Three Word Wednesday prompts: mention, affinity, fidget

a little back story…

“Grandma, why are we here?”

“Hush child.  Wait and watch.”

Libbie fidgeted.  She was cold and sleepy.  Her coat was scratchy and she wanted to be home in her pajamas and bunny slippers  If mama was home she would make her some hot chocolate.  But Mama had to work. She wondered why Grandma was bringing her with her tonight, a school night.  She knew Grandma always came to the graveyard after a funeral.  She had done it ever since Libbie could remember.  It made Mama mad and she couldn’t figure that out either.  She knew they both loved her but they fought a lot.

Grandma spoke, never taking her eyes off the grave before them. “Soon, Libbie.  Something will happen. You must keep watch.”

Libbie pulled on her grandmother’s sleeve. Will you tell me a story while you watch?

Grandma patted her leg and started to talk.  “You know the stories about Jesus?  From your picture bible?  There are more stories in the big bible.  You will learn them when you get older.  The story I am going to tell you is about the night that Judas turned Jesus in to the authorities. My grandmother told me this story when I was about your age”

“Did your grandmother take you to graveyards? Why did Judas turn Jesus in, Grandma?”

“You ask a lot of questions Libbie Bee.  Yes, my grandmother took me with her, just like her grandmother before her. We have always done this.  Now let me tell you the story. Judas was a bad man and certain things had to happen.  I want to tell you about an important part of the story.  Judas was paid for turning Jesus in.  Later, he felt bad about what he did.  He went back to the people who paid him, and tried to give the money back.  They wouldn’t take it and he threw the money away and went and killed himself.”

Libbie frowned. She didn’t like this story very much. “That’s a sad story Grandma.  I’m sure he was sorry.”

Grandma smiled,  “That may be so, but you will learn as you grow up, that there are some things that people do, that can’t be fixed. They can be sorry, but it doesn’t fix anything.”

Libbie frowned again.  She couldn’t understand what Grandma wanted her to see from this story.

Grandma patted her leg again.  “The thing you need to know is that the money was silver.”

Libbie thought about it for a minute.  “Like your special dust?”

Grandma nodded.  “Yes.  Just like my special dust.  This is a true story Libbie Bee,  Ever since that time, silver has been special. There are other stories, but they will wait for another night.  It’s almost time.”

“Time for what, Grandma?  What are we waiting for?”

Grandma stood and started walking toward the fresh grave, “Stay behind me Libbie.”

A mist had drifted in and Libbie shivered.  The mist seemed thickened like Mama’s gravy in front of the headstone and covered the drooping flowers. Libbie squinted her eyes in the darkness.  There was a low keening sound coming from the grave, and something was moving.  Libbie sat as still as she could, frightened now.  Grandma wasn’t afraid of anything!  She walked right up to the grave, holding her little bag of dust, muttering something quietly.  She reached in the bag and scattered it all over the misty covered grave and the mist turned to sparkling glitter that floated away on the little bit of visible of moonlight. She came back and sat down next to Libbie.

“Do you understand what happened here tonight?”

Libbie slowly nodded her head, her face reflected pale in the rising moon.  “I think so. The dead person wasn’t going to stay buried.  You fixed them.”

Grandma hugged her.  “I told your mama you had an affinity for this.  She didn’t want to listen.” Grandma smiled down at her.  “Don’t you worry though.  It will be alright.  You can come with me from now on and I will teach you.  I think it might be a good idea if we didn’t mention this to your mama.  I don’t mind getting in trouble, but I don’t want her to fuss at you.”

Libbie shook her head.  She didn’t like sneaking behind her mama’s back but she didn’t want more fighting between her and Grandma either. “Can we go home now?”

Grandma got up, dusting off the seat of her pants and reached a hand down to pull Libbie up.  “Let’s go home Libbie Bee.  It’s been a long night for you.”

Three Word Wednesday: Stress, figure, Juicy

Raven picked at the juicy worm, glanced around at crow who was tugging his own dinner from the ground.  Something shivered, feathers slicked down.  Wings ready for flight just in case.

Every day they flew together.  Ate together.  Rested in the tree limbs together.

Shaking her head from side to side she saw, just at the edge of vision, a shadow and then it was on him.  Instinct took over.  She wanted to leave and yet she dove.  He was all.  She drove her beak in searching out eyes from the fur and claw and teeth tearing at him.  She dove and dove again, fear in the background, mindless now just dive and stab – dive and stab.  A swash of pain across a wing.  Stray swipe of talon tore stressed flesh.  Ebony feathers drifting in the sunlight.

A moment and the sun was down and she was human again.  On the ground writhing in pain, she forced herself to her feet, ignoring sharpness and blood.  Grasping the throat and squeezing as claws raked and scraped at skin now.

Raven struggled until the life was gone from it and flung it from her.  She crawled over to him, holding his flesh together. “Nooooooo!” She screamed and held him as he whispered one word.  “Broken.”

As the darkness gathered the predator appeared blurred.  It’s feline figure slowly became a red haired woman. It was her. That witch.  Her eyes open towards the purple sky.  “How could you!  You loved him too!”

There was no one left to hear her.  Now what?  Would she be winged again come morning?  Raven walked over and spit on the corpse, giving it a kick to make sure she was dead. “I don’t care if your curse outlives you.  I’m glad you’re dead.  Even your curse couldn’t separate us.”

She dropped next to him and kissed him gently on his forehead, stroking the crow tattoo over his left eye.  Raven stood and stumbled through the night.

Three Word Wednesday: Abrasive, Loss, and Handful

“This way!  Come on!  Jack pulled Libbie’s arm with one hand as he shoved the window open with the other.

“Hope the fire escape is…aww man.”  Libbie looked down and saw what Jack already knew.

“We’re going to have to jump aren’t we…I Hate it when we have to jump!”  Libbie turned away from the window.  “They’re coming!”

Jack pulled Libbie through the window. “Ouch, my head!” Libbie held the top of her head.

“Sorry!  Ready?”

“No, but not much choice is there?” The ladder that used to be part of the fire escape in the abandoned apartment building was gone.  At least they were only on the second floor.  The alley below was full of trash and Libbie hoped they landed on something soft.

“Tuck and roll, right?  Jack kind of chuckled and then leapt.

“Oh crap.” Libbie followed and hit with a thud.  Not soft enough….there was blood dripping from her forehead where she hit the edge of the window sash and she rubbed her ankle as she stood, testing it.  She grabbed Jack’s hand and they ran.  Jack held his other arm close to his side but there was no time to worry about that now.  The wraiths were coming.  They needed a place to hide.  They ran to the street lights and people and wove through the crowd.

“Down there!” Libbie pointed at another alley across the street. She could feel the wraith searching on the edge of her thoughts.  They were close.  She pushed Jack into a doorway. There was only a handful of seconds before the wraith would be right on top of them.

She stood in front of him, holding the darkness around them.  She willed him to be still, hoping that they would pass by.  They would have made it too, if she hadn’t already been weakened from running. They passed so close she could smell them and just as they cleared the alley entrance one of them stopped and turned. She felt it’s slimy mind probing, like nasty abrasive fingers sliding through her brain. She tried to stay silent, to keep herself closed off but it broke through and it felt like knives stabbing her head.  She raised her hands to her head as she dropped to her knees.

The blast of magic must have lit up the sky for miles.  That was her last thought before it all went dark.

Libby woke up. There was nothing but pain and darkness. She half sat and felt around in the dark. Her hand touched a lump covered in fabric.

“Jack?  Jack are you okay?”

The lump groaned.  He was alive.  Libby flopped back down, relieved. She took mental inventory.  Every inch of her felt bruised and her head was pounding, but she was all there.  Wherever there was.

Jacks hand moved against her side.  She reached down and held it.  He squeezed and she squeezed back.

“Ya, me too. We have to figure out where we are.”

“I know. Do you remember anything?” Jack started to sit up and grabbed his head, laying back down.

“After I was mind raped?  Not really.  We’re still alive though, so they must have something more planned than just getting rid of us.  Can you move?”  The headache was receding a little.  Libby started stretching and flexing her muscles.

“I think so.”  Jack rolled over on his side. “They’re waiting for the full moon.  I don’t think we can count on a five star meal or anything.  I wish I could see. It’s dark as hell in here.”

Libby held her hand up and even though it made her head feel worse, she concentrated. A small ball of light appeared in her hand.  They were in some kind of cellar.  The only window was blocked by something from the outside. The walls were damp and moldy looking which accounted for the horrendous smell. A couple of mildewed cardboard boxes sat in the corner and there was plenty of evidence that the main inhabitants were spiders.  They were on the floor at the bottom of a rickety looking staircase.  The bruises she was starting to feel were probably the result of being “helped” down the steps. There was a gallon jug of what looked like water next to them.

“Guess they don’t want us to dehydrate…”

The lightball crackled and went out.

“Better rest for a bit.  I don’t think we’ll miss viewing the decor.”  Jack reached out in the dark for Libbie’s hand and folded her fingers closed.

“Well my powers didn’t help us much in that alley, did they?” Libbie slapped her other hand on the floor, frustrated.

“But we know something we didn’t know before.”

Libbie turned to his voice.  “What the hell do you mean?  That they can beat us up and toss us into a basement?  How does that help?”

“We know they are physical. If we had just been warped here or whatever you want to call it, we wouldn’t be all banged up now.” Jack sounded a little smug.

“I am still at a loss as to how knowing they can kick our asses all the way to a basement can be helpful.” Libbie was tired, sore, and getting a little tired of Jack being so obtuse.

“You may have the magic but I sure would like to see what happens when human fist connects with the face of whatever…what are these guys?”

“Wraiths…I hadn’t thought of that.  I always thought they were more like ghosts or something.  It’s not going to do much good if they can shut down our minds, though.”

Jack sighed.  “My brain wasn’t shut down. I watched you go out of it just as one of those ghouls slammed me and next thing I knew I was slung over what I think was a shoulder and tossed down here.  You on the other hand…Jeez Lib, you scared the hell outa me. You held your head and screamed and I swear I watched your eyes roll up in your head. You were muttering some kind of gibberish and then you just went limp.”

I tried to remember and couldn’t.  There was something right on the tip of my…
“I do remember something!  Just before everything went dark.  I could feel them in my head.  I was concentrating on us staying hidden from their sight when I should have waited and shielded. That’s what the book meant about learning to shield! I have to keep them out of my head”

Jack squeezed my hand in the dark again.  He must have heard the fear and disgust in my voice.  “You can do this.  If you can keep them out, we might have a chance. Rest a bit and I and then we’ll check out those boxes on the other side of the basement.  There has to be something we can use as weapons. I really want to kick some ghoul ass”

Libbie held her hand up again.  “Better go look now.  They could come back any time.”  She lit up the basement and scooted over to get a little cover in the stairwell.

In the glow of the light ball, Jack crawled to the boxes and dragged them over to where Libbie sat.  They opened them and found mostly dishes and jars.  Jack kept digging around and pulled out an old wooden box.  He opened the box and whistled, smiling at Libbie.  “Silver….”

Three Word Wednesday CCXXV

conniption; noun: a bad tantrum. One has a conniption or conniption fit.

janky; adjective: broken or functioning poorly or improperly; messed up.

scooch; verb: to move over, or to scoot.

“Scooch over. Is that a Dr. Pepper?” Tara picked up my drink and took a pull on the straw.
“What?  Don’t get all sour-faced. I’ll buy you another!” She set my drink back down, now defiled with her signature shade of “Party Pink” lipstick. Tara couldn’t help being dramatic.  I barely finished that thought when she sighed loudly and and leaned  against the back of the booth, hard enough to make it creak. She wasn’t fooling me, I knew she was very aware that sitting that way thrust her breasts out.  She glanced around, to see if anyone was watching.  Her dark shoulder-length hair fell over one side of her face and curled around her chin perfectly. My boring light brown hair always seemed to stick out at odd places. Of course, all the guys in the place were looking. They always did. It was lunchtime and half the construction workers in town ate at Lulus.  It wasn’t gourmet but the portions were huge and the coffee pot never got empty.

“Would you stop already?  Do you have to do that?”  I tried to whisper but I should have known better.  Tara liked attention.

Tara rolled her eyes while checking out her reflection in the napkin holder. “Well don’t have a conniption fit.  Honestly Kate , sit up straight.  Why don’t you do something with your hair?”  She reached out and pushed my hair back from my face.

“Shhh!  Do you have to talk so loud?”  And leave my hair alone.  It’s fine the way it is!”  I should have been used to it but she still made me feel like I dressed right out of the Salvation Army store.  I picked up my purse and stared pointedly at her.

“Alright.  Alright!  Don’t be like that.  I’ll be good.”  Tara smiled and gave me that look that she thought was sincere and would make everyone forgive her.  We had been friends since grade school and I wondered at least once a week, why I put up with her. Well actually I knew.  Nobody knew Tara the way I did.  She was, well…her life had not been easy so far.  She tried to act like she didn’t care about anyone or anything, but that wasn’t close to the truth.

“I thought you were shopping this morning.” Tara was always shopping.  She constantly complained about the lack of variety in Newton.  She dreamed about moving to the city.

“I was.  Arielle told me they were supposed to get a shipment in Friday but the truck never showed up.  Same old stuff.” Tara bit a french fry. When she reached for another I slapped her hand.  “Don’t you ever buy your own?”

“You know I am on a diet!”

Not that it mattered.  Tara had more clothes than anyone I knew and she didn’t need to diet.  She was a perfect size six.

“The reason I stopped was to tell you the news!”  Tara’s dark eyes were wide and I knew whatever she had to say would probably mean trouble for me.  It usually did.

“What now?” I sighed and rolled my eyes.  I could plug my ears, but it would just stave off the inevitable.

“There’s a party tonight at the quarry!  Barrett Evers is going to be there!  Now, don’t look at me like that.  You know I have been trying to get him to notice me ever since he moved to town.  This is the perfect opportunity!”

Tara had crushes on half the boys at Newton High and she had dated most of those.  Nothing long term though.  She was easily bored.

“You know we have a history test and my mother still hasn’t gotten over the last party you talked me into.  I was grounded for a month!” I sat back and put both hands on the table, trying my best to look determined.  I don’t know why I bothered.  The janky leg on the booth wobbled as Tara got up.

“I will pick you up at six.  Wear something sexy and for God’s sakes, fix your hair!”

Tara flipped her hair out of her face and turned and limped out the door, her leg brace creaking as she popped her hips. The construction guys quietly turned back to their plates, suddenly busy with their meals.

I put my head in my hands.  It was going to be a long night.