William's Pen

Prologue

          Mother's voice dissipated as Winona continued her morning walk toward the park.  The air seemed dusty; smog-like, but it wasn’t smog, it was something else.  And there were other things too; things that just didn’t feel right.  There were no sounds and the air was mute and without wind.  There were no birds either, or the albino squirrel that she hoped to see and finally win over with a whole bag of peanuts.

Everything seemed out-of-sorts; surreal--and she became afraid.

So she stopped in her path, only one mile from the park, her sanctuary…her only reprieve from Mother.

She became confused and full of inner turmoil as she contemplated the two situations that she decided were her only options; turn around and go back home to Mother, or continue on, and enter the asylum of peace, the park.

Winona chose the park.

She had a special place in that park, a place where she sat and wondered and hoped and dreamed.  It was a beautiful place with a lone, but large, maple tree, and cool grass to sit upon.  She knew that it was not hers and hers alone, so her breath was always held in anticipation as she approached the site, hoping that it was vacant and free of others.  Every time she came close, she could feel the connection with this special area.  When sitting there, under the shade of that tree, she had a spectacular view of the crystal clear waters of the river and all of its smells and sounds and…

But, this time, there was none of that.  The river ran muddy and the tree was without leaves and dead and the grass brown and crunchy; a very disconcerting sound to her ears as she approached. 

Death is here, she thought.

            Yet, she was compelled to go there and sit under the tree and was happy that there were no others and she could once again be free of Mother, if only for a short time.

            As soon as she sat down, she felt at peace.  It was beautiful…more so this time, at her favorite spot.  The previous and horrific shock of the dead tree and grass area quickly left her as she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to put her where she wanted to be.

            Having sex with a man.

            It was something she thought of often.  What it would be like; what he would look like…could I really bring myself to look at it, touch it…then do it?  She thought.

            But, as usual, her tranquility was interrupted as the words of long ago bullies infiltrated her fantasy,  “Winona nerd, will only have sex with a turd!”

            Although she contemplated sex and sometimes thought herself nasty for thinking such things, Winona found that she couldn’t help herself.  And at the age of thirty-six, and still a virgin, she possessed the natural urges and thoughts all girls think.

            She needed her fantasies--craved them, and was determined to try again.  It was hot and she was uncomfortable and sweating, so she decided to unbutton “Just a few” buttons from her two-piece flowery dress suit.  Lying back once again onto the dead grass, she closed her eyes and drifted off into dreams of things she could never experience, not with Mother around all the time.

          As her mind brought her to that place she so desperately desired, Winona became dead…in sleep and contentment; oblivious to her real surroundings,

            Her dream was beautiful and real.  The sort of dream that she had tried to force into her mind many times before she fell asleep, but it never came, until now.  It was everything she could hope for; a beautiful and caring man that she married and had two wonderful children with.  Then the house; a thing of beauty, it possessed everything she craved…it had it all.  The perfect kitchen with the center island and overhead hood, and the appliances and cupboards; and the living room and dining room and four bedrooms (two up and two down), the two fireplaces and the den and library…even the back yard was perfect and held the lawn and garden and trees she wanted too.

            She was smiling in her dream-fantasy when the sudden pain in her abdomen brought her back to reality.  Quickly pulling her hand from her belly, she brought her fingers to her eyes and saw the blood.  It wasn’t much blood, but enough to scare her.

            “What?” she said with shock and confusion.

            Then, looking down, she became horrified at the sight of a large feather embedded in her belly.  The feather’s main vein was purple with fluid, and she could see it emptying into her.  Quickly grabbing the feather, she tried to pull it out, but it wouldn’t budge…then she began to scream.

Panic took its grip as she saw the remaining fluid disappear into her and the feather drained and empty.  Pulling again, it came out easily and she threw it to the ground.

The air had become dirtier and dark and eerie and she was afraid, again.  The eclipse was close to full and she had no idea of it, as the midday darkness set in.

Clutching her belly, she jumped to her feet and quickly scanned the area for help.  Noticing a man walking away from her--toward the river, she hollered “Mister…mister, please help me!”

            He stopped and turned toward her and said, “I have given you the Bennu Ra.”

            “What?”

            But, there was no further comment from him, until he went into the river and turned toward her.

            “You possess the Bennu Ra.”  he said, just before he sank beneath the waters.  

Chapter One

             “What’s the matter with you?”

            “Mother, please, leave me alone.  I don’t feel well,”

            “You haven’t felt well for…going on three weeks.  And, for everything that I do for you, Lord knows you won’t talk to me.  I’m only your Mother.  How could you be such an ungrateful child?”

            Indeed, Winona hadn’t felt well at all.  The wound from the feather had healed quickly, almost too quickly, she thought, and not even a scar.  Except for the constant low-level pain and nausea, it was like it never happened.  But it did.  And Winona never told a soul about it, not even Mother.  There was no way she was going to tell Mother about it.  Because she knew that if she did, Mother would just call her horrible names and pick on her relentlessly.

            “Why do you keep clutching your stomach?  Oh, God!”

            “Oh, God, what, Mother?”

            “You’re pregnant!”

            “Oh, Mother, for Gods sake, stop it.  I’ve never even had sex with a man,”

            “Don’t you use that kind of language in my house, you slut!”

            “Slut?  I’m a slut?  How could you say such a thing?  You watch me constantly.  You know where I go, what I do…everything!  How in the fuck am I a slut?”

            For the first time in a long while, Winona was outwardly angry with her Mother.  In fact, she was on the verge of rage.  And in her excited state, the pain in her belly was increasing.  She clutched her stomach and crouched over.

            “See!  you are pregnant!” her Mother insisted.

            “For the last time.  I'm not pregnant.  Oh, God, I’ve got to get the hell out of here!”

            Obviously in pain, Winona shuffled toward the front door and pulled it open.

            “Where are you going to go?  Who would have you, other than me?”

            Turning in the doorway, Winona looked at Mother and screamed, “Fuck you!”  then collapsed.

 *     *     *

             “BP sixty over ninety, and dropping.  Pulse 40…we’re losing her!”  the doctor said, as the team wheeled Winona down the hallway toward the operating room.

            Winona’s Mother had managed to drag her daughter into the car and drive her unconscious child through the vicious nighttime thunderstorm to the hospital.  Now, sitting alone in the small waiting room, Mother twisted at her hands and wondered if this is how it would be for her--alone from now on.  She didn’t want to be alone, and the thought of it brought fear into her.  Her controlling and manipulative personality required that someone be in her life.  She didn’t know what she would do if her daughter died…how could I go on alone…it just isn’t fair, she thought.

            The medical team had been working on Winona for over an hour, but her condition only worsened, and she was slipping away.  They had already questioned her Mother, hoping to find some reason for her illness.  But the only thing that Mother could come up with was that she was pregnant.  The doctors disagreed.  They had already performed a pregnancy test, and during the exam they discovered, to their amazement, that she was still a virgin.  When informed of this, Mothers only response was, “Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with her then.  Except that she’s an ungrateful child.  Maybe this is the Lords way of punishing her for being so mean to her Mother.”

            As the medical team continued to work on Winona, an enormous lightening bolt flashed just outside the operating room window, immediately followed by a deafening thunderclap.  The lights went out.

            An emergency light slowly and dimly illuminated Winona’s exposed abdomen.  “Well, thank God for emergency lighting!”  the doctor said.

            “Doctor, look!”  the nurse said, as she pointed toward Winona.

            Winona’s lower abdomen began to protrude upward, like someone’s finger was on the inside pushing up and down and slowly swirling about.

            “What the…damn!”

            The doctor’s comment was cut short, as a purplish worm-like thing pushed its way out of Winona’s belly and slithered to the outside center of her abdomen.  Now coiled up, with its cord still attached to it and into Winona, it began to pulsate…and grow.

            Thinking that the thing was some sort of intestinal parasite, the doctor reached for it.  “Wait!  We don’t know what it is yet.”  one of the other doctors said.

            “Well, what ever the hell it is, it damn sure isn’t doing her any good…look!”  he said, as he motioned toward Winona.

            Winona’s features were rapidly becoming gaunt and her skin was losing tone.  As the parasite continued to draw from her, it quickly grew and began its metamorphosis.

            The entire medical team looked on in a trance-like state, powerless to speak or act.

            Within minutes, the entity resembled a human fetus.  Then, after about ten minutes, and with Winona now dead and shrunken into a dried-up shell of a human, it became a human-like baby...then it began to cry.

            Even as the storm raged on, Mother could hear the cry of a baby.  Looking through the darkness of the hallway and staring down the corridor, toward the Operating Room., she could hear her needed companion.

            “Thank you, Lord!” she cried.

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