The Child of Keigman

The Festival

{Author's note: This chapter contains violence, along with alluding to guns later in the chapter. Reader Discretion is Advised.}

It was a time of great joy!

The towns Virginity Festival was in full swing. School had been cancelled for the week, and the kids were encouraged to frolic and have fun. Mary had joined her friends out in the field nearby her house and was having a truly fun time! Some kids where picking wildflowers and turning them into crowns and assorted jewelry and others, like Mary, were dancing and singings songs of the days of old.

Then, as Mary danced and sung, she began to feel.....weird. Not a bad kind of weird, but a strange kind that made her body feel light and full of air, like she was a hot air balloon ready to fly up into the sky. The sounds of the voices around her dimmed and she felt like she was already off the ground. All she could hear was her own voice, and even that was slightly dull.

"Mary!" Mother cried out, holding her daughter.

Mary sat up, having been laid down on the ground with her head in her mother's lap. Father had rushed over with some water in a cup, which she took and drank.

"Are you alright, dear?" Father asked, placing his hand upon her forehead to make sure she wasn't running a fever.

"I'm ok!!" Mary tried to reassure them.

"Well, she isn't running a fever. That's good." Mother says, gently grabbing Mary and laying her back down.

"where is everyone else?" mary had noticed that the field was empty other than the three of them.

"They went home after getting us. They're getting ready for tonight." Father responded, standing up.

"You think she can still go?" Mother asked.

"Honestly, if she just fainted, that's no reason to keep her home. We all have to go, and no one would be able to watch her."

"You feel up to it, pumpkin?" Mother asked Mary, who nodded in response. 

 The family then rose, walking out of the field. It was then that Mary noticed the sun looked like it was going to set son, realizing then just how long she was out for.

It was later that night, Mother and Father were in the living room, waiting for Mary.  She was mostly dressed, the finishing touch being the Fertility Veil all female virgins wore to the festival. She finished up, walking out into the living room and noticing in shock that her mother also wore a Fertility Veil.

"Mommy?" Mary was stunned, "But...then how did i...?"

"You were a special case, sweetheart." Mother simply responded sweetly, receiving a kiss on the cheek from Father.

The family then left the home, with Father locking the door behind them.

As the family got to the town square, the festival was in full swing. Singing, dancing, storytelling, everything was so amazing! Mary was quickly yanked away from her parents by Harriet and Penny, who each wore their own Fertility Veils. They pulled her to where the rest of the kids where, her swiftly joining in on their dancing. 

She was having a great time, taking a break every now and then to drink water on her Father's orders. One time, as she drank after a particularly demanding dance, she heard something.

It was thud, along with faint weeping. 

Mary found her self immediately suspicious, and weaved through the joyful crowd to the source of the noise.

She began to feel the same way she did earlier, but felt more in control. She felt airy and floaty, but could still hear everything. Which aided her in finding where the noises came from.

It led her to a dark alleyway, where a young man had a woman cowering against the wall. The man held something odd. Mary remembered her teacher talking about those things. They were called guns.

He was pointing it at the poor woman, who was whimpering in terror.

"hey!" Mary called out. 

To her, her voice sounded so far away. Like someone else was speaking for her.

"What's it to you, kid?!" The man turned around, pointing the gun at her. 

The woman attempted to try and get his attention again, with him socking her in the face. She fell to the floor, nose bleeding.

Mary was frozen in fear as the man approached her, putting the against her forehead.

"what's wrong, kid? That fuckin bravery left ya?" He taunted, laughing as Mary could only stare up at him.

At that moment, Mary felt that feeling. The same one from just moments before, but stronger. Stronger than it was in the field. Mary felt at that moment she would fly up into the heavens and just soar. Her feet felt like they left the ground, too. She felt her arms raise up, almost like angel's wings. A smile filled her face as everything seemed to just feel alright. She wasn't afraid anymore of the man, for he could not harm her.

The man stared at her confused before he suddenly dropped his gun. The woman had gotten up as well, standing behind him. She glanced just past him at Mary, who could only smile at her. The blood from her nose wasn't there anymore, just a small trail of dried blood.

Suddenly, Mary began to laugh. This laugh wasn't hers. She was the doing it, but it wasn't hers to laugh. 

"Jesus Christ.." The man muttered out.

"Jesus is not here for you." The woman behind him chimed in. 

The man jerked around to face the woman, prompting Mary to slowly turn around and walk away.  As she walked, the sounds of the man and the woman and the festival just kept getting quieter as the world around her got dark. 

"mary!" Her mother called.

Mary jolted up, retrained by her seatbelt.

"i told you, dear, we should've let her take a nap earlier!" Her father chuckled, turning around to look at his daughter. 

Mary looked around, noticing she was in the backseat of the family car. It was dark out, with the quiet hum of the radio being the only thing she could think of.

"You hungry, hun? Momma and I were talking about stopping for some food here soon."

"yea...I'm hungry.." Mary could barely speak with how groggy she felt.

"it's not gonna be for like, another hour though. You can go back to sleep, we'll wake you up!" 

Mary nodded in response and curled up against the window, already feeling herself drift back to sleep.