Halloween

1963

“It wants to hear a story.”

Marie looked up as she sat at the small dining table. The green mist rolled across the floor and she sighed.
“Tell me a story, my dear,” he said as he sat down opposite her. There was something different about tonight, she could feel it. “I know there’s something.”

That fateful moment…

“What can I tell you?” she asked, looking down at her clasped hands.
“You know what.” Marie nodded, she did know.
“There was a woman, in a cafe. She asked to sit near me because it was busy and I agreed,” she said. Her voice became more shaky as she spoke. “She said such horrible things… I just couldn’t take it any more.”
“You don’t have to justify yourself to me, Marie.”
“It’s just… what she said and what I did.”

“Excuse me, may I sit here?” Marie looked up at the woman and moved her bag as she nodded.
“Of course, yeah,” said Marie with a smile. The woman gave a tight-lipped smile back and sat down.
“I’m Rosa,” she introduced.
“Marie.”

Marie sipped at her coffee and brushed her hair out of her eyes, accidentally revealing the third on her forehead.
“You’re a freak,” she said, with disgust clear in her voice. Marie tried not to sigh, the best way to deal with this was by leaving as quickly as she could. “You have the sign of the devil on your head.” Marie almost wished it was more creative, she had heard that far too many times to count.

She tried to ignore her as she drank her coffee quickly, she was planning on leaving as soon as possible.
“If I were your mother, I’d have drowned you as a baby, imagine the shame and the horror,” Rosa said, shaking her head as she spoke. “I couldn’t have that in my family.”

And Marie remembered her mother, saying how grateful she should be for not abandoning her like many other mothers would have. And then her eighteenth…

Marie set her cup down, grabbed her bag and excused herself from the table.

“She followed me,” she told him, looking up as she spoke. “She followed me home and I just… when that happens it’s never usually good.”
“Continue, my dear,” he said softly. Edward reached across the table and took her hand.

Marie tried to shut the door behind her but a foot stopped it.
“Leave,” Marie yelled. Her home was where she was supposed to be safe and this woman had followed her to it. Marie put her weight against the door in hopes that Rosa would move her foot and leave her alone.

Rosa managed to push the door open and Marie took a step back. If she managed to get this woman to leave today, she’ll likely return.

And Marie was done with the insults and degradation.

“I don’t really remember what I did, I had just had enough of it,” she said. “There was a lot of blood.”
“Do you regret it?”
Marie shook her head. “I don’t think I do. And you kept talking about a fateful moment and when she pushed open that door… I was done with everything.”
“I know,” he said, smiling slightly. “You’re sick of it all.”

Marie nodded and watched as he stood up, still holding her hand in his own.
“Stand up, Marie,” he said. Was this it? She stood, shaking slightly. Noticing other figures in the room, she furrowed her brow. One was tall with striped clothes, another wore a dirty white clown suit and had a mangled jaw. “These are some of the people who have joined my little band of freaks, Marie.”

Looking back at him, she could see him brandishing a stiletto dagger in his other hand.
“Please be honest with me, will it hurt?” she asked. He kissed her softly for a moment.
“Only a little my dear.”

There was a piercing pain for a few moments.

And then nothing.