Gift For A Demon

Not Her Family

The narrow door to Evangeline’s bedroom bursts open, causing her to wake with a start. The next thing she knows Krista is grabbing a handful of her long brown hair and is pulling her out of her bed. Eve stumbles into the main room of the cabin still wearing her faded black nightgown.

“Are you going to sleep all day you lazy little b***h or are you actually going to get up and cook us some breakfast?!” Krista yells down at the groggy young woman. “Hurry up, I have a big day ahead of myself.”

Krista stomps off to her own room upstairs in the loft, while Eve picks herself up off the wooden floor. Her tired feet carry her over to the cupboards. The rainy journey through the forest last night wore her out more than she had realized.

She pulls down a bag of grits and puts a pot of water on the stove to boil. At least she has Papa’s butter to add to them, it makes such a difference. To go with the grits she gets out some biscuits that she had made the day before. Looks like there are a few missing.. Typical. She supposes she will be the one to go without a biscuit this morning. The biscuits go in the oven and then she digs out the last few slices of bacon. Just enough for Krista and Nana and Papa. If it weren’t for the chickens that lay eggs everyday, Eve probably wouldn’t get anything for breakfast at all.

As she is cooking at the stove, Eve hears the door to the large downstairs bedroom open. Out come Krista’s four children, ready to eat an undeserved breakfast. They sit down at the table, except for Liam and Delilah. The older twins come over and help themselves to a piece of bacon each.

“Those aren’t for you.” Evangeline says without looking at them.

“Well they certainly aren’t for you, so don’t worry about it.” Delilah laughs.

“I’m a growing man, I need my protein.” Liam says as he shoves the crunchy piece of bacon into his mouth.

“Eat up then.” Eve tells him. “Maybe that extra energy will actually help you to find a job today. You’re such a strong young man, I’m surprised you haven’t been able to find work yet.”

“Why you little b***h! I should teach you a lesson for talking to me that way..” His face turns red as he steps closer to her.

“Leave her alone! She has a lot of work to do today.” Krista shouts as she comes down the stairs.

The three of them help themselves to the warm food that Evangeline made, while she prepares plates for the younger two. She sets the plates down on the table in front of them and wonders why Nana and Papa haven’t come out of their room yet. They need to eat while the food is warm. As she starts to walk to their door, Krista calls out her name.

“Eve! I don’t know who you think you are leaving such a mess like you did last night.” Krista snaps while pointing to Papa’s damp coat on the floor and their muddy boots. “I want it cleaned up now! The rest of the cabin needs to be cleaned spotless too, because I am having company come over tonight. That means the kids need to be in bed early.”

Company? It’s been a while since she has brought someone here. Eve presumes that it’s one of her gentlemen friends. Just then, the door to her grandparent’s room opens. Papa leads a smiling Nana out by her hand. Together they sit down at the dining table that is in the center of the main room.

Krista doesn’t bother to look at them as she gets up and grabs the money jar off the top shelf above the stove. Papa glares at the back of her head and coughs into the crook of his elbow. As if she knew, Krista whips her head around at him and pulls several dollars out of the old tin jar.

“Don’t you worry, Old Man. I’ll be replacing this money plus extra, tonight.” Krista says with a mocking smile, her voice full of attitude.

Papa doesn’t say anything and coughs again. His sweet old wife sitting next to him just smiles and rubs his back. Eve moves to the stove to fix them each a plate of food or what’s left of it anyways. That cough doesn’t sound good and it’s worrying her.

“I’ll be back later. Remember what I said about the cabin and the kids. Oh, and fix that damn cow fence too!” With that being said Krista walks out the front door.

Not even a moment passes before Delilah is reaching for the money jar too.

“What are you doing?” Liam questions before anyone else can.

“You heard her! She’s going to be replacing the money.. Plus extra.” Delilah says with a sly smile and a wink. “I have a date that I need to get ready for.”

“Then why do you need the money?” Liam says. “You open your legs quick enough and your date will pay for everything.” He laughs at Delilah.

“At least I can earn money. I’m not as worthless as you are!” Delilah spits back and then merrily walks off to get ready for the day.

Red faced, Liam points at Tyler and tells him to come on. They have work to do down at the bread mill. Liam usually earns them a bag of flour and a few dollars a week this way. Eve looks over to Erica, the eight year old. She just finished braiding her wavy black hair to the side and decides to take her doll outside to play. Good. Eve has too many chores to do for anyone to be in her way.

First thing she is going to do is give Papa some medicine for that cough.

“No.” He says with a hand up in front of him. “I don’t need that medicine. It cost too damn much to waste on an old man like me. Save it for the kids or my precious wife.”

There was no arguing with him. When he says something, he means it. After breakfast he takes Nana out to sit on the porch to enjoy the fresh air and nature. Nana loves to listen to the birds sing while she knits. So much has left her mind, but for her love for her husband and the knowledge of knitting.

Eve gets to work cleaning up the breakfast mess and the muddy boots from the night before. Shame on her for being so tired and worked up that she just left such a mess behind. She usually tries not to give Krista any reason to complain. After she cleans up the boots and scrubs the floor, Eve happens to walk past the tiny mirror in the main room and gets a glimpse of her reflection. Days have gone by since she has even looked at herself in the mirror. She frowns when she sees her hair is a mess and there is a streak of mud across her forehead. Just then Delilah finally comes out of the bedroom in a tight red dress that used to belong to Krista.

She keeps her back turned to Delilah, to hide her messy appearance. Eve doesn’t think of herself as an ugly girl, but nothing has ever given her the idea that she is beautiful. No one has ever nurtured her self esteem in such a way. Delilah on the other hand has a great body, beautiful face, and unyielding personality. Even though she is human, the paranormal beings of their small town seem to favor her. Or perhaps they just like what she offers. Physical affection without commitment. Shameful.

Delilah barely pays any attention to Eve as she slips on her coat, but stops to say something to a muddy Erica out in the yard.

The hard working young woman inside the cabin puts a few slices of ham into a pan to heat up for lunch and starts rice. Satisfied, she goes into the bathroom to rinse her face and comes out to a shocking surprise. At Delilah’s suggestion, Erica has ran through the house with her muddy shoes on and left footprints everywhere. Part of her wants to yell or cry, but she knows it’s futile. She sends the young girl back outside and begins to clean the floor, again.. An even bigger mess than the one before.

Finally evening is drawing closer and the two boys arrive home from the bread mill just in time for dinner. Everyone is fed, including Nana and Papa. Then the two younger children are cleaned up and sent off to bed.

Eve makes Papa some tea to help with his cold and secretly adds a bit of cough medicine. The old man drinks it up and calls it an early night, taking himself and Nana off to bed.

Liam grabs his coat and heads for the door. He has a few dollars burning a hole in his pocket. He claims that he’d rather be at the bar instead of the cabin while Krista has her guest over. As expected, there is no sign of Delilah.

Papa’s cough can be heard through his bedroom door and causes an unsettling feeling to creep into Eve’s gut. She lays in her tiny bed and counts the seconds between each heart wrenching cough. At least it distracts her from the noise coming from above.

Krista came home drunk with a man even more intoxicated than her. They went right upstairs where she immediately began to entertain him. Her moans were loud and obnoxiously fake. Every time the headboard slammed into the wall a different noise came from her. Not that Evangeline would know what it is really like to be with a man, but Krista’s company could barely walk up the stairs. She doubted he was coherent enough to be that skilled.

After a while it finally grows quiet in the small cabin. A few hours go by and then there is quite a bit of noisy foot traffic in the main room. Krista’s friend left and she waited up for her two older children to come home. Apparently, Delilah had to coax a drunken Liam home from the bar when he started trying to fight with people.

When they walk in through the door Krista’s loud voice causes Eve to stir in her sleep and wake up. She cracks the door of her room to see Krista demanding money from Delilah. At first she seems mad, but when her daughter hands the money over she is almost proud. It’s so disgusting. Congratulations Krista, you’ve successful created another version of yourself..

Eve lays back down in her bed. Mad. For so many reasons. This isn’t the sort of place she wants to be in, surrounded by these people. These people are not her family. If she had money of her own, could she just leave and never come back? Work could be easy to find somewhere and then maybe.. Maybe she could find a man of her own. Someone to care for her.

Well there is one person who cares for her, but could he..

Her thoughts are interrupted by a series of violent coughs coming from her Papa’s room. She gets up quicker than lightning and runs in to check on him.