Unforgiven

SHORT STORY by AUBREY PERRY: 1st Line by Marisa La Mar

UNFORGIVEN

As the cold, salty water hit her skin she felt breathlessly alive in a way she hadn’t felt in years. Not this alive. Not in a long time. A century, maybe? She wasn’t quite sure how long it had been since she’d inhabited a body, but she was sure she wouldn’t let this one, with all its supple youth, go easily. This one she’d take her time with.

The ocean. She’d forgotten it, the shock of the cold swallowing you whole. Her skin, this new skin, this soft, young skin tingled with surprise. She was alive again. Finally. She surfaced and lay floating on her back, arms and legs outstretched, fingers spread wide, feeling everything, feeling life again for the first time. Reborn. She closed her eyes, there was a gentle roll in the shallow waves, and the sun beamed down upon her. Behind her eyelids she sunk into that depthless place, that defused light glowing a solar orange. And for a moment, she felt welcomed home, taken back, forgiven.

***
“Kevin, where’s your sister?”

A toe-haired, round-bellied boy barely out of diapers put down his sand shovel. He cupped his tiny hand to his forehead, and squinted out at the beach.

“Lilly!” the boy said, pointing at a young girl floating on her back in the shallows.

His mother took a few steps toward the water, cupped her hands to her mouth and called, “Lilly! Lunch!”

***
Her eyes shot open. The sudden white light blinded her briefly. A reminder that she would never be forgiven. That’s what banishment meant. And now, like so many times over centuries past, she was there again to serve her penance, her purpose. A temporary release from the flames of hell to perform a service. Population control.

“Lilly. That’s me,” she thought. “Now.”

Lilly. The name recalled the moment; she tried to push it out of mind, the way the little girl had looked when she’d entered her, when she’d taken Lilly. There was still a small pain she felt for her first victim each time she returned to this realm; this time, the victim had been so young, an unusual first take – the small body convulsed, the eyes rolled back in the head till only the bulging white orbs showed, the neck jerked back so hard it snapped, the tongue pushed out, swollen and black, and then the total deflation, the soul-sucking moment when she entered her, became her, digested the girl’s soul in the transfer, and inhabited her body. It’s maybe a bit unpleasant the first time or two, but by now she’s learned: sympathy eventually gives way to hunger and glee and that sinful pleasure that comes with the taking.

“Coming!” she called back, marveling at the sound of her new voice. She crawled through the muddy sand squelching between her fingers and beneath her knees. There were so many sensations she’d forgotten.

The slap, slap, slap of tiny bare feet on hard, wet sand approached her, and she looked up to see Kevin, her new brother, standing at the water’s edge. He dropped his shorts and peed into the waves, no hands, fascinated he had a “Hose!” he announced to the world.

She felt her mouth tug up in the corner. This would be fun. With Kevin. That’s right, she remembered, now, how fun it could be. This is what she was. What she was meant to do. She might as well enjoy herself. She crawled toward him.

Kevin pulled his pants up and slapped across the sand toward Lilly. He dropped to his knees in front of her. His blue eyes glinted with light from the waves, his cheeks were rosy with summer, and his lips were red and wet with toddler slobber. He smelled wonderful. She, on her hands and knees, put her face up close to his. His breath, the warmth of him, smelled like sunscreen and sweet, young life. Delicious. She smiled at him and then gave him a playful bark.

“Arf, arf!” she said.

He giggled in return and patted her on the head. “Silly, Lilly. Lunch time,” he said.

And at that, she couldn’t resist. She needed to feed just a little bit. It had only been last night that she’d taken Lilly and inhabited the child’s body while the family slept, but she was already hungry again. She just needed a little bit, something to tide her over. Fear was enough. Until the main course, of course.

And she could be quick. This wasn’t her first “haunting.” She’d been around a long time. She could shape shift in the split of a second. No one would see. Except Kevin.

It was too tempting to resist.

She took a breath in and then released a long, snakelike tongue from her mouth and smiled, at Kevin.  Her eyes stretched up at her temples contorting her face into a reptilian grimace. “You look tasty. Why don’t I just eat you for lunch?” she said, and wrapped her tongue around the boy’s neck. She tasted fear in the pulse of his veins, and she tightened her squeeze. His face went red instantly, his eyes wide with terror. It was so difficult not to kill him there and then. But as she’d learned, patience pays off, keeps her out of the pits of hell for a while, for a long time maybe. If she could hold off. Get by on their fear for as long as possible, starve herself out before finally needing to feed on the soul. Once her targeted subjects were taken, her time here would be over and it would be back to eternal damnation. Why not draw the “holiday” out as for as long as possible? A family of 4 (well, now 3 with Lilly ticked off the list), could last a while if she picked them off one by one, drew it out it, haunted them, scared them, gave herself just enough to get by.

She retracted her tongue in less than a blink of an eye and arranged her face back into the shape of Lilly. Kevin choked and coughed and then cried and ran toward their mother. Lilly smiled and watched him. She still tasted the salt of him on her tongue.

“Lilly, are you teasing your brother again? Get over here and have your lunch!”

She stood up in the muddy sand and looked down at her feet – new, fresh child’s feet. A shame, she thought, that she couldn’t just be Lilly forever, grow up again. Not have to kill this family. Not starve for their souls.

The water lapped at her heals.

A reminder of the flames that had licked at her skin for so long. A reminder that there was no other place for her. She could take her time, yes, have her fun too. But eventually she would return to her place in hell. It was inevitable.

“I’m not going to tell you again, Lilly. Now!”

She stepped out of the water’s edge.

“I’m coming.”