Beware the Rust Maidens - Tribute Story

Beware the Rust Maidens

Rumour has it Cleveland had these creatures they call the 'Rust Maidens'.

I don't know how it came to be, or whatever they existed or not. They claim they were women out there who had a non-human appearance. Reports spread over the papers like a plague, to warn about the horrors of the imps that walk upon the earth. They blamed the steel mill factories for summoning such creatures.

I placed a newspaper cutting on the corkboard with a threaded pin. I sat on the bed with legs crossed, with headphones on my ears. I listened to 'American Girl' by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, while I viewed a collection of cuttings on the board. They almost covered the wall of my bedroom. To me, everything about the Rust Maidens was art.

I drove over to the motel, which appeared deserted and grubby. It was a popular spot for tourists to stay before they embarked on a journey to find the maidens. I inserted a key into a door and went in. The room looked reasonably clean. It was not modern and was like it was built for a nuclear family. The bed was very firm. I wasn't sure if I would get back pain from the stiff mattress, or get pinched in the foot by the gross bed bugs.

I switched on the TV, and the screen turned on to the news. It was not hard to find local news on it. Almost instant. There, as expected, they talked about the Rust Maidens. The current sightings of these monsters, and the politics that surrounded them.

A conspiracy theorist interviewed spoke of many features that the maidens would have. "They have the skin of rusted metal," he said with his arms out. "They stick all those scraps of metal into them, and I think there's glass on them too." He then leaned over with lowered brows and tipped his finger before continuing. "But, most of the witnesses I spoke to, they pour a lot of water from their bodies. They are like mutants who came from a sunken ship!!"

The interview concluded with him saying the government was working hard to remove every trace of the maidens. With that remark and from the research I made, time was running out. The purpose of my trip was to face a rust maiden in person. Ask her questions about her experiences. If they were hostile, allow her to strike me down. Anything for a snapshot of their beautiful exterior.

The next morning I parked somewhere on the road of Denton Street. The reports claimed it was the habitat of the maidens. It was barren with cleared houses, all with dirty exteriors and overgrown gardens. A cluster of people strolled through the streets, and they flashed with their cameras. It was like I walked into a movie set. A desolate town in the greyness of poverty, with people eager to sample its decaying beauty.

I walked around the place, trying to be careful of any weirdos or workers who try to scare us off. For what it was claimed to be a myth, was a secret people were trying to bury it out of its existence. I received tips from other helpful travellers. They spoke of their roundabouts, how they diet on food, or rather the types of metals they would absorb. They tend to hang out at the construction sites and cause grief for the workers there.

But then a person came out to me. "Hey, Hey," he said. He looked as if he was out for far too long. He looked scruffy, presumably from too much spying. "There's a rumour, yeah? The rumour is that the rust maidens were originally human."

"Wait," I said as I stepped back. It was hard for me to look into his bright crazy eyes. "You saying they were once, human?"

"Yeah!" he nodded with his near-white teeth. "They wrapped themselves in bandages to stop the liquids pouring out of their skins. Then they appeared with bits of metal stuck to them. If this is true then...wicked!"

The trip was more frightening than what I have thought. The people were curious about the maidens. The others were bitter, even from the residents that they wanted them and the monsters to perish from their damned land. The maidens, the ones who soaked the nutrients of their society. The factory near to the street would cast a thunderous cloud of uncertainty, over the foiled structures of the godforsaken town.