Carnival: Mother Knows Best

“Mama… I think…I’m afraid.”

Onyx looked at Courage, shocked. Her eyes turned back to dark blue as she observed him bury his face further. “Ma faiblesse, it is okay to be afraid.” her eyes flashed light green, she held up her umbrella to block more of Larmes’ tears. She looked at Larmes with a stern look, “it’s what you do in the face of fear that is important.”

“Move it. Me and Courage are meant to be together. We’re inseparable.”

Onyx just stared at her.

“Unlike you, I will not let him ever be alone. He won’t ever fear being rejected. You didn’t protect him. I am. I am the only one who can keep his feet on the ground.”

“You really are his nightmare.”

“Huh?”

“Stubborn. Emotional and should really study grammar more.”

“Why you?!”

Onyx put Courage on the ground while keeping eye contact with Larmes. “Courage, do you still have your book?”Courage shook his head, still refusing to look at her. “I need your help. Can you help mommy?” Courage nodded. “Bon garçon. When I say go, you’re going to run into your classroom, grab your book, and open it at her. Can you do that for me?” Courage shook his head. “Okay, how about you stay with me and when you wanna run, you run into the room.”

“Will you be there?” he asked as he clutched her dress.

She sighed, “I’ll be at the door keeping you safe”

“How do you know it’ll work?” The light green mist became visible and was everywhere.

“Mother knows best.”

“What makes you think I can do it? I can’t stop shaking… I want to cry so badly.”

“Then cry.”

“...”

“Crying is a sign that you’re overwhelmed.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means that your feelings are so heavy that the water in your body wants to escape.”

“I want to escape…”

“Then we should get your things. Shouldn’t we?”

Courage nodded.

“When you’re ready, go get your stuff.”

Courage nodded.

Larmes got impatient and flew at Onyx. Onyx’s eyes turned light green with a dark blue diamond within the pupil. Onyx spun the umbrella, “.ressuopeR” Larmes was pushed back by a pulse of purple energy. Larmes was knocked into a locker on the other side of the hall. Courage looked at her in amazement. Larmes glared at her. Onyx spun around and closed the umbrella as it rested on her shoulder. “They don’t call me the Widow Witch of the Woods for nothing.”

Courage slowly tried to sneak away to the classroom as Larmes kept trying to throw her tears at Onyx. Onyx kept repelling them back with her umbrella. Courage got within eyeshot of the doorknob. He began to overhear the students and staff floating in their bubbles.

“He’s the child of the Widow Witch? No wonder bad things are happening.”

“How could the principal allow such things into our school?”

“Maybe she used her death magic to threaten him?”

“She had to have.”

“How else would nightmares be allowed in our school?”

“I knew he was a freak!”

“Does he have one green eye because he’s a nightmare too?”

“Has to be.”

“But he’s only a child.”

“So is the freak that put us in these things!”

“Why am I being punished because of you guys? I didn’t laugh! I don’t even like the freak.”

“When I get out of here, I’m going to punch him!”

“Children please, those attitudes are the reason why we are here in the first place.”

“No, we’re about to die because he’s a freak! And you let a freak into our class!”

“We’re gonna die?!”

The younger kids began to cry. The staff tried, in their own ways, to try and calm them down. Courage reached for the doorknob but stopped. Hearing everyone’s cries and complaints, he balled up his fist, “I’m afraid…. I’m so scared… But… But!”

Larmes inhaling the light green mist floated higher. She began to move the bubbles around to block Onyx’s vision and attack. Onyx did her best to dance around the bubbles and block them with her umbrella but not repel them. The people within cried and begged to be set free. Neither Onyx or Larmes responded to them. Only focusing on each other. Preparing to open her umbrella, Onyx felt a tug. Her umbrella got caught in one of the bubbles. The students inside cried asking not to be hurt. “Oh wow, that worked. Looks like I can control what can and can’t pass through my tears.” Larmes said smugly. Her voice sounded as if it was coming from all the bubbles at once. Onyx raised an eyebrow but otherwise seemed unfazed. Remembering that Courage caught onto things very quickly, she giggled to herself. Larmes told the students to take her umbrella. They refused. Onyx advised against it. Larmes moved the bubble to drag Onyx around. She soon sent the bubbles to go after Onyx. Some passed through Onyx, others seemed to hurt her. Larmes laughed, calling Onyx pathetic. Onyx tried her best to dodge but couldn’t tell which ones would hurt her and which ones wouldn’t. After a while, Larmes had all the bubbles crash into Onyx. Courage gasped hearing Onyx let out a sound he never heard her make before. But one he recognized. Pain. She was in pain. She was in a lot of pain. As the bubbles moved, the students and staff had reactions of terror and disgust. Onyx’s mangled body dropped to the floor. Larmes laughed, triumphant. Courage saw his mother. Courage couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He remembered her words looking at her broken necklace on the ground,

“It is okay to be afraid. It’s what you do in the face of fear that is important.”

Courage let out a scream as he charged at Larmes. Larmes simply floated out of his range. “We don’t need her! We don’t need them! And if you’re going to be difficult!” Larmes threw her tears at Courage. He was trapped in a bubble. He punched and kicked the bubble to move it closer and closer to Larmes. “Stop it!” He ignored her and kept at it. “I said stop!” He continued. “Fine! Since you can’t listen! I’ll give you no choice!”

The bubbles with the staff and students began to rise and phase through the ceiling. Courage told Larmes to stop being a bully. Larmes called him the bully for trying to stop her from keeping him safe. She told him there was only one way to keep him as hers. His bubble started to fill with a light green liquid. “You’ll be mine. And you’ll fear everything so I can keep you safe. Courage fought, trying to pop the bubble but the fear began to set in as Larmes laughed. With one last gasp he called out, “Mama, help me.”

Larmes stopped laughing as she felt unsafe. She felt as if she had made a mistake. She felt a pair of eyes staring her down. In a gargle, Larmes could make out a voice under her call out, “My. Baby.” She looked down and saw Onyx’s mangled body unmoved but her eyes wide open staring into her very being. “Don’t. Touch. My. Baby.”

The light green mist spiraled around Onyx. Deep blue clouds formed on the ceiling, pushing the bubbles back down.

“But how?!” Larmes yelled.

The mist created a hurricane around Onyx, “Mothers are scary because they are willing to do damn near anything for their child.” Purple tree-like hands came from the clouds and held all the bubbles in place. The mist hardened mimicking the appearance of a tree. “But motherhood is something even mothers fear. For even a mother doesn’t know what kind of magic will consume her when the time comes to save her child.”

A deeply blue flower formed around all the bubbles. “I do not wish for my son or these ungrateful humans to see my true form. What was your name?” Onyx’s voice echoed throughout the building. Larmes looked around frantically and mouthed her name. “Such a pretty name for such a horrid child.” Larmes looked at the tree and saw it had blossomed leaves that were imitating Onyx’s eyes staring at her. Paralyzed with fear and a strange sense of pity, Larmes stared into the eyes, not noticing the womanly figure with Onyx’s eye approaching her from behind. The dark blue clouds slowly blocked out all light that wasn’t coming from the flower. The last thing Larmes saw were long branch-like hands covering her eye. The last thing she heard was Onyx’s voice whispering in her ear, “There will be no rotten apples in Le Jardin d'Eden.” Larmes gasped.

Days later, Courage woke up in his bed. He called out to Onyx, confused. Onyx walked into his room and sat on his bed, she patted her leg. Courage crawled over and told her that he had the worst dream. She chuckled and told him those are called nightmares. He said it made him scared and sad. She reassured him that he was a brave little toaster. Courage pouted that he wasn’t a toaster. She apologized in between giggles. Looking up at her, Courage asked her if she was really a witch. She smiled, “No, I am simply a mother willing to do anything for her son.”