Demonia
Deidre lifted the wooden lid of her past to find a small ballerina. She did not know the song that played. It was a far cry from the hymns she sang with her sister wives.
She sat with the tune, remembering the time that William had brought her the tiny white box.
“My little Ballerina” he had said. His brown eyes glittering and staring at the way she wore her long black hair in a tight bun.
This was the gift that had helped her make the decision to marry William.
A decision she regretted.
Now, Deidre felt like a glorified babysitter and a medieval queen all at once.
She had caught two of the wives gossiping about when she would conceive.
It had been a year since she had been “bunned”. This was a term used within the family to refer to consummation by the tradition of the women tying their hair up in a bun once they were married.
Perhaps things would be easier for her if her mother had still been alive.
Diedre looked forlornly out at the clear blue sky beyond her small bedroom window.
She wondered if William had ever given his other wives pet names or a trinket so...
“Worldly!”
A small child, face smeared with jam, pointed to Deidre holding the music box.
Startled, Deidre closed the lid quickly. Placing it back into the bottom of an unused suitcase. She thought she had seen a red face in the reflection of the lock.
Nothing.
The small child had left.
She shook her head and walked down the noisy corridor filled with chubby little faces.
“Its time for family prayer” one of the older wives exclaimed.
Everyone sat on the floor eagerly awaiting William to enter the room for the afternoon sermon.
~
The nights were lonely when William wasn’t around.
With no children of her own, and on that particular night having none of the other children there, Deidre prayed.
“Lord, send me love... someone to truly love me and only me”
She stood silently. Thinking of a child that would be her friend in this very small world.
“Lord?, Mother?, Satan...?” She continued “...ANYONE, help me”.
Deidre fell to the floor and wept. She worried how this would look, but was too overcome to stop.
She felt a concerned hand warmly embrace her hip from behind her, then another hand gently placed on her shoulder.
“I’m here, darling”
She couldn’t move, this was a mans voice and definitely not Williams!
Feeling the snugness of a head sinking into the crook of her neck and whispering into the dark “...Nate?“.
