Abe's Misery

Gertrud was a rotund and cheerful lady, going about her business in Port Cruces always with a whistle upon her lips. She was content with her life, after a harsh upbringing as a child in a household with 14 others, she was often neglected, often left to her own devices to find entertainment and amusement in simple things. Her outlook on life was one of appreciation. Everything that happened to her was usually moulded into a positive experience one way or another. She was wed to a strong man named Abe, he was a stocky well built fellow, who used to be able to carve up an oak tree with a small hand axe, and the fire would be blazing for a month. Time had been kind to Gertrud, since her thirtieth season she really hadn't aged at all outwardly, except for the foxglove daub she used to cover her grey hair, it gave it a purple sheen that she liked. A graceful colour. A stately shade so that she could jolly along in life and expect a smiling respect from the people she met.

One morning whilst out selling her basket woven items to anyone who would consider them, she was sidetracked into a long conversation about removing sap stains from thick cotton garments with her two friends, Edin and Marig. During this domestic discussion, Gert was astonished when she felt a cool breeze pass by behind her. It was almost like one of old farmer Deans Cows had sneezed but silently, behind her. She shivered out loud and although the other ladies were aware of it, they both shrugged at the odd gesture Gert had just involuntarily performed. The cloth cleaning cackling continued. Gert had never been much of a spiritual girl, she'd always seen nature as nature with no hidden spiritual basis behind it. "Cows were Cows" she always used to say. But if she ever did toy with the idea that there were forces beyond her control, she would chat the Cows saying to put paid to any fears that might arise. Magic was for Mages, washing and cooking her husbands tea was for old Gerty. This breath of dark wind that shook her so, had sown a seed of doubt in her mind. Uneasy, she tried to listen hard to the ongoing conversation, but the seed was growing, fast and strong. She could feel the small shoot of fear climbing in her body. A flower of panic. That was about to bloom, fear that spread its petals over her face and made her scream into the plants bud of hate. Gert's panic allowed her to almost slow time down, as if every lip movement of Edin's was a lifetimes drawl. No sooner had she spotted the flash of light from Marig\'s expensive gold tooth (something of a luxury for Commoners in these parts) than she felt something clasp her hair, her beautiful purple locks, something tugged hard on her hair. She wheeled around to see what was caught in her hair, and she saw nothing. But her hair was being tugged hard now, so much so that it knocked her off balance, falling to the floor, trying to arch her back like a good turned Lunas bow, she fell to the floor all crooked.

Looking up, with her chin resting on the hard stone paving, she saw the hidden darkness, she saw it using the laws of nature to lay open the hatred that lurked around these parts. The hatred that has her held tightly by a clump of her hair. The water in the gully, splashed about at regular intervals, making foot size impressions, with a crown of a splash, moving around her, moving around them all. She could just see Edin's lifeless eyes blink their last blink as the blood trickled out of her mouth and bled into the water, pink as carnations. She caught sight of her Abe, running so fast towards her as if he would collapse any second, his eyes were bulging wide, like the lids were peeled back so far he'd lost them. His tender mustachioed mouth was gaping open and a loud bellow was filling the atmosphere around him. He'd seen something terrible. He'd witnessed something so horrible that his eyes would remain stretched open for all eternity. Gerty felt a fumble in the arch of her back, like someone was pressing down hard, and she was pulled tighter as the necklace was ripped from her neck. A warm shaft of fluid spilled over her back and down the sides, she felt an odd queasiness as a dagger was plunged into her back, it clanged on the stone floor as it exited her stomach. She knew she'd seen the hidden danger that was lurking in the background of everyday life, she knew for that she must pay with her life. She knew she loved Abe more than anything this world could offer her, and sleepy, she now knew the darkness. She prayed for some peace and some light....