Halescorn

The street light at the corner flickered in its usual pattern. A painfully slow and steady on and off, like a zombie cashier, still ringing that can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle because he has quite figured out he’s no longer on of the living. Apart from that, Ellen’s Street was void of life. In a town like Halesend not much went on after dark. That statement was even more true at 3 am, the witching hour for most people, but for the folks of Halesend, it is more commonly known as Hellen’s Hour. For that was who this very street claimed its name. Ellen Hale, the wife of the town’s founder Arthur Hale, was rather infamous in these parts.

The story goes that for many years, Ellen was the shining example of matriarchal virtue. A dotting wife, leader of the women’s group within the church, read to the town’s children and even ran and even taught them their letters. She organized feasts at her family home for the town poor. She was the leading woman of Halesend, but all that changed, on this very night, 200 years ago.

Baron Arthur Hale was a hard and firm man. He cared a great deal for the prosperity of his small, but ever-growing settlement. He often spent many months away attaining new business ventures, at least that’s what they say. The good Baron had an appetite for young ladies. Especially the various servant girls he had taken into his household when having returned from his business. Ellen, being of good nature, welcomed the women gladly and reportedly treated them with immense dignity and kindness. No doubt knowing exactly what their purpose was in regards to her husband. On this night, however, it was highly unlikely that Arthur, nor the very willing servant girl who had his eye at the time knew what horror awaited them. As the Baron opened the door to the bed-chamber where he intended to further satisfy his infidelity, he was met with a visage of utter horror!

No one truly knows what Arthur Hale actually saw that night, nor what happened to him. No trace other than his burnt-black heart was ever found. Some say Ellen found her husband and his whore in bed, in a fit of hysteria, butchered her husband and the girl, offering their remains as a gift to the Prince of Darkness. Some even say that this never took place in the Barons’ home. That she found them in the stables, and set it ablaze, leaving the two lovers to burn as hot as their lust. All that is remembered was that the Baroness, once hailed as a saint, Ellen Hale was put to the torch as a witch.

Why was this done you ask? Was she not the victim? Well, it depends on how you look at it. However, there was no disputing the various manuscripts of Ellen’s hidden library, which she kept, shockingly enough in a cellar within the town church! That same church still stands today. Within the manuscripts were unspeakable acts against God. Rituals involving human sacrifice, and even one’s to summon vicious terrors from Hell itself, or so it is claimed. As I said, no one knows the true story… Well, that’s not entirely true.

Arthur did bring another of his whore to the bed-chamber. He still had her bosom clutched in his mouth like a newborn swine. He didn’t even notice the difference between the moaning and grunting of the trio in the bed until the girl’s shrill scream broke him from his late-night milking. His eyes grew wide, jaw agape at the sight of the hideous beasts that were vigorously attending to Ellen’s carnal needs. She looked him in the eye, removing one of the beasts from her lips, as she began to move toward her husband. Chanting in a language long forgotten by the people of this land, a hypnotic and violent rhythm as she moved ever closer. Her husband and his lover were both on their knees, urging their bodies to take flight as frightened game would as the predator's jaws closed in. Their agonizing screams made the dark communion all the more pleasurable, truly a sacrifice worthy of his notice. It did not even occur to the fools who set Ellen ablaze that her demise was all a part of the pact. Neither did the foolish child who moments ago performed what she thought was a neat parlor trick to ward off evil know that she would once again summon the Dark Mistress again to the very town that turned against her!

How could any of them have known? I had planned this all along.