44-

-Goddess-

I was swinging on the swing set while my oldest sibling, Antonio, pushed me. My mother had to run across the street to get us some cough medicine and trusted us to behave. After all, there were other parents there and kids, and my mom had even talked to another about watching us temporarily.

I couldn't recall why my mom didn't just take us with her to go to the pharmacy, but I do recall a few moments after her leaving, an oddly shaped woman approaching us. If it had been a man, I'm sure the lady would have taken us away, that my mother trusted to protect us as she watched her own kids. But this lady looked the image of harmless, and even had two more kids by her side.

"Emily, Marissa, go play," she pointed to the playground, and the kids went wild. I slowed to a stop with my swinging and whispered to my brother. "That lady looks funny."

"Don't say that," he snapped. "She's just as human as anyone else. That's rude, Goddess."

"Sorry," I whispered, continuing to kick my legs as I curiously watched the woman approach Antonio and I. Sometimes Antonio acted like he was grown, and I hated it because he was a kid too. "Do you know her?" I whispered to him, but the lady was already in front of us with a large smile. The scent of food wafted off of her and she crouched down in front of us.

"Now what's y'all's name?" she had a strong Southern drawl, but I had never met anyone that sounded like her before.

"Who are you?" my brother asked in a protective voice. I peered at the woman. She didn't look like the strangers they showed in the boring power points at school and she had kids with her.

"Antonio, stop being rude to the lady. I'm Goddess and he's Antonio," I giggled.

"I bet you're wondering why I look funny," the lady huffed, wiggling her body a bit with an amused expression. Antonio and I shared a look. "Yes," I turned excitedly towards her, wondering what she would say.

"Well, it's because I was kidnapped as a child. I tried to escape out of the moving van and I was shut in the door as I was dragged across the street at 50 miles per hour," she glared down at us.

Antonio stiffened besides me.

"We're gonna go play somewhere else now."

The woman reached to grab at us but Antonio snatched my hand and started towards the lady who was set to watch us. He immediately told her what had happened and the lady watched us closely, the oddly shaped lady nowhere in sight.

"Antonio, I have to pee," I whined to him.

"Do you want that lady to get you? I'm not letting you go alone," he huffed. "Well, come with me then. Sometimes Mommy lets you come into the bathroom with us. C'mon." I quickly grabbed his hand and snuck away from the woman set to watch us. We quickly made it to the restroom and I squiggled around, trying to hold my bladder.

"Antonio," I whined.

He fearfully looked at the woman's bathroom. "But I might turn into a girl if I go in there. That's what one of the boys said at school," he argued.

"Fine," I burst in and told him to just watch the doorway for when I come out.

I was heading into a stall when suddenly the old woman came out of another and grabbed me. I started hitting and kicking, not realizing I was peeing myself until she dropped me in my own puddle of waste. She slammed my back onto the ground and pulled my bottoms down.