Blood Moon

House of Hell

Running down the cracked sidewalk, Mary felt a change overtake her. After meeting Luna, she felt like a stranger to her surroundings. Everything organic welcomed her; Though the houses, road, and fences became foreign.

As she approached the small house, she thought of how pretty it must look to the outside world, with its little flower gardens, now dead or dying, it's beautiful trees, the small Oke she had planted two years ago given to her by her late grandmother as a Jr. High graduation gift. The old wooden door, the slightly dingy windows, the small cracks in the pavement, and reminded Mary of an elderly man's face.

Entering a giant headache began to flare in her skull. There were dirty dishes everywhere; it smelled of cigarettes and piss. Her other brother, Matthew, sat his eighteen-year-old ass on a grimy sofa, his once blond hair all shaven to the grain of his ugly skull, a pile of cigarette butts in a china bowl. His grey eye's fixed on the T.V.

Mary lost it, "Get up!" She shouted. Matthew lethargically turned, "Why?" He said. She turned red, her fist clenched, could he not see the filth he was wallowing in? She breathed, " Matthew, when mom comes home, she is going to kill you, come on, we got to clean this up!"  Matthew pulled his reclined chair up to a sitting position, "No, we're gonna both be in trouble. You came home late." Mary frantically picked up the dishes and put them in the sink that was already too full, "I'll get in trouble! You didn't go to school at all!"  Matthew took a drag, "Didn't need to, I dropped out."  Mary turned on the faucet, "Of course you did." she said, " Matthew quits everything except being a tumor on the household." He leaped out of his chair and stormed into the kitchen. He grabbed her arm sending a cup flying in the air, "Listen here bitch!" he shouted over the breaking glass, "I don't give a fuck if you wanna be mommies little angel, but you need to stop being such a brat, your life isn't that hard."  She jerked away.  Matthew grabbed her wrist, holding his cigarette over her, forearm, "You want another scar?." Mary yelled in pain. She heard the door open, her headache got worse. A female voice entered the room.

The pair turned, Mary expecting to see her mother; instead, there stood a girl with beautiful with long, blond hair. Beside her was a tall, gangly boy in complete camo, his head shaved close to the scalp. He looked over ar Mary and smirked, "So is that Mary? The Christian one?"  Matthew nodded, letting go of her forearm. The boy laughed and pointed to her now stained uniform. "Look, she's really pure!" the party laughed, Mary smiled weakly. If he had said that about two years ago she would have agreed but now, everything had just changed.

The girl cut in, "She's ain't pure she a slut!" The tall boy's head turned. The girl giggled, "I had to go to that place, all those girls are either chase maidens for the lord, or they bang the priests," the trio laughed again. Mary's arm throbbed, "I don't do any of that I-"  Matthew cut her off, "Yeah, she just bangs the kids from the public school." Her face grew hot, "I'm a virgin!" The boy rolled his eyes.  Matthew laced up his army boots, "Who cares it's just a joke." The gangly boy opened up the door, and the trio left.

Mary's eyes started to water as she began to clean up the rest of the mess.

She heard a door open,

"Is he gone?"

"Yes,"

Luke walked out of the bedroom. By the age of thirteen, he had grown to hight of most grown men though his face remained boyish. His hair, a coppery color, sat unkempt on his oval head. His new black shirt did not fit him; Mary could already see his stomach poking out from the bottom. She closed her eyes, knowing that Mom would once again lecture him on his weight.  His eyes wandered to the sink, "I can do those." he said. Mary   dumped the ashes into the trash,

"How was school?"

"Hell, you?"

"The same."

"They might kick me out of school."

Marry placed the ash-covered bowl in the soapy water.

"Why?"

"I can't fit the uniform anymore."

He signed rinsing the bowl. Mary took out the broom, and the two continued in silence.