Write about an overheard remark or secret that you were not supposed to have heard.
[Delirium, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, 629 words]
The township was in an uproar, young child missing in the dead of night. Of course, everyone blamed the father, everyone knew he beat his wife. No one was surprised by the assumption that the seven year old's disappearance was the direct result of some covered up explosion of domestic violence.
Within four hours of the police being called, daddy-dear was in handcuffs, the basement floor was being sonogrammed for hidden bodies. Within six hours the nearby pond was being dredged. Another three and people were combing the woods. From there it was a ripple effect, ever expanding, but no matter how far they might search they would never find the girl.
She was well hidden, far from the chaos and confusion and hurt of the night she had endured, completely unaware of the drama that broke out in her absence.
All that Sally can think of is that she left her doll Gretta behind. "She'll be lonely without me."
Delirium smiles gently and holds the child close. sHe wiLl uNdERstAnd, sHe knOws thAT yOu loVE hER.
Within twelve hours the focus had shifted onto the mother, whispers from behind shielding hands. After a difficult, unwanted pregnancy, the baby boy had suffocated in his sleep. Three months ago it had been tragic, but today it seemed... sinister.
Rocking back and forth, whispering gentle encouragement in the child's ear, Delirium eases the pain away. It is like peeling an onion, each petal creeping open until the full bloom is exposed. Of course, it isn't always a pretty thing, and as Sally begins to relax, to calm down, something darker comes to light.
"I didn't mean to hurt him, I just thought... if he slept... they would stop fighting..." The tale unfolds, the lonely only child excited by the new arrival, oblivious in her youth and naivete... Then one late night the shouts, screams, crashing of things that get thrown back and forth. A sudden silence and the tear choked words 'if only he hadn't come...'
The logic of a child is implacable, instant and vicious, it is not confused by morals, bound by societal demands. It knows what matters, it sees the clear path. Its miniature hands press down on the pillow without second thoughts, without knowledge of consequences. It waits long minutes until the tiny, futile kicking is ended. It lets go and steps back with a frightened cry as it realizes that the baby isn't sleeping anymore... but in its own way, the child understands that sometimes things happen, sometimes they are better this way... and without a backward glance it returns to a carebear bedspread and falls into a dreamless sleep.
"I didn't know he would die, Deli... I just thought they would stop fighting if he stopped crying for a little while. Mama kept saying, if he would just quiet down a bit she could put her head back on straight..."
Delirium kisses the girl's forehead. ItS oKay tO cRy, bAby... iT wAs aN aCciDEnT
Twenty Four hours after the disappearance, Sally was found curled up in the bottom of her closet, a place no one had apparently thought to look. She said she was sleeping, that she had a bad dream and went into the closet where it was dark, and nothing could hurt her. She implied, even though no one could credit the child with the cunning for it, that another of her parent's fights had frightened her into hiding.
In the joy of rediscovering the child, rumor and conjecture are forgotten... and the question of little Billy's death is laid to rest.
The township was in an uproar, young child missing in the dead of night. Of course, everyone blamed the father, everyone knew he beat his wife. No one was surprised by the assumption that the seven year old's disappearance was the direct result of some covered up explosion of domestic violence.
Within four hours of the police being called, daddy-dear was in handcuffs, the basement floor was being sonogrammed for hidden bodies. Within six hours the nearby pond was being dredged. Another three and people were combing the woods. From there it was a ripple effect, ever expanding, but no matter how far they might search they would never find the girl.
She was well hidden, far from the chaos and confusion and hurt of the night she had endured, completely unaware of the drama that broke out in her absence.
All that Sally can think of is that she left her doll Gretta behind. "She'll be lonely without me."
Delirium smiles gently and holds the child close. sHe wiLl uNdERstAnd, sHe knOws thAT yOu loVE hER.
Within twelve hours the focus had shifted onto the mother, whispers from behind shielding hands. After a difficult, unwanted pregnancy, the baby boy had suffocated in his sleep. Three months ago it had been tragic, but today it seemed... sinister.
Rocking back and forth, whispering gentle encouragement in the child's ear, Delirium eases the pain away. It is like peeling an onion, each petal creeping open until the full bloom is exposed. Of course, it isn't always a pretty thing, and as Sally begins to relax, to calm down, something darker comes to light.
"I didn't mean to hurt him, I just thought... if he slept... they would stop fighting..." The tale unfolds, the lonely only child excited by the new arrival, oblivious in her youth and naivete... Then one late night the shouts, screams, crashing of things that get thrown back and forth. A sudden silence and the tear choked words 'if only he hadn't come...'
The logic of a child is implacable, instant and vicious, it is not confused by morals, bound by societal demands. It knows what matters, it sees the clear path. Its miniature hands press down on the pillow without second thoughts, without knowledge of consequences. It waits long minutes until the tiny, futile kicking is ended. It lets go and steps back with a frightened cry as it realizes that the baby isn't sleeping anymore... but in its own way, the child understands that sometimes things happen, sometimes they are better this way... and without a backward glance it returns to a carebear bedspread and falls into a dreamless sleep.
"I didn't know he would die, Deli... I just thought they would stop fighting if he stopped crying for a little while. Mama kept saying, if he would just quiet down a bit she could put her head back on straight..."
Delirium kisses the girl's forehead. ItS oKay tO cRy, bAby... iT wAs aN aCciDEnT
Twenty Four hours after the disappearance, Sally was found curled up in the bottom of her closet, a place no one had apparently thought to look. She said she was sleeping, that she had a bad dream and went into the closet where it was dark, and nothing could hurt her. She implied, even though no one could credit the child with the cunning for it, that another of her parent's fights had frightened her into hiding.
In the joy of rediscovering the child, rumor and conjecture are forgotten... and the question of little Billy's death is laid to rest.