Parting Butterflies

Parting Butterflies

Ms O’Riley be mighty pregnant when she stepped on that bus, six months gone she was. Nobody knew what was comin’. She stumble on with her shopping from the day, the bus packed. I was on my way home from workin’ at Ms Mack’s. Our section empty ‘part from old Ms Granger behind me and the two little O’Connors opposite me chucklin’ away to their Big Ma’s for the evening.  

I watched her waddle her way through the crowd, stand in front of some girls she know. “Mary, oh Mary, please make room I gotta sit down.” She gasped, pulled down by the weight of her bags and that big baby in her belly. I knows this Mary girl Ms O’Riley speaked to. Mary Fitz be the nastiest white lady in town, nobody with any sense mess with her.  

Ms Fitz tilted her head. “Loretta, you know I don’t talk to a cheater.” Ms O’Riley be sweating real good now, the heat of the Mississippi summer gettin’ to her.

“Mary, you must know that wasn’t true. You know I never cheated!”  

“I’m sorry, honey. Head of the Women’s Community Council can’t be seen with a slut.”

 Ms O’Riley gasped, “Mary!” The bus went quiet. All I could hear was Ms O’Riley’s deep, heavy breaths.  Ms Fitz stared up at Ms O’Riley. A mist of tension hung in the air, somethin’ like before a southern storm. But Ms O’Riley turned and shuffle her way through the white people to our section.

“Uh… Ms O’Riley you can’t do that!” A strong-lookin’ white man called out. “You’d be better off standing.” She turned to look at him.

“What do you mean Arthur?”

“You’ll catch diseases an’ stuff. Especially with that baby you carrying you can’t be too careful.”

She smirked, “Oh yeah?”  I looked at her as she walked past me. She was only young, already with two chil’un and another one comin’. This all she needs. She sat at the very back bench, moving to the end to see out the window. That when Ms Fitz start up her god awful shriekin’ laugh again.

***

A few months later, I done find myself working for Ms O’Riley after Ms Mack went off on a holiday with her girls.

After the day gone by, an’ I be setting the places for dinner, Ms O’Riley come back. I go get her coat from her and I be putting it in the cupboard when she ask me the daily question, “Any phone calls for me, Coretta?” She shuffled off her shoes and into her soft slippers.

“Oh yes, actually, Ms O’Riley. Ms Fitz done called around three o’clock.  She sound mighty urgent though, you betta phone her back quick.’ Ms O’Riley look doubtful but I give her the number and she agree to call her.

Later that evening just before I be leaving I popped my head round the sitting room door and say goodbye, reminding Ms O’Riley of her pendin’ phone call.

“Thank you, Coretta. Have a good evening.” She walked into the hall to the house phone as I slipped on my coat.

“Hello? Mary? It’s Loretta. You phoned earlier today and my maid Coretta –“

I rummaged around in the cupboard for my little black bag and hooked it onto my arm.

“Oh right, yes. It has been a while since we last spoke hasn’t it?”

So as not to disturb her conversation I looked back, caught her eye and gave her a little wave. She nodded and gave me a smile. But that smile faded and her white face paled as she heard Ms Fitz’s news.

“What?...No Mary! Really? No…No…Well… Oh my I just can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it…”

Slowly I slipped out, trying to dodge the conversation I got coming.

It be a nice morning the next day, I strolled to work with the sun beaming down on my brow. But when I walk in the door of Ms O’Riley’s she march straight up to me with her baby in her arms.

“Coretta, you know anything about that rumour Mary tol’ me last night, goin’ round about the lynching of Lee Roy James?”

 I put my bag and coat in the cupboard and took her little girl from her arms. “Don’t you worry ‘bout no rumours Ms O’Riley – “

 “Coretta. You’re gonna tell me the truth of that lynchin’ rumour right now and don’t you leave put any details.” I sighed a heavy sigh; this ain’t gonna come of no good.

 “Yes ma’am, you wanna sit down?  I’ll set you up a cup o’ coffee.” I placed her coffee on the table and wait ‘til she settled. ‘Now, I heard this chattin’ to ol’ Liz O’Connor when we get talking about the lynching. Ms O’Riley you done know in this day and age our people disappear by the hands of white men too often. But Lee Roy close to our hearts. I don’t like a rumour spreadin’ Ms O’Riley and I sure don’t like this one. There are a million butterflies in the summer months but there’s always that one that stay fluttering over yo’ head when you’re tryin’ to take an afternoon nap. This rumour like that butterfly, Mrs O’Riley. But it seems - I- mean it sounds like – people sayin’ that… Ms O’Riley the rumour ‘bout town is that… the killer be Johnny, Ms O’Riley. It was your son, Ms O’Riley.”

She asked me to quit the next day, tol’ me Ms Mack ready for me back. At first I argued against it. She be needing me at this time but she stopped me - said she won’t ever forgive herself or her son. And I say, ‘Ms O’Riley I wont ever forgive him either. But you done been a good mama. Nothing you could have done to stop it.’ She smile then, and a little tear that twinkled in the evenin’ sun touched her cheek. I was sad to leave her. She probably the unluckiest, nicest white girl I know. 

But then on the bus back from Ms Mack’s last week, I be sitting still tryin’ not to move too much ‘cus of the heat, when I see her again with bag loads of shopping, clutchin’ her baby girl to her chest as she squeeze through the evening crowd. And I see the empty seat she headin’ for when Mary Fitz be there again with two other girls chattin’ and squealin’. She get to the seat and look down at them. It been a while since everybody known whose boy lynched Lee Roy and ‘cus of that Ms O’Riley been struggling to find help. But I’ll never forget what happened that day.

Mary Fitz look up at Ms O’Riley and smile. She got a sickly smile that girl. She whispered to the girls next to her while Ms O’Riley be sweatin’ and pantin’. 

Then those three girls done moved apart. Room for Ms O’Riley and her baby.

But she stand still. Frozen. Then she looked down at her little girl. She looked down at the fair whisps of hair, the long eyelashes that lay around those big, bright, innocent eyes. ‘No way am I making the same mistake twice.’ She said to herself. She look back up to Ms Fitz, look her straight in the eye and smiled. Ms O’Riley smile her sweet smile and turned.

Ms Fitz began to shout at her, “Why, Loretta you’ll never learn! That the coloured section, you’ll get your new born covered in germs, you know and I heard that if-“

Ms O’Riley sharply turned her head and shook it gently. “Shut up, Mary.”

I looked at her as she walked past me. She sat at the very back bench, moving right to the end to see out the window. And I can’t help thinkin’ that that butterfly done flied away now.

THE WAITING ROOM.

All I see is white; the brightness of this colour almost blinds me, the mist limits itself to the height of my ankles as it sweeps through my bare feet. Silence crams the air as I wait. Still I hear a noise, in the distance someone is speaking, to me? No, not to me, I am nowhere; there is nothing here, no atmosphere or surroundings, no wall, ceiling, floor, no colours. Surely nobody can speak to me, here.

 “I am afraid, Mrs Pemberton, that your son has fallen into a coma, we have measured him as a 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, this means that he is able to hear, however he appears to be disorientated and cannot communicate at this level. There is no way of knowing when he will wake up but for now try and speak to him continuously, it’ll help.” The nurse told an anxious mother, as she stroked her son’s tangled, uneven cut hair. The nurse closed the door behind her leaving an empty echo which showered over the silence in the room, and the mother was left alone with her son. Not knowing what to say or do, she pulled up the hard, black seat beside him. She kept her eyes on his tranquil face,

“You’ll come out of this” she whispered softly to herself.

I can’t make sense of anything that is happening to me. Someone is speaking to me, definitely to me, I think, I hope. A sense of dread develops as I picture myself, here, all alone. But there is someone, I can hear a voice.

She stayed in that position as time passed, she couldn’t look away. ‘Speak to him’ she reminded herself. ‘Everything’s fine at home, though all your friends are worried about you! They’ve delayed the footy match until next Friday and they’ll miss you if you’re not there. Well, I have the newspaper; I’ll read you the sports section if you like?”

Football? I recognise that word; another voice is speaking to me now. Two voices. But they both sound as though they are nowhere near one another. Although this one is much clearer, much closer to me. The second voice tells me the date and time when I listen to their stories, and so I assume that time goes by here, although I feel no different, day by day.

“I just spoke to the nurse again today, nothing really new, apart from the tests that they’ve been running show that your brain activity is increasing. Which is good I believe, still she didn’t tell me much, she had to run off and see to another patient. It’s been nearly two months since your accident! You were missed at another football match yesterday; the team are on a losing streak without you! Please wake up soon, its summer now, the sun is out nearly every day, perfect weather for us to play a game outside, in the garden.” The mother held her son’s hand as she waited for the nurse to return to check his monitors.

Today I feel different here. The mist is clearing and I feel more awake. The first voice is closer, though I’m still not able to understand what it is saying to me. The bright colour of white that I first encountered is dimming slightly, however no matter how hard I try I cannot help but to see nothing and still no one where I am. The second voice I can hear and understand everyday now, they tell me of the news and what they’re thinking. I have never run into boredom here, it has not been important to me, to be bored, because I can do nothing here, it would have made no difference to me.  However now, while I am waiting for a change, something different to occur, an event to happen, it is impatience that is felt by me. I am still not completely aware of where I am, who the voices may be or what I have done to be here and the second voice pleads me to wake up and I wish I could if it would answer my questions and relieve my impatience except I don’t know how to go about doing so.

“Our tests and the monitors seem to show and confirm that there is definite brain activity and that his health may be improving, however Mrs Pemberton there is, of course always a chance that he may not awake.” The Nurse looked up from her clipboard as the mother turned her head towards the nurse to listen to her. The mother lowered her head, her blonde hair flopped before her eyes and beside her efforts to prevent it, a tear leaked from her eye and fell down her face.

“I know.” She held her son’s hand and she watched him lay helplessly, with no knowledge or understanding of what could happen to him. The nurse stood silently, observing the mother and son. “When my husband died, I promised him I would never let anything happen to him. He’s our only child.”

“If you need anything, Mrs Pemberton, don’t hesitate to ask.” The nurse walked out and once again, as the door slammed shut, an echo of the sound filled each corner of the room.

“Please, please wake up. Please.” The mother begged her son, as another tear found its place beneath her eye.

Now I am frightened, the second voice’s agony can be heard by the whimpers and pleads of their voice, but the first voice is coming closer and closer. I don’t know which to listen to. While I concentrate on the second voice apprehension and sadness fill me; however I find it difficult to comprehend what the other voice is trying to say to me. I never thought I would have had to make a decision when I am nowhere with nothing and no one around me.

The beeps of the heart monitor quickened and as it continued to do so, two nurses and a doctor rushed into the room as the mother swiftly moved out of the way. She could feel her heart thumping inside of her, against her chest and as she resisted the urge to cry, she quickly paced back and forth. Her palms were sweating and she ran her fingers through her hair. The pace of what was happening was too fast than what she pictured it to be. Nurses and doctors were moving in and out of the room, fiddling with monitors, checking and re-checking their clipboards. And she was at the corner of the room, praying and wishing for her son and their future.

I don’t know which voice to listen to. The second voice is becoming more distant still and it is no longer telling me thoughts or stories, I can hear a faint cry and whisper every now and then but it is getting more and more difficult to listen to. It is as though there’s something in the way that’s gradually muting the sound. I want to hear this noise, this voice that’s been talking to me here but I can’t hear it. Where has it gone? No one is speaking to me now, all I hear is noise, a continuous noise.

In the middle of another prayer, another step, another tear, she stopped.  She heard it. The sound she most dreaded to hear, that will haunt her in her nightmares and stay with her forever. A long unbroken beep sounded as if it had blasted from the heart monitor, she stared towards her son. She took her seat in the hard, black chair and placed his hand in hers.

I can’t see anything; once again, the white of this place was blinding me. I look up, there is someone coming closer towards me. Someone I know, yes, I definitely know this person. Closer and closer and then I hear the first voice again. I know this voice. I always have known this voice.

Dad?

The Snatch

"Not when something like this happens! Not her, no not now, no...no...no," Lottie shook her head in disbelief, her blue eyes pleading Matterstruck, begging him not to. "Not now! Please Matterscruck please, please...please!" And as hard as she tried to prevent it, as much as she knew she couldn't, she shouldn't - a wet, salty tear leaked from her glistening eyes.
Matterstruck. The darkest, most feared, sinister being, with deathly pale skin and small, squinted eyes that never dared to leak a tear. His twig-like fingers crawled forward, his stained finger nails making a small, but deep cut into Lottie's soft, pink cheek that now began to bleed painfully. But she made no movement, no action to prevent her warm, red blood from trickling down her cheek onto her pink, cotton pyjama top. She stayed as she was from when he had first entered her warmly-lit living room, from when she had first noticed his dark figure slyly slip into their room.
She had been playing with her two year old daughter, Emily, watching her glow with happiness as she giggled while she played with her dolls.
But time had ticked on since then, the happiness and overwhelming love that Lottie's face had shined with then, felt to her now, as if it could have been years ago. She was now shielding her dearest, most cherished possession that she owned. When she saw him in her house, her smile fell, her face drained from any happy emotion. Lottie had scrambled across the room with Emily in her arms to place her daughter - still rosy cheeked - on the sofa hidden from Matterstruck. But he had smelt the baby, he had forced his way towards her kicking dolls and other obstacles out of the way and now he faced her struggling mother. And then, in a loud hiss Matterstruck said, "You should not weep Charlotte. You should not shed a single tear, for i am here now. I will rescue Emily from you. She will be forever safe. I will raise her, teach her and slowly, i will befriend her. She will believe me to be her friend, tutor, and in someways... her father." At this word Lottie reluctantly shed another tear and moved her hand behind her back in order to hold her daughter's hand. She felt her soft, sweet hands, she felt the smallness and the youth that Emily kept in them. She gripped it tight. Lottie never wanted to let go, she never wanted to forget her one daughter. But as Matterstruck held up her free hand gently, delicately as though he were about to kiss it, she felt the end was near and as she shook with saddness and defeat she wracked her brains.
"No!" She thought, "No, this won't happen. Not to her, not now." Hesitantly, she pulled her hand back from Matterstruck's grip. He slowly moved his miniscule eyes to stare straight into hers when she whispered, "No Matterstuck." And for a split second all was silent, he did not move, he simply stared at her. She was the only one who had ever said 'no', he had no response to give but shock. But she had not pleaded him and persuading herself to go now or never, she turned swiftly grabbed Emily in her arms and ran. Before he came to his senses, he was standing in Lottie's living room alone. Lottie sprinted out the front door - still open from when Matterstruck had intruded - she felt her keys in her coat pocket, snatched it off the hook and hurried outside. But she wasn't safe yet, no, she wasn't that lucky. She swung open the car door, placed Emily on the passenger seat and her fingers stumbled to light the ignition. She could hear cackles of ghostly laughter from her house. But as she struggled to concentrate on what she was doing, she couldnt hear or see much, all was a blur. She backed out of the drive, noisily swerving round and drove, as fast as she could into the darkness. And she could not help but feel elated, she had escaped with her daughter. She was lucky, so lucky, but Matterstruck's cackle still rang in her head, he would not forget, he would never let them escape. Or would he?

ONAY.

I'm not sure whether this is finished or not but take a read if you wish :) ...

As he walked down the high street, Elliot, a ten year old boy, with mousey brown hair that shined under the striking, bright white reflection of the tall standing lamposts,which marked his way through the deep, thick, fog, - of which made this mild, November evening yet more eery. - carried little but a small, helpless gorgleblug, which he cradled softly and carefully in his skinny arms.
"At least you're safe now...well, i mean sort of." He glanced down briefly at Paddle, his own, very own gorgleblug that his parents had christened him with when he was merely a wailing baby. -with wise, wide brown eyes that sparkle when it smiles and pale grey and brown fur that gently spikes out from its body, each strand the texture of a princess' silk wedding dress - It had become a dear and cherished friend to Elliot over the recent years.
He was walking briskly, almost running from the ever questioned, Onay House. Where he had spent all ten happy years of his life, from which he held many pleasant memories, living with other families like his.
 But then, on the November night, when the lamposts flickered on and off , when the fog grew thick and murky - that was the end to Onay House.
Elliot hopped down the stairs merrily, -  past the window that he could hardly see out of after the grown-ups had pulled heavy, purple velvet curtains over it - each one at a time while Paddle, sitting on his shoulder, whispered jokes into his right ear, making him giggle and smile now and then - But when he came to land on the final step, he stopped. His smile fell from his face like large hail stones fall from the sky and the whole house fell silent. The Mulgrews upstairs stopped laughing histerically at the t.v, the Sprues stopped chatting over dinner, the Clays stopped dancing to old music and Elliot's parents stopped admiring their son from the top of the staircase.
A chilled gust of wind swept through the house. And then it started. Panick, fear and fright was felt by all occupants of Onay House. As the noise of the wind began to rise, the Mulgrews shouted 'quick run!' the Sprues frantickly attempted to collect all of their precious belongings, the Clays sprinted into the mist outside, and Elliot desperately looked up for his parents, he spun around, he cupped Paddle within his hands and stumbled up the stairs to the landing where he just saw them. He ran into all the rooms, his room, their room, the Mulgrews', Clays' and the Sprues' rooms but they weren't anywhere. He shouted in frustration and shock, "Mum! Dad! Dad where are you?! Mum! Mum! Mum! Dad! Where are you! Please, Please..." His voice trailed off as a worried tear fell from his watering eye, and as the wind howled louder and grew colder, making Onay House darker than the night sky, he ran as fast as he could down the wooden - now rickety staircase - and bolted for the door, but, unlike the ear-splitting sound of the wind howling in the house, when he reached outside, surrounded by mist, he was in complete silence. But he had to get away, he had to run away from it.