The Darkness In The Water

My aunt had been missing for five months now. It was 1882, a proper lady was never without an escort. My aunt certainly was what one considered a proper lady, a perfect example of propriety. Henrietta knew etiquette forward, backward, and upside down. Her existence was governed by these laws of society. How was it that she had disappeared without a trace nearly half a year ago?

Henrietta, my dear aunt, had been at the top of her game. She had developed a relationship with a gentleman from London. They had taken the next step in their courtship and James had asked for Henrietta's hand in marriage. James was a rather handsome chap with lovely curly red toned blonde hair and a mustache that tipped upward ever so slightly at the ends. I would say he was rather dapper!

My aunt was on the wealthy side of the social class. She inhabited a foreboding manor house at the top of rocky crags that jutted outward over the ocean below. You could not reach the ocean's coast without traversing through the twisted vales or rocks and hidden crevices on the forward side of the house. The backside of the house wound around a huge tide pool that led towards the ocean coast but was stopped by megalithic structures that blocked you from reaching the sea.

My aunt and I would walk together to these ancient structures on some occasions. I never felt comfortable when we would go to this location. Aunt Henrietta, however, was fascinated by this natural formation and would appear to be mesmerized. The discomfort it gave me would send chills to the core of my bones upon every visit. Aunt Henrietta seemed to be speaking to someone during these visits and I would see her head nod in response to some silent conversation in which she was partaking. I only felt distress here and found no peace at all. Something very dark existed in these tide pool waters surrounded by the huge and odd shaped rocks imprisoning one there. I always wished I could pick up my feet and run from the scene but my feet were planted firm like a magnet holding me with its opposite attraction.

My aunt was a member of the Christian Aid Ladies Society so I found it rather odd when I went to borrow a shawl from her room that there was a book of Ancient Druid Spells and Rituals sitting on her vanity stool. I picked it up, but quickly dropped it when I heard her footsteps in the hall.

One night at dinner I asked if she believed in magic and she quickly passed it off with a "Why do you ask?"

It was autumn. The leaves were turning color and the cold filled the air. James arrived unexpectedly from London. I could hear him climb the stairs to Henrietta's room. The sound of passion mixed with cries of anguish was echoed from that room, then arguing.

"What have you done?" Henrietta wailed.

"You left me No Choice !", James yelled back.

James slammed the bedroom door, flew down the stairs and out of the door in a rage.

I heard Henrietta arise. I got up and slipped on my slippers. The door to Henrietta's room opened so I cracked my door ajar to see where she was going. Why would the image of perfect decorum be leaving the house in her nightgown? I could see the blood stains on the white as she made her way down the hall. Henrietta had been taken by force. I quickly but quietly followed behind her.

She was going towards the dreaded tide pools. I hated going there during the day but now it was night which filled me with more dread and fright than ever before. Aunt Henrietta was carrying a lantern and in the light of that lantern I could see the butchers knife she held in her hand. I tried to stay behind and out of sight as much as possible. She stepped into the middle of the tide pool turning in circles as she chanted the ancient spell. The water began to bubble and churn as if it were a boiling pot in the middle of a whirlwind. The water was birthing women, dead, decrepit, long gone women! As they arose, each a wretched spectre they morphed into beautiful young women. They surrounded my aunt as they solidified.

"You are she." they chanted. "You will no longer be. You are ours you see. Come and join us for eternity. What ! She is stained with blood. No longer can this be. She has been defiled, now we have no need."

Aunt Henrietta sang, " He defiled me to save me from thee. No longer can I exist in the darkness you chain to me."

In shock I had emerged partially from my hidden refuge. Aunt Henrietta caught a glimpse of me and continued to sing.

"Not Me But She. She is the virgins blood you need."

I tried to turn and run but the magnetic force held my position. The women descended upon me lifting me into the tide pool. Henrietta held the knife high.

"Forgive me my child but I must survive!"

The knife Henrietta held came down slashing me. I could see the pool turning dark with my virgins blood. I was the source of the tide pool and its occupants continuance. Down came the knife. I felt the pain as it entered my heart ceasing my existence. My body sank to the bottom of the tide pool of No More. The dead, decrepit, long gone women rejoined me in the tide pool of death. Now I understood. My aunt was not the one missing these past months. It was I who was missing, separated from my aunt and my life forever.

Henrietta clawed her way to the top of the overhang.

"I am coming James. I have survived !"