Maggie

Maggie


Chapter 1

I never did have a lick of sense and after what happened Saturday night, maybe my Ma is right. The night was fallin' around our mountain cabin and I was sittin' on our front porch watchin' the fireflies come out and wonderin' what caused their butts to light up like they did? I figgered I'd find out soon enough when I started school in September month. We were already in August month and I was markin' the days off on Ma's hand made calendar she kept pinned on the kitchen wall.

Maybe I'd find out a lot of answers to the many questions I always seemed to be pesterin' Ma with. I was 8 years old and big for my age, or so that's what my Ma was always tellin' me. I know'd I was ignorant but when I'd ask my Ma a question, she'd tell me I'd find out soon enough. I'd tell her I wanted to know now so's I'd have some sense. I didn't want to go to school without a lick of it. My Ma said I was FRESH so she whopped me up side the head. My head was full of questions though and no matter how hard I tried, my Ma wouldn't give me no answers.

One question ate at me all the time just like a sore festerin' up and gettin' bigger and bigger until it was gonna bust wide open. I was powerful hungry for some answers. I was hungry for more than food. My Ma saw to it that we got by and I never went to bed with an empty belly but I never went to bed with a full one neither. More than anything I'd pester my Ma as to why we had no daddy man livin' with us? Those sorry Mace's that lived up on Briar Hill had a daddy man and so did Nelda Faye Bascomb, my bestest friend in the whole world. She told me her daddy played horsie with her and I wanted a daddy man to play horsie with me. My Ma said I was too fanciful, whatever that means. She just don't explain nuthin' to me and I reckon she thinks I'm a baby.

Why I'm near grow'd and now that we have us a school and Ma says I can go, I'll be so smart I won't need to ask my Ma nuthin'. She'll be askin' ME questions. That idear sure brung a smile to my lips. I'm so lost in my own smartness I didn't hear when Nelda Faye's daddy man stepped round our cabin and into our yard scarin' me near to death.

"Maggie," he says to me, "go fetch your Ma and be smart about it. My Lindy be in awful pain and needs her."

My Ma is known all over our country side for bein' a healer and people came for miles around for her herbs and remedies. My Ma was teachin' me her cures so I could be her 'prentice and she said I was a quick study which is one reason she was willin' to let me attend our new school plus she said it wouldn't hurt my ego none and maybe it would even help me. I still haven't worked that one out yet in my mind but I figgered I was going to be the smartest person in our whole valley in a few years and people from all over would be comin' to ME for help and I couldn't see where that would hurt my ego none. I do need to ask my Ma though just what my ego is. Another smile flitted over my face at that thought and I took off runnin' in the house hollerin' for Ma.

She grabbed her basket with all her remedies in it and we both headed out the door. Mr. Bascomb had already left so Ma and I took off at a trot and pretty soon we saw his shadow in the moonlight and just followed right behind him. I could smell the night air and feel the mist as it fell from the heavens and landed on my skin. I wondered what it tasted like so I licked my arm and it was like cool water on clammy skin. I can't say as I liked it. The moon and stars in God's heaven lit our way so before I could even ask Ma about why the mist tasted like it did, we were on Bascomb land and we could see Nelda Faye standin' in the door way of their cabin.

Their whole place seemed to be lit up like one of them fireflies butts and I feel it in my bones that somethin' dreadful is gonna happen. I can see Nelda Faye has been cryin' but I can't stop and comfort her as me and my Ma are needed and the patient comes first. Healin' the sick is serious business so I put my sad face on and followed my Ma into Mrs. Bascomb's bedroom. Ma stops real quick like in front of me and I slam smack dab into her, she turns around and afore I can holler she shoves me hard and shuts the door in my face. Ma hollers through the door and tells me to go sit with Nelda Faye and I holler back and tell her she needs me, but she just tells me to hush my mouth and do as I'm told.

How's my Ma going to work without her 'prentice? She does need me and just as I open my mouth to tell her so, she barks real loud, NOW! My Ma can be pretty mean when she puts her mind to it and I reckon she'd put her mind to it then. I brightened up real quick though as I figgered comfortin' Nelda Faye in her time of need would be the Christian thing to do and in doin' so, I'd be healin' her too. Only I'd be healin' her mind and not her body.

That's important to healers too. I put my sad face back on and went in search of Nelda Faye and found her in the kitchen sittin' at their home- made pine table. I could see Mrs. Bascomb had a terrible mess in there with things all knocked over and spilt and I was just gettin' ready to ask Nelda Faye what happened when she started talkin'.

"Pa had gone to see Jeb Morton askin' if he could borrow his Nell to till up that piece of land he's goin' to plant some taters in next spring. Our Dave is still limpin' a bit from that gopher hole he stepped in and Pa didn't want to push him none. Me and Ma was here alone and we'd just finished cannin' the last pot of soup and Ma said since I'd done such a good job helpin' her, I could go down to the crick and cool off some. “

Nelda Faye continued, “The house was mighty hot with the stove goin' all mornin' and the thoughts of wadin' in the crick for a spell sure sounded good. I told Ma to come with me but she said she'd better stay here and clean up cause Pa'd be home in time for supper and she wanted to rest a bit after cleanin' up in here afore she had to cook. Ma told me to get along but to be back in plenty of time to help her. I promised I would and took off runnin'.”

"My favorite spot at the crick is further down from our cabin where the water's deeper and I can jump in from the huge rock juttin' out from the side of the hill. I call it my "jumpin' off rock." I do a lot of dreamin' on that rock. The water's so clear there you can see to the bottom and I'd already seen me some catfish sleepin' under the shadow of the rock. I thought about runnin' back up to the cabin for my fishin' pole and catch us a mess for supper but it was so hot and the water looked so cool and invitin'.

Ma woulda skinned me alive if she'd'a know'd I'd shucked off all my clothes and jumped in naked as the day she bored me, but Ma wasn't there so I dropped my dress and bloomers on top of the rock and plunged in. The water felt like silk on my skin, real smooth and slick. I could smell the wild honeysuckles growin' on the bank. Their sweet nectar was so powerful I could almost taste it. I closed my eyes and floated on my back feelin' such deep joy in my soul. The kind of joy Preacher Stringfield was talkin' about last Sunday at church. Remember? All was well there in God's little crick."

Nelda Faye swallowed real hard and I could tell she was tryin' not to cry but them tears slid silently down her face anyway. I never know'd a body could cry so quietly with so much hurt in them. I could feel her hurt and I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to help her. I was gettin' skeer'd myself and wasn't sure I wanted to hear more. I felt like I wanted to turn around and run to Ma where I'd be safe. I needed to be in my Ma's arms. Instead, I put my arms around Nelda Faye holdin' her close to me, just hopin' she'd know she wasn't alone.

In a very low voice she started talkin' again. She was almost whisperin' and I had to listen real hard to hear her words.

"Did you know stillness has a sound and it's loud? It's so loud it hurts your ears. That stillness just up and surrounded me all at once and for a second I thought the world had stood still. Nothin' around me was movin'. No birds chattered from the trees, no leaves movin' as small animals rambled around, nothin' under the hot sun stirred. I stood up in the water listenin' tryin' to figger out what was wrong. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and the water was suddenly freezin' and I was shiverin'. I was so cold. Ain't never been so cold in the hot of summer time before. Somethin' was wrong there at the crick but I didn't know what. I was turnin' round and round in th e water tryin' to see if anything was out there but I saw nothin'. I had a skeer'd feelin' in my heart and all I wanted to do was get back to my Ma. I was shakin' so bad I feared I'd never get out of the water."

I could feel Nelda Faye's whole body shakin' and it was like tryin' to hold a chicken for Ma to cut it's head off. It didn't wanta lay still. We fell together on the floor of the kitchen and I held her tighter makin' shushin' noises and tellin' her she was fine. There wasn't nothin' gonna get her. I near died of fright myself when I hear'd the horrible keenin' noises she was makin'. It was worse than the wild painter's cryin' at night in the deep woods while huntin' for their supper. It struck deep down in my soul and I know'd I'd never forget it as long as I lived. The kind of terror Nelda Fay knew wasn't a small thing. I think I started to pray right then for the merciful God in heaven to deliver us from evil.

Chapter II

Before I know’d it was comin’, Nelda Fay started hittin’ me in the face with her fists an’ kickin’ me with her feet. I jes’ tried to hold her tighter to quieten her down some. Her screams were hurtin’ my ears.

“Stop it! Stop it! Get off me. Ma! Pa! Somebody help me. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.”

Ma hollers at me, “Y’alright Maggie?”

“I’m fine Ma, but somethin’s dreadful wrong with Nelda Fay. I think she be needin’ you Ma.”

In a hoarse voice, Ma says, “Do yer best Maggie. I’ll be there soon’s as I can.”

I don’t like doin’ it, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, so I take’s my right hand an’ smack Nelda Fay hard as I could acrost her face. I ain’t never slapped enybody afore an’ felt right sorry to be slappin’ my bestest friend but it was all I could think to do.

Nelda Fay’s eyes locked with mine an’ fer what seemed like an eternity our souls merge. I wrapped my arms around her and if I live to be a hunnert, I’ll never ferget what I see’d in her eyes, but it was her words that rocked my world an’ sent me slidin’ into a place I ain’t never been afore an’ don’t want to go agin.

“He weren’t no one I’d ever see’d afore an’ he comes wadin’ in the water, grabbin’ me by my head an’ arm, jes’ draggin’ me out like I was no more than a speck of dust blowin’ in the wind. I started screamin’ real loud but he jes’ yanked my hair so hard I thought he was gonna pull it out. Then he hits me up the side of my head with a powerful blow pushin’ my mind into a dark hole.”

“I wish’t I coulda stayed in that black space cause when my eyes opened I was lookin’ at the devil hisself. His face was nex’ to mine an’ he was doin’ a lot of gruntin’. The spit from his fat ole lips was drippin’ on my face makin’ me want to puke my guts up.”

“I couldn’t seem to remember why the devil wanted me. My Ma an’ Pa says I’m a good girl an’ they be right lucky to have me. I try to be good so why was the devil slobberin’ on me?”

“Somethin’ heavy was on my body. I couldn’t get nary a breath to scream agin an’ I was hurtin’ in my belly. I was also hurtin’ in my special place an’ felt as if I was bein’ ripped apart. I tried to scream agin but there was no air in me. I jes’ know’d I was gonna die an’ never see my Ma an’ Pa agin.”

“I can’t breathe Maggie. I can’t breath.”

“I think I went back in that black place agin. When I opened my eyes his nose was right on mine. I was chokin’ tryin’ to get air in my lungs. He was laughin’. He said today was his lucky day. He said he’d already had some fun usin’ his knife on an old lady who thought she was stronger’n him, but he show’d her she wasn’t. He said she was his meal an’ and I was his sweet.”

“The devil grabs my face in his hand an’ pinches my jaw real hard. He tells me if I open my mouth he’ll shoot me atween the eyes like killin’ a hog. Then he’ll cut my throat an’ hang me up from a tree to let my blood run like the crick runs where he found me. The devil tells me he’ll take his knive an’ shave my skin after he’s dipped me in a barrel of boilin' water, my eyes would be cut out an’ thrown to the dogs to eat.”

“He means it cause I see it in his eyes.”

“He’s starin’ at me real hard and nods his head with a funny grin on his fat ole lips. He says he wants more sweets as he loves sweets best of all.”

I can feel Nelda Fay’s heart pounding in her chest as I held her. She’s gaspin’ as if she can’t get enough air and her body hiccups with twitches. “I got’s the devil in me now Maggie cause I swallered him.”

Afore I can ask her what she’s a meanin’, Nelda Fay jerks away from me and locks her arms around her knee’s. She starts to rockin’ herself gently; little rocks, jerky rocks, helpless rocks.

Big fat drops of water are streamin’ down my face and I want my Ma.

In a dead voice Nelda Fay says the devil held both sides of her head and forced her to swaller him until he spit in her mouth. She’s got the devil in her and ain’t no one ever gonna love her agin.

“He said a lot of bad words Maggie, the devil is wicked. I can’t stop it. I helped Ma an’ Pa skin hogs after puttin’ ‘em in hot water. I can smell the blood an’ afore I can do anything, I’m throwin’ up all over the devil. He jumps up so fast the rest of my vomit runs down my face and neck. He’s cussin’ agin Maggie. He says he’s gonna throw me back in the crick an’ leave me there to drown.”

“I can’t move. I jes’ wanted to die. I feel the devil’s hand grab my hair an’ he drags me back to the crick an’ throws me in the water like I was nothin’ but a stick. I’m sailin’ through the air, landin’ in the water with a horrible splash. I try to scream but my mouth fills with water instead. The water is chokin’ me but I cough it up.”

“I didn’t care if I lived or died. I didn’t care about anything. I jes’ floats on down the crick staring at the world above me. I wonder if God can see me?”

“I feel myself against bank of the crick. The bullfrogs and birds are so loud. Crickets are chripin,” and the noise hurts my head. My Ma is callin’ me, she’s callin’ me in my head and needs me.”

“I’m coming Ma!”

Nelda Fay is lyin’ still and I’m scare’t to touch her.

“I start’s to drag myself home Maggie cause I can’t walk. I can feel the sting of rocks and dirt on my body as I crawl along the ground towards my Ma. My head hurts and the dark place comes and gets me. I like the dark place Maggie and I wants to stay there but Ma’s voice is awful loud and wakes me up.”

“Ma’s screaming at me. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Something pushes my body up from the ground and my feet are takin' me home as if on wings.”

“I’m home. I’m home. I’m coming Ma.”

“Ma, where are you? Ma? Ma? Why you holdin’ Ma and cryin’ Pa?”

“Pa looks at me like he don’t know me. I look down at my body and I don’t know me. Then I look at Ma. Ma ain’t got her dress on. Where did all that blood come from? How did that knife get in Ma’s belly? I try to scream only I can’t. Ma needs me but the dark place takes instead.”

“Pa is holdin’ me when I leave the dark place. He softly whispers he needs to get help for me and Ma, and for me to be brave, he’ll be back soon.”

“Where is Pa?”

Where was Nelda Fay’s Daddy man? Where had he gone? I’d forgotten all about him as I sat listenin' to Nelda Fay. That must be him on the porch makin’ all that racket. Men! Ma said they couldn’t be quiet if’n their life depended on it.

Both Nelda Fay and I jumped when the door was flung open, but instead of seein’ Mr. Bascomb, we saw a giant stranger.

Nelda Fay started screamin', “It’s the devil. It’s the devil, devil, devil, devil.”

“Well, well, well,” said the devil. “More sweets for me tonight.”

Chapter III

The giant stranger moved powerful fast; so fast I only saw the blur of his foot as he kicked Nelda Fay in her chest sending her flying backwards like a rag doll thrown acrost the room. I heard a sickenin’ bone crunchin’ sound comin’ from her body just as the devil jerked me up from the floor like I was no more than a speck of dirt.

Afore I could even scream, the devil had grabbed me, and covered my mouth with his big, rough, stinky hand and was runnin’ out the door takin’ me with him.

I could feel my body floppin’ around as he ran. Somethin’ warm ran down my legs and shame entered my heart as I realized what it was. Pee. Ma, I’m sorry. Please. Please. Please. Somebody. Help me. Ma.

There weren’t nothin’ out there but dark shadows and I was bein’ carried away by the devil.

The devil’s heart was beatin’ hard and fast. He carried a smell, a smell I knew I’d always remember, if I lived to remember.

The devil ran and ran. We seemed to fly at times and float at others. Finally, we stopped. The breath was knocked out of me when I was dropped on the ground and felt something heavy sitting on top of my chest. It was the devil’s foot and he was holding me down. I gazed at the few stars I could see through the blackness of night and then my mind fell asleep and I entered Nelda Fay’s black space.
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Jessie Barrington gently covered the dead body of Lindy Bascomb and said a silent prayer to God askin’ that he take her gentle spirit into the gates of heaven and ease her sufferin’. Only Lindy knew how bad her pain had been. Jessie could only imagine and she was shocked to her core thinkin’ about it. The killin’ of animals for food was quick and merciful. Lindy had been tortured and disemboweled. Her right breast had been severed. Jessie found it lying beside Lindy…so out of place….so sickening. The smell of blood was over powerin’ and for a second after she saw Lindy, she thought she was goin’ to be sick but she’d managed to swallow the bile in her throat and do the best she could to try and save her friend and neighbor. Her best wasn’t good enough as Lindy had died long before Jessie arrived.

Tears of anguish coursed down her face as she set about cleaning Lindy’s mutilated body up. Who could do such a thing and why? Time crept by as only time can do. Jessie did what she could for Lindy…sewed together what could be sewed together… placed intestines aside for disposin’ of later…silently screamed in anguish…moaned in horror when she found the tiny body of Jessie’s unborn baby…a baby so small as to be almost unrecognizable. Jessie knew what it was, though, and gently placed it back inside Lindy’s belly; back inside where the tiny life began…back where it belonged.

She heard a loud racket coming from the other room. Something didn’t sound right. Fear jolted her into action as she ran to the door and flung it open. In a glance, she saw Nelda Fay’s body crumpled and broken on the floor. Her eyes were wide open and even in one glance, Jessie could tell Nelda Fay was as dead as her Ma. A giant had her Maggie under his arm, runnin’ out the front door, flyin’ with the wind. The world tilted and time stood still.

Too much time. In her shock, the giant had managed to get away before she could even begin to run after him but Jessie knew her mountain as well as she knew the back of her hand and she took off runnin’ into the night as she knew the horror that waited for her Maggie if she wasn’t saved in time.
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I was slowly wakin’ from the dark hole where I’d been safe. Shiverin’ from the cold, I tried to remember why I was in the woods? It was still dark and nothin’ seemed familiar. Where was I and where was Ma?

My body hurt somethin’ fierce and I groaned from the pain. I tried to cover my mouth with my hands to stop the vomit but somethin’ was holdin’ them together. Waves of vomit gushed from my mouth and covered me with its horrible smell. My head fell forward as I slowly realized I was tied to a tree without a stitch of clothes on.

I felt a bucket of ice-cold water thrown over me but my misery was so deep, I couldn’t raise my head to see who was in front of me. Somethin’ deep inside me didn’t want to know. In my heart, I knew the old Maggie was dead and the part of me that was left over, wasn’t goin’ to live for long.

The devil grabbed the back of my hair and jerked my face upwards….upwards to where I could see him. I screamed out in pain. The devil laughed while taking the palm of his hand and smackin’ me on the side of my face, “Shut the hell up afore I cut yer head off,” he yells at me.

He stares down at me. I can see his eyes and they feel hot, as if they’re goin’ to burn me up. Through a haze of blurred vision, they look red....red as hot coals in a fire burnin’ in Ma’s old cook stove. Somethin’ in me tries to speak but nothin’ comes out exceptin’ a faint grunt.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asks me.

He squats down in front of me. I can see him clearly now. My body jerks with the heaves of tryin’ to vomit but nothin’ comes up.

“You need to be taught who’s in charge here you bastard…….here’s your first lesson.”

The devil reaches behind hisself and then waves somethin’ in front of my face. It’s a knife.

“Oh my pretty, we have got to do somethin’ about this smelly hair of your’n. It’s makin’ me sick.” My head is jerked forward and I can feel the knife cuttin’ through my hair, sawin’ it off. The motion of his hand says he’s thrown it to the ground. He keeps hackin’ and sawin’, throwin’ my hair all around me. Part of my mind can see the long pieces, the short pieces, and all the strands of my hair as they’re cut from my head.

He laughs, he sings, he whistles as he strips me completely naked.

“You smell much better now,” he says softly. His hand holds my chin forcing me to look at him and with the knife in his other hand he slowly draws it down the side of my face. I feel a stinging cut and somethin’ warm is fallin’ down my face. Blood. It must be my blood. Somethin’ warm plops on my arm and a memory surfaces in my mind of me lickin’ my arm wonderin’ what mist tasted like. I didn’t like it and didn’t think I’d like the taste of blood either.

He starts to whistle again as draws his knife slowly down my neck and towards my chest.

“Yer jes’ the purtiest thing I ever did see. You be so sweet, so young, and jes’ so fresh. We’re goin’ to have ourselves a lot of fun.”

My head falls forward as he suddenly stands up. “Jes’ you wait,” he says. “Jes’ you wait.”