A Crown of Thorns

Chapter Four - Suffocating sadness

Creak! The aged wood pried open as a figure appeared from the shadows.

The wind raged past his tall figure as he leaned into the opening. Strings of snow blow past his frame and blanketed the ground between us, I shivered uncomfortably as the cold seeped deep within my bones. I was rarely reminded of the elements outside of the world that existed without me as the seals that surrounded all four of the surrounding walls kept me in and everything else out. The air was typically stagnant and unrelenting as I was forced to breathe in the dust that settled upon the dull surroundings and yet I drew joy on the rare occasions when bits of reality settled upon my feet.

I will burn this entire place down someday; I thought as I subconsciously touched my stomach as a familiar ache began to spread.

“You look like a rabid animal,” the man said as he took the final step before standing before me, moonlight adorned his frame as he stared down at me.

His silver eyes were prying as he glanced over my figure before settling on my bulging stomach, my head swayed as a smirk caressed his lips as he knelt before me expectantly. His hands were warm as he pushed my hair aside and pressed his palm into my stomach, his touch sent chills down my spine as I stole a look towards the bedframe and the slumbering infant hidden within it. I swallowed hard as I imagined the being who resembled me awakening despite the charm, I placed on her and alerting my captor to her existence.

Rezel would eat her alive, I thought as my face grew pale as the man's name pressed into my mind.

“Hmm,” Rezel hummed approvingly as he massaged the heavy bulge that had plagued me with nausea over the last three months, during that time he’d forgotten my existence, allowing nature to take its course as his plaything had ceased to appease him. Only now his attention was once again caught as he pushed down on my abdomen, forcing something within me to shift and plunge downwards as the motion made me hunch over in pain. Stars clouded my eyes as I attempted to catch my wavering breath, my lungs seized as I clenched the dirt floor and held my stomach as the cramps swelled through me with my muscles contracting in on themselves.

No! I thought horrified as tears sprung to my eyes at the realization of what was happening.

“They say that childbirth is one of the most joyous things in a woman’s life,” Rezel snickered as he watched me hunched over in pain.

His long silver hair tickled my nose as he leaned into me, gripping my forearms he pulled me forward until I was balancing my weight on my knees with my thighs spread apart. He held my attention as he pressed his fingers between my legs before bearing his hands within my entrance, feeling around as he assessed the opening and nodded pleased with his findings before withdrawing his touch. He glanced towards the moisture within the ground where my fluids had previously passed, the blood was thick as it coated the spot where I had given birth to my child. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he examined the dull surroundings.

“Agh!” I cried out as my abdomen clenched as the contractions started once again, my body prepared to pass an object, the realization was baffling and yet I hadn’t the time to linger on the thought as I clenched down on Rezel’s cotton shift and pushed down hard.

No! I wanted to cry out.

He would surely steal this one from me, there was no way I could hide its existence unlike what I had done with the girl. I wanted to caress her small body within my arms and soothe the child as she stifled her wailing frame upon my bosom. I wanted to watch the new life form thrive, to not be subjected to a miserable life that I was leading and yet I refused to hand her over to the man before me.

“It seems you aren’t cursed to be barren like the rose I keep,” he muttered under his breath, his words barely distinguishable.

What’s a rose? I thought distractedly as the head passed through my entrance.

This one was passing easier than the infant that passed through me just prior, I gripped the man before me with my broken nails tearing through his skin, crescent wounds appeared from under my grasp. He sighed as he allowed the pain to settle, a vague annoyance appeared on his face as he fought the instinct to pound his fist into my face in retaliation. He silenced the anger as he pushed me down onto the ground and spread my legs apart, his hands bore into me as he tugged the bulging head from my womb and pulled the infant forward and towards him.

My hair matted to my forehead as the unnatural tug distressed me, making my mind sway as I lost consciousness for a moment. When my eyes opened once again a small figure was bundled within the man’s arms, the infant's head was full of silver curls with a dull blue tinge to his silent face. His lips were unmoving as a cord wrapped securely around his neck, his small hands weren’t bound into furious fists unlike the child I hid away in the darkness, instead, there was a chilling silence to this life, a silence that seemed unnatural as no breath passed his lips.

“It seems you have done your job poorly,” Rezel stated coldly as he stared at the infant.

I ignored his words, they felt like nothing against the feeling I felt towards the tiny boy within his arms, I felt drawn to him as I leaned towards them and pried the small bundle from the man’s arms. He seemed alarmed as I took the baby in my arms, his skin was icy as I held him, with his eyes closed and seemingly lifeless, I held my breath as I realized the life I had created no longer existed. The thought chilled me as it brought back a buried memory of my mother’s death, it terrified me, only this time there was no blood seeping from a fatal wound.

“Baby?” I whimpered pathetically as he tore the infant from my arms.

Rezel’s eyes appeared disgusted as he climbed to his feet and turned his back to me, his shoulders stiffened as he unwound the cord from the infant’s neck as took a step towards the open cellar door. Panic swept through me as I realized that he was taking the child from me, something I had feared once I held the girl in my arms, surely he would steal her too if he knew of her existence.

“No!” I screamed.

“You disappoint me, Cerealia,” he snapped as he held the body with one arm and used the other to slam the door behind him, leaving me alone, once again, in the darkness.

“Don’t take my baby!” I screamed as I crawled forward as the remnants of the child’s umbilical cord hung from my womb, a haunting reminder of the thing I had just carried over the last three months.

I screamed until my throat burned from the pain, I screamed for my lost innocence, for the monster who stole me away, and for the precious life, I had whipped from this earth with my recklessness. I was once again alone, left for dead by the man who took anything precious I once held. My screams stifled the air with the sounds reaching only the child under the bed.

She shifted uncomfortably within the rough blanket that concealed her presence. I smeared the tears away from my eyes with the edge of my palm and glanced at the child stirring, her fists thrust in the air in defiance as the slumbering charm placed upon her dissipated. Her small body was fragile and yet she was strong enough to break the charm, a charm I had placed on Rezel once. I recalled his face as he dropped to the floor, his cheek grew aflame as his silver eyes dulled once unconsciousness consumed him. No creature had been strong enough to fight against it, not even the man who took pleasure in torturing those who he deemed weaker than him, and yet I hadn’t yet figured out how to break free from my chains and shatter the barrier that surrounded me.

He's going to take her, I thought, terrified.