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Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Flash Fiction: Russell R. James
by Russell R. James
The witch held the baby aloft, so that all the eyes of the coven around her could see it.
The blood-coated baby glistened like a candied apple in the candlelight. She jerked as she lay naked and uncomprehending on the black velvet cloth in the witch’s hand. Incense that smelled of earth and decay filled the air.
“This is the one,” the witch said. “The one foretold on the tablet, the one confirmed by Satan’s prophesy.”
“All worship for our Dark Lord,” the coven chanted. They raised their joined hands in the air. The arms of their long black cloaks formed a curtain around their leader and the child. Long cowls hid their faces in shadows.
“For generations we have waited, this place prepared for the Chosen One who will summon the end of days, and the return of our Master,” the lead witch said. “One born under a full moon on All Hallow’s Eve.”
The lead witch lowered the child to her waist. From beneath her cloak she pulled a needless syringe. An unctuous black liquid filled the cavity within.
“That you may see the dark desires of all around you,” she said. “And exploit them for Satan’s unholy purposes.”
She dripped a few drops upon the infant’s closed eyes. The cobalt liquid seemed to take life, slithered into the slit between the child’s eyelids, and disappeared.
“That you may hear the call of our Master, and answer every summons.”
She put a drop in each ear. The liquid ran around the child’s earlobe and then shot straight for the eardrum. The infant gave its head a tiny shake. Her little hands grasped and opened at nothing.
“And that you may devour the souls of those who oppose us.”
She opened the infant’s mouth with one finger and squeezed the remainder of the syringe inside. The baby’s mouth turned black as an oil spill. The baby clamped her mouth shut. Her face screwed up in disgust. Her mouth yawned back open. The black liquid drained down her throat and left tiny pink gums tipped with rows of pointed white teeth. The teeth retracted into her moist, rosy tissue, and she closed her mouth.
“Chosen One,” the coven chanted. “Lead them all into temptation.”
The witches lowered their arms and broke the circle. One switched on the lights and an overhead exhaust fan. They blew out the candles. The lead witch rested the baby on a stainless steel table. She cleaned the blood from the child with towelettes.
The witches removed their cloaks, turned them inside out, and draped them over their shoulders. The clothing shrank, turned blue, and transformed into knit cardigan sweaters a shade darker than the scrubs each of them wore. The lead witch flipped hers around forward and it morphed into a surgery smock. The coven filed out through a door to the right. The lead witch exited through a door to the left.
###
Carolyn gripped her husband Tim’s hand as she lay on the table in the delivery room. Sweat bathed her body, and she barely had the strength to lift her head.
“You did great, honey,” Tim said. He wore a borrowed pair of scrubs. “That was…amazing.”
“A team effort,” she whispered. Tim had called it that for the last nine months, but the prior eight hours had been all Carolyn.
The nurse returned with their newborn child. The nurse’s face was all shadow, backlit by the bright lights just over the delivery table. She tucked the swaddled baby girl into Carolyn’s waiting arms.
“A perfect, healthy baby girl,” the nurse said.
Carolyn and Tim gazed at their new child’s face in awe. Carolyn stroked her child’s chubby cheek with her fingertip.
“You are going to have a wonderful life,” she promised.
The nurse in the smock smiled.
About the Author
Russell James grew up on Long Island, New York and spent too much time watching Chiller, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and The Twilight Zone, despite his parents' warnings. Bookshelves full of Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe didn't make things better. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Central Florida. After a tour flying helicopters with the U.S. Army, he now spins twisted tales best read in daylight. He has written the paranormal thrillers Dark Inspiration, Sacrifice, Black Magic, Dark Vengeance, Dreamwalker and Q Island. He has two horror short story collections, Tales from Beyond and Deeper into Darkness. His next novel, The Portal, releases in 2016.His wife reads what he writes, rolls her eyes, and says, "There is something seriously wrong with you."
Visit his website at http://www.russellrjames.com and read some of his free short short stories. Follow on Twitter @RRJames14, or drop a line complaining about his writing at torri@russellrjames.com.
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