The Touch

Part III

Moira walked in and heard the door shut behind her. She didn't dare turn around. She was ordered to go to the living room. Usually that was her cousins' territory, for watching cartoons, so they must've been put to bed already. She fell onto the couch, as sapped of energy as Worm was. She then saw her aunt's face. It wasn't livid, but Moira was aware that on the inside she was burning with fury. Her face emotionless and cold as steel, and she was using it to cut into Moira's state of being.

"Who was that boy?"asked Aunt Jackie, who was rubbing her eyes in frustration. "So all this time when I entrusted you the responsibility of going outside and not being a problem, you thought you could get romantic with some loser you picked off the street? Don't you get it? You can never be loved, you are a demon. Only capable of killing. Do you really think wearing gloves makes you normal?"

The vile woman's niece made no attempt to answer her questions.

"No answer, huh? Oh wait, I know! It makes total sense! The clothes, dyed hair, the piercings- he's obviously a criminal. Thought you could find friendship by joining a gang, did you now? Let me guess, in exchange for acting all dreamy, and like he 'cares', you kill who he tells you to. Jesus, Moira! Why do I have you in my house? Why do you even exist? You are literal scum, I can't believe I share blood with a demon, a modern day Lilith! Go to the basement, your pit. Now."

"No," Moira mumbled.

Aunt Jackie was visibly taken aback. "Excuse me? Was that an actual 'no' I just heard?"

"No. I'm not going down there. Ever again. My friend is on his way back to pick me up. I plan to go with him."

"Threaten me, will you now..." her aunt said silently. A breath later she cackled loudly, and lunged towards the kitchen. Moira knew exactly what she was going for, and caught up to her. She grabbed her aunt from behind and threw her down to the floor, pinning her by the throat.

Moira thought of all the time she spent at this house. All the times she was treated as poison, when she was tricked by her aunt to kill that kitten in front of cousins, when she broke curfew and was handcuffed and flogged with a 6 ft whip, kept in the kitchen cabinet. This all ends now, thought Moira, as she ripped off her left glove with her teeth. She lowered her bare hand to Jackies sniveling face. Just as the hand was going to make contact, she screamed-

"Do it! Kill me! Prove me right, prove me that's all you can do, you fucking witch! What are you waiting for, send me to my brother! Send me to my sister-in-law! All your other fucking victims too!"

This made Moira pause, and ask, "Wait, what do you-

"Your mother, the doctor, and 4 nurses- 4 nurses all died bringing you into this world. The staff, oh they were lucky. They just dropped to the floor. Your mother, God bless her soul, oh it was horrific. You, her own child, how could you do that to her. When we looked at her-" she gagged, possibly because of the crying in fear of losing her own life or recounting of her sister-In-law's death. "It was as if she burnt to a crisp! So horrible, skin and bones like paper, you turned your mother into a-a- a mummy! Not the Egyp- oh you know what I mean!" Jackie kept on bawling.

"But your father, my brother, he was naive. He couldn't believe that his child, this sweet innocent child could be abandoned. Not Casey Byrne, not at all. Casey would never do such a thing! And for a while, it seemed like he was right! Even I was convinced. I came to visit and it was such a happy sight, father and daughter playing, best friends. You were only two. It was time for dinner, and he stopped playing. He asked you to stop as well but you refused. You know what happened to my beloved brother that day? You know what you did to Casey? You touched him you mother fu-"

"You talk too much," Moira said, slapping her hand on Jackie's mouth. She watched as how her full, red hair dwindled and became white as ghost. She saw her perfect skin go loose and fall, and layers peeled off, dying one by one. Her big brown eyes, staring at Moira, faded and then clouded over, with the whites turning a dull green. It was about to be over, until Moira heard a "Mommy?"