Fairy (5 page)

So she lay on her back, staring at the ceiling fan go round and round. “A b c d e f g…” she whispered the letters, clutched at her stomach to try and stop the fluttering, “…h i j k l m n o p…” her eyes rolled toward the window, and she could just see the gleam of the hanging placenta; she could only hope she'd done everything right, that the fairy would accept her invitation, “…q r s t u v w x y and z.”

She clamped her eyes shut, repeated the song. And finally, after what felt like a lifetime, she conked out.

A fluttering sound, like a thousand hummingbirds.

Cecilia's eyes popped open. At first, the room was too dark to see anything, but she blinked the fog away, looked toward the window.

Which stood wide open.

As her vision adjusted to the night, she saw him. Or it.

The fairy was the size of a man, but he floated there, just inside of the window. The wings moved so fast they were just a blur, and the sound they made sent tickling fingers down Cecilia's back, like scraping a ceramic plate with a fork. It had four wings from what she could tell, like a dragonfly, and an equal amount of eyes that stared at her through a milky film, tiny black pupils trained on her, studying her.

It opened its mouth, shrieked, the sound like a bird of prey, and then it zoomed toward her.

Cecilia screamed, turned her head, but didn't run. She knew she had to be strong, had to let this play out. It was the only way.

The fairy hovered above her, and she could get an even better look now. Beams of silver moonlight strobed into the room, illuminated the fairy's pinkish flesh, the color and wetness of raw chicken. It had no lips, its black teeth flat and sharp like razor blades, and its humanlike tongue slithered out, slid across the front of them.

It reached down with its clawed, three-fingered hand, lifted the pillow. Cecilia shut her eyes, let her body roll to the side as the creature claimed its prize. A smell like freshly cut pumpkin wafted from the creature's flesh, and though not entirely unpleasant, it still turned Cecilia's stomach.

Then her head rolled back as the pillow was set down; she kept her eyes closed, refused to watch what she knew came next. She could feel that the baby was no longer there, and she held her breath, clenched shaking fists at her sides.

A wet lapping sound, much like Skittles when she licked her paws. A low moan was just audible below the licking, and the maddening humming of the wings was ever-present.

When she heard the first crunch, she shuddered, whimpered, but didn't move her position. The chewing continued, each crunch making her flinch, making her regret her decision. She cursed Judy in her mind, couldn't believe her friend would make her do this, would instruct her to invite this monster into her bedroom.

It's the only way. You know that. After this, you'll have your baby, what you've always wanted. You can finally be a mother.

But no matter how many times she told herself that, no matter how necessary she knew this was, it still didn't seem right. This repulsive creature couldn't possibly give her a child. She thought about Billy, his unblinking eyes and wide smile. The boy looked normal—for the most part—resembled Judy even.
This is going to work,
she thought.
It has to.

Then the humming of the wings stopped. Just halted all of a sudden. The quiet of the room was maddening, and Cecilia opened her eyes to make sure the fairy hadn't left, though she wasn't sure if she would be disappointed or relieved if it had.

The creature stood at the foot of her bed, a bloody arm hanging from its mouth like a string of spaghetti it was about to slurp. It tilted its head back and swallowed, licked the fluid from the front of its teeth. The fairy's stomach was caved in, hairless and webbed with thin blue veins that spread across the flesh like cracked glass. Its ribs pressed tight against the skin, bulging as it breathed.

“Please…please don't hurt m-me.” Cecilia couldn't help but back away from the creature as it lifted itself onto the bed and crawled after her.

It reached out and gripped her hips, pulled her closer. The claws of its hand bit into her flesh, penetrated the skin, dug deeper as she struggled against its grasp. The thing's four pupils darted from her face to her groin, its tiny nostril holes widening with every breath. Her nightie was pulled up; the fairy leaned in and sniffed, rubbed its face against her sex. The claws pressed deeper still, and Cecilia let out a cry, her fingernails scraping jagged red lines down her face.

Then the nightie was torn away, exposing her nude body, now covered in sweat. The fairy leaned back, stood on its knees. Another shriek exploded from its throat; the four translucent wings flitted once.

Below its emaciated belly, a slit opened up, like a giant eye awakening from a deep slumber. Something began to extrude from the opening, pushing forward, thick and venous.

“No…no, please. Please don't.”

The fairy yanked her across the bed, tearing her flesh. Its tongue lolled from between its teeth, its chest heaving with terrible rhythm. When its long member touched the inside of Cecilia's thigh, sizzling her flesh like a hot curling iron, she screamed, tried to pull away, but the fairy held her tight.

And then it was in her, deep, stirring her viscera. The fairy's wings fluttered with every scalding thrust, and each one felt like a branding iron being shoved inside of her. She reached up to try and push him away, but it was like pushing up against a brick wall. The creature was unmovable, and as it continued to ravish her, dig into her, it leaned over and ran its tongue over her neck, sniffed her hair.

Cecilia whimpered, cried through clenched teeth. Sweat poured from her face, gluing strands of hair to her forehead and neck. Blood oozed from the wounds at her hips, soaked into the sheets.

She thought for sure she would die, that there was no possible way she could survive this. The heat inside of her, pumping in and out with a quickening pace, was surely melting her innards, liquefying her from within.

She screamed again, reached up and grabbed the fairy by the head. Her throat felt torn to shreds as the scream exploded out of her, ripped open her esophagus as if the shriek itself were acidic and coated with broken glass.

The fairy grunted, hissed, retracted its claws from her sides and pressed its calloused palms against her stomach. It trembled, massaged her belly, then tilted its head back and bellowed as it came.

It felt like ice water spraying into her from a power washer. She gasped, clutched the bloodied bed sheets, sweat and tears pouring from her face.

The fairy pulled out of her, stood still for a moment and stared. Its wings went blurry, bringing back the violent hum, and the fairy floated above her. They stayed that way for a moment, staring at each other, both gasping for breath, and in an instant, the fairy zoomed out the window and was gone.

Cecilia howled, reached down to her injured vagina and wept. Skittles barked repeatedly from the backyard, slamming her body against the glass door.

But inside, in her belly, Cecilia could feel the magic working. Tingling and piercing, the fairy's seed spread through her, and she knew, through all the pain, that it was worth it.

The next morning, Cecilia was sure the whole incident was a dream. It had to be. Something like that couldn't be real.
I fell asleep,
she told herself.
I fell asleep and dreamed all of that.

But when she checked under her pillow, all she found were bloodstains. She reached down, winced when she touched between her legs. It felt like someone had taken a power sander to her.

She shuffled to her window, poked her head out. The placenta still hung there, dried up like a prune. The wall was coated in dark, crusted juice, and she knew she'd have to get that cleaned up before a neighbor saw it.

She reached out, plucked the placenta from the nail, made her way to the kitchen. Skittles still stood on the other side of the glass door, sitting on her haunches and whining.

“Oh, honey, Mama's so sorry.” After everything that had happened, she'd forgotten all about the Great Dane. She let Skittles inside; the dog ran straight for her water dish and lapped up the water. Cecilia walked to the sink, dropped the placenta into the garbage disposal and flipped the switch. The spinning metal made quick work of it, and, just like that, all evidence of the fairy was gone.

Except for the cold heaviness in her belly.

Her grin could have punctured her eyes as she ran her palms across her stomach. A high-pitched giggle seeped from between her teeth, and soon she was cackling and holding herself up by the counter.

Judy was right. It was well worth it. She couldn't wait to see her, thank her, hug her.

“Come here, honey. Come to Mama, Skittles.” She sat on the kitchen floor, gasped at the pain, then clapped her hands and held her arms out.

But the dog lowered her head, stared at the spot between Cecilia's legs. And growled.

“Skittles, that's enough. Come here.”

The dog whined, her tail tucked under, and took slow, careful steps toward Cecilia. Skittles flinched when Cecilia placed a hand on the dog's head, then lowered her nose and sniffed at the sore spot.

“Skittles—”

At the sudden burst of voice, the dog yelped and ran off. Cecilia picked herself up, shuffled to the living room where the dog was huddled in a corner, shaking so hard that needles of hair were falling out. She growled, low and deep, and stared at Cecilia's midsection with hard eyes.

“Bad girl,” Cecilia said. “You stay in that corner then if you're gonna act like that.”

Cecilia stomped toward her bedroom, shut the door, sat on the edge of her bed. That earthy, pumpkin smell still lingered in the air, and she breathed it in, mentally thanking the fairy. The puncture wounds on the sides of her hips had scabbed over, and she ran her fingertips across them, hissed and pulled away.

She reached over and swiped her cell phone from the end table and quickly dialed Judy's number. Her skin tingled with excitement as the phone started ringing, but it went to voice mail.

Must be with a client or something.

After the outgoing message and the beep, Cecilia said, “Hey, Judy. Just wanted to call and let you know I survived. I can't wait to talk to you about it. Give me a call, okay?”

I'll call the office, just in case she's there.

And she did, but Rhonda answered.

“Hey, Rhonda, it's Cecilia. Is Judy in?”

“Didn't show up. Had some appointments too.”

“Did she call?”

“Nope. But we've got some unhappy clients, I can tell you that. You find her, tell her to get her ass here.”

“Yeah…okay. If she shows up, have her call me, all right?”

“Mmm hmm.”
Click.

Cecilia furrowed her brow, scratched her head. This did not seem like Judy at all. Rhonda had mentioned the other day that Judy said she might be out for more than one day to take care of Billy, but she surely would have called in to let everyone know. Judy wouldn't just no-show like that.

Billy's grinning face sliding across the wooden poles of the staircase crashed through her thoughts, and she jumped up, winced from the twisting pain, nearly collapsed to the floor. She took a deep breath, collected herself, quickly threw on some clothes and slipped into her flip-flops.

When she opened her bedroom door, Skittles was there, her head lowered, her nose sniffing at the space between the floor and the bottom of the door. The dog yapped and shot off like a rocket at the sight of Cecilia, disappeared back into the living room.

“Skittles, what the hell is wrong with you?”

She's just jealous
, Cecilia thought.
She knows I'm going to be a mother now, and she's jealous that all my attention won't be on her anymore.

But she didn't have time to think about any of that right now. She grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter, tried to jog to the car, but had to carefully walk instead.

It felt like she hit every red light in town on her way to Judy's, and she slapped the steering wheel and cursed every one of them. Once she finally turned down Judy's street, her stomach plummeted and her heart nearly leapt from her chest.

Police cars and an ambulance. Right as she pulled up, the ambulance pulled away, and she found herself secretly hoping it was Cliff inside, not Judy. Anyone but Judy.

But then Cliff walked out of the house, hands behind his back, two officers on either side of him. His shirt was spattered with blood and his face was loose and expressionless like palsied flesh.

Judy slammed on her brakes, jumped from the car. She doubled over, leaned on the Camry for a moment, waited for the grinding pains to pass. Two officers stood in her way as she tried to hobble past them.

“Please…that's, that's my f-friend in there.”

“I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't let you pass,” the officer said, his voice weak and cracking. His eyes quivered, his face pale. Whatever this man had seen, it had clearly shaken him.

“Just tell me what's happened. Please…please tell me.”

A second officer stepped forward, shot a disapproving look at the other man. “Ma'am, please go back to your vehicle.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, but she yanked herself out of his grasp.

“Don't touch me. Where's Judy? Is…is she o-okay? Just please tell me that! Tell me if my friend is okay!”

The officers glanced at each other.

Oh no. Oh god no.

“Ma'am, I'm sorry.”

She shook her head, hand over her mouth, ignored the pain as she sat on the curb.
What did Cliff do?
she thought.
What did that son of a bitch do?

“And Billy? Wh-what about the little boy?”

The pale officer shook his head, looked down at his shoes. He stumbled toward the grass of the nearest house and vomited into the lawn.