It was 12:05 when Iris slapped the little girl. It was 12:06 when her
father came over.
“Why in God’s name did you slap Stacy?!” The man asked. The little
girl was beside him, Stacy, she supposed her name was. She couldn’t see
anyone else he could have been referring to. Not that it mattered.
The man was about 6 feet tall and, at her guess, 400 pounds. The
man’s hand was about the size of her head. She guessed he was the
impatient type.
“She was distracting me.”
The man didn’t know what to make of this. He’d expected an angry
retort, or perhaps an embarrassed blush. Her cool, level voice distracted
him. She’d known it would. It was her best feature. She watched as the
color rose in his face to a dark pink and his breath rapidly increased. I
should be careful, she told herself. He’s apt to get violent.
The little girl sniffled. “I just wanted to see what she was drawing.”
“You knocked over my drink and smudged the lines.” Iris allowed her
gaze to move downward toward the child. She still carried the box of
crayons she had with her when she first came. A bright red mark was
centered on her pudgy cheeks. It would be gone by morning.
The father made a little noise in the back of his throat. One of Iris’
old boyfriends from high school had done something like that when he found
out she was sleeping with other men. His following reaction had been to grab
a chair and smash it into her side. He’d apologized later for it, of course.
He claimed he had just gotten carried away with the moment. She’d smiled a
sweet smile and told him that he could take his apology and shove it. He
hadn’t paid the hospital bills.
The growling continued in more harsher tones and Iris decided she’d
try a little subtle rationalization. It’d all be a bunch of crap, of course, but
if he calmed down enough he might not hurt her. Remembering her old
boyfriend, she rubbed her side and frowned a little. Two of her ribs had
been broken, 3 bruised. Yes, this man definitely reminded her of him. She
clicked her tongue at the thought. She decided she didn’t like him, much.
Iris leaned down toward the little girl. “I’m sorry if I hurt your
pretty face. I was simply upset and ventilated my rage on you. If you’d like,
I’ll take you to the doctor.”
“You bet you will.” The man growled.
Uh oh. He took her seriously. Her day was far too busy for a change
in plans. She decided simply to cut him off then and there. She handed him
twenty bucks.
“Here. The redness will fade in a couple of hours. Take my money and
buy her and yourself an ice cream. See if it’ll sweeten your tempers.” Oh
dear, seems he didn’t like that.
“My girl was nearly bleeding and you give me twenty bucks!?” He tore
the bill in two. Iris winced. She hated seeing money be wasted so
irrationally. He was moving toward her. She’d better make a quick exit.
“You have the nerve to strike my daughter, who was just curious and then
tell me to sweeten my temper?!! I’ll sweeten my temper all right! But not
with ice cream!” He drew
back his fist and made to punch her. Thinking quickly, she ducked down just
as his hand made contact with the brick wall her chair was sitting against.
“Owww!” He yowled. She grabbed her portfolio with her car keys inside and
ran quickly to a nearby building. The man was coming fast in her direction.
He must have seen her. Great. She mingled in with the crowd and somehow
managed to get inside the door. Going to a nearby window, she quickly
glanced outside. The man was looking for her in the crowd, but judging by
his frantic eyes, he had no idea which direction she had gone. With an
amused smile on her face, she saw the little girl standing by herself on the
other side of the road. What a protective father, she smirked and turned
to see where she was.
It was a huge room with velvet curtains and a deep, sinking blue
carpet. Wood paneling with bits of silver design inlaid on it made up the
walls. The lighting was dim and shadowed. Just looking around made her feel
tired. A clerk walked up to her.
“Excuse me, ma’am. The gathering is in here.” Taking her by the arm
he led her in a room filled with large, comfortable looking armchairs. A
podium was up on a small platform in the middle of the space, with the seats
making a patterned circle around it. They were already half filled. Iris
considered sitting somewhere in the middle, but decided to be adventurous
and choose a seat almost directly in front of the podium. She oughta get a
good view of the speaker, whoever he was. She hoped he was cute. Iris had
a queer hatred of all people ugly and young that could only be explained
through her actions. Her last husband had been ugly. She didn’t know if she
could stand spending the next hour or two watching some disgusting slob’s
idea of world peace or some crap like that. She really, really hoped the
speaker was handsome.
She was not disappointed.
When he came up to the stage, a small sigh escaped the lips of all the
females present, almost drowning out the crash of a cymbal in the
background to announce his appearance. His black hair and muscular, olive
face did well distract from all of life’s little burdens. The suit he was
wearing could have bought a small house, and his choice of accessories was
limited, but expensive. A silver band rested on his middle-finger with a large
emerald in the center. After a careful re-examination of the wearer, Iris
assumed he wasn’t married. And if he was, she’d kill the bride. She gave a
speculative glance at the rest of the crowd as best she could and smiled
when she realized she was (not be modest, but they were all in their forties)
the hottest looking chick in the room. Or at least used to be. The moment
she thought that, a young looking girl walked on stage, about twenty-two or
twenty-three and, shall we say, well endowed.
She flipped her raven black hair off her shoulders in a way which
would have made Miss Universe die of shame and gave the man a small, but
somehow passionate kiss on the lips. Iris bit her lip and glared.
“Ladies and Gentlemen”, the girl breathed, as if she were trying to
imitate one of those ‘1-900’ phone ‘entertainment’ operators, “May I present
to you my great and wise lord of Hell, Hades!” With that she gave a
seductive smile and half-way ran off, giving the male half of the room an
eyeful of ‘Nature’s Goodness’.
Lord of Hell? What was that all about? Maybe he was a punk rocker...
Well, a very handsome, well dressed punk rocker. Iris wasn’t sure, but if he
was, she’d be one of the first to be buying the album. And she’d thought him
to be a business type.
“For all of you who are here from before, you require no explanation
as to why I’ve shown myself. But to those of you who are new to this
gathering of sorts’ (With this he looked meaningfully at her, as if
questioning why she’d dare shown up in the first place) ‘I hope that I’ll soon
make myself clear.” Hades, if that was his name, smiled at her and stepped
off the podium and into the audience. Next to her. Nearly on top of her. It
took all of her might to keep from jumping up and tackling him.
Very smoothly, almost hypnotically, he moved his hand in front of her
face. “My, one of Ade’s...” he said to himself, startled. He noticed her
sitting there looking at him. “Nothing up my sleeve...” He murmured and
suddenly a full wine glass appeared in his hand, the liquid never spilling a
drop. “Care to drink with me?” He asked her.
“Gladly” She replied and lifted the glass to her lips.
* * *
When Iris woke up she was alone in a small, dark, yet somehow
dignified room. Her simple white shorts and tee-shirt had been replaced
with a silky black dress which she was sure accented all the right places.
She wondered idly if he had undressed her, but decided against it. Why
would someone obviously so regal in appearance bother with her cosmetic
appearance? Probably had one of his servants do it. She pouted to herself,
wishing he would come. She was about to get up and search for a potential
exit no matter who might be coming when she heard footsteps inside the
room. “Close your eyes.” A familiar voice murmured and suddenly a blinding
light made her cry out in shock. “Ow!” She moaned and rubbed her
throbbing eyes as she slowly began to regain her sight. There, standing
impatiently, was the Miss Universe chick at the gathering.
“Jesus, why didn’t you warn me it’d be so bright?”
“I told you to close your eyes. It isn’t my fault some people just can’t
take orders.” The girl replied tartly.
Iris barely resisted the urge to slap this brat in the face like she did
the last. She had a sinking feeling this one could hit back. One look at her
nails said she’d lose a lot of blood while she was at it.
“Who are you? And what am I doing here with you?”
The girl laughed, looking even lovelier than Iris thought was possible.
“I guess you could call me Li.”
“You guess?”
The girl, Li, glared at her. “I have many names, just like Uncle.”
Just like Uncle... “You mean, Hades?” Iris asked.
Li looked her over for a second and smiled, amused. “I’ve to see a girl
yet who can not want Uncle. Tell me, do you seriously think you have a chance
with him?”
“Yes, with you out of the way.”
“Hah!” Her laugh, however scornful, sounded like the tinkling of silver
bells and moonlight. “Why would Uncle ever fall for a mortal like you?”
Mortal! “So you think you’re a god, do you? A sniveling little brat like
you who has nothing better to do then insult your betters!?”
Li raised a solitary eyebrow and glanced at her. “Number one, I am a
goddess. Not god. Goddess. Number two, I don’t insult my betters because
I don’t have any betters except for Uncle. I am the goddess of the River
Styx and teller of stories, niece of the great god Hades, lord of the
underworld, and I will not tolerate some mortal scum like you insulting me
and drooling after my Uncle!”
“Then why are you talking to me in the first place?” Asked Iris,
amazed that she had found someone with more pride than herself, no matter
how insane she obviously was.
“I...”
At that moment, the half-closed door which Li had come through
burst open and in ran the exact bodily double of Li with two exceptions.
One, her hair constantly changed colors and shape, and two, she had one blue
eye and one green, compared to Li’s dark, penetrating ones.
Her torn fishnet body suit under the rags she was wearing caught on
the arm of the chair as she moved and tumbled her to the ground, where she
fell happily on her butt and laughed at Li’s obvious embarrassment. Getting
back up again, she skipped over to Iris and, her nose an inch away from Iris’,
asked her in a solemn tone of voice if she had any peanut butter.
“Um...sorry. Why do you want that?” Iris asked, as she watch Li glare
into her double’s untroubled eyes. The girl sniffed.
“I need it to fix my dress.” She said gesturing towards her rags.
Li gave a sigh. “This is Delirium, my daughter.”
“She can’t be your daughter!” Iris said haughtily. “She’s the same age you are!”
Delirium, who had never once taken her eyes off Iris, stopped blowing
multicolored spit bubbles to give a small, wide-eyed smile. “I am?”
“No you’re not!” Li replied sharply. “You just look like me ‘cause you
once long ago decided you wanted to be like me! That’s all!” She turned her
steel glare on Iris. “If you want to get through this night retaining the same
shape you’re in now, I’d suggest that you shut up!”
“Hardly.” Iris replied in disgust, then gracefully sat down next to Li’s
daughter. “And what’s your name?” She asked, doing a not-to-shabby impression of her third grade teacher.
“Her name’s Delirium, I told you!” Li snapped, obviously hating every
minute of being in both the company of her daughter and the ‘mortal’.
“Guess what she’s the goddess of?” She said dryly.
“She’s just mad ‘cause I’m more powerful than her,” Del told her with
a little conspirators grin, then blew a raspberry towards Li, which turned into
the selfsame piece of fruit and struck the raging goddess in the forehead.
Delirium giggled.
Normally, Iris didn’t really like kids, but though Delirium acted like
one, she still could insult Li and get away with it.
“You are?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Del said, giggling as a silver fish appeared and began swimming
around her head singing ‘Inna Goda Divida’. “She’s just a selfish river
goddess. I’m the ruler of all anarchy and the happiness that’s bred in
chaos.” Del pointed at Li with a small, sticky finger. A slimy green frog fell
from nowhere onto Li’s head, much to her distaste. “Li can’t stand the fact
that my father is the great Zeus himself and hers is just Pan, the god of
goats and all things smelly.” Li finally succeeded in detaching the frog from
her hair and threw it at Del, which immediately transformed into a harmless
butterfly that fluttered off into the breeze.
Del burst into a fresh outburst of giggles which made Iris, much to
her wonder, want to join in. There was just something about watching a potential enemy be embarrassed in front of your very eyes. Almost made
you forget that you were sitting in the midst of two very unreliable goddesses.
Did I just think that? She asked herself. And to her surprise, she found
that she did believe Li enough to think that the two women weren’t exactly
human. Not what she’d call goddess material, though.
Li walked up to her and snapped her fingers an inch away from Iris’
face, not that dissimilar from the classic actions of inner city African-
American females. “Are you ready to hear my story or aren’t you?” The
beautiful ‘goddess’ asked, her nose wrinkled in distaste at having to be near
Iris. Or her daughter, Iris thought as Li glared.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She replied.
“Good.” Li sat down on chair, which was the only piece of furniture in
the room, leaving Iris and Delirium to sit on the floor in front of her, the
latter doing so proudly.
“Once, sometime in the early 20th century, lived an older woman
named Ade, and her husband Andy. These two lived happy lives until one day
they died together in a large fire.”
Delirium nodded sadly, and Iris watched with interest as ripe cherries
grew out of her hair and fell to ground, exploding in a burst of red. Li didn’t
say anything during this, and Iris realized she was waiting for Delirium to
continue on with the story. The last cherry broke open and spattered glitter
all over the water-color stains on the wooden floor and Del turned her
attention to the now silent story teller.
“Do you want me to tell it?”
Li sniffed. “Hades gave me orders to let you in on some of it.”
Del gave a smile which would have made Mona Lisa’s look standard.
“ButI thought you didn’t like me?” She asked Li innocently.
“Just get on with it!”
“Okay, okay...So anyway, Me and Li never came down to the underworld
much those days a long time ago. The mortal ghosts were becoming stronger
by the minute with their cruel nasty thoughts and ideas. Every day there
were fights amongst the staff of Hades and the shades. The staff always
won, but lately it had been only by a thread. When Ade came down there
with her hubby, she saw a wounded fury, one of the female tormenters of
the damned spirits, lying helpless and chained next to a group of newly dead
shades.” Delirium paused. “I don’t like the furies at all,” She nodded
solumely, “They’re even meaner than Li.”
Li glared at her daughter. “Delirium, if you don’t get on with the story
I will make sure one of them visits you while you sleep.” She growled. Del
stuck out her tongue.
“Anywho, the ghosts had stolen the fury’s scorpion-tail whip and
were going to use it on her, and hurt her! When Ade saw what they were
going to do, she rushed over and tried her very very best to convince them
to quit, but the shades rudely pushed her aside and began striking the poor
Fury with a rage only a villain could possess. Ade screamed as she saw what
was being done, and Andy, upon hearing her wail, rushed the man and knocked
the weapon from his grasp. Ade ran over and picked up the weapon, and,
without a moment’s hesitation, handed it to the Fury. And, as they say, ‘Hell
hath no fury like a woman scorned.’ Pun intended.”
Li broke in, sticking her tongue out right back at her daughter. “With
divine rage, the punisher of the damned sent the group of shades, save her
two benefactors, to the land of Taurtarus, which you might call Hell. There
they were clothed with flesh and...” Here Li broke off and glanced at
Delirium, who was listening intently. “...well, you get the picture. At last her
revenge sated, the fury, whose name was Jiang Wei, accompanied the pair to
her lord and master, Hades, god of the dead.
“Our master listened well as he heard the story Jiang Wei had to tell
and smiled upon the two quiet shades with compassion that had never been
before seen in the Land of the Dead. He told the two that he hadn’t heard
of such a noble act in his kingdom for a thousand years, and that he would
reward them for their effort. ‘Ask but any wish you so desire, and it’ll be
granted to you.’ He said.
“Ade glanced at Andy and a single thought went through their heads.”
Delirium looked sad and whispered simultaniously along with Li,
“Children.”
Li continued. “You see, they had grown up without any babes to leave
in the world, and that caused terrible sadness to the husband and wife.
Cruel fate had left the loving couple sterile, so they had no children to live
their lives in the future. Ade and Andy explained this to Hades, who looked
upon them with more and more respect as their tale drew to a close.
“ ’You could have asked for a new life amongst the living, or power, or
titles, but instead you asked for children, which bares more power than any
of the above. Such a wise choice deserves to be rewarded.” And with that
he granted them many wonderful things.
“Ade first was granted the ability to have as many children as she
wanted quickly and painlessly. Secondly, Hades transplanted the essence of
his God seed into Andy so that the children would be divine in nature.
Thirdly, he granted them permission to live back up in the mortal world with
all their wishes, and with that, he bid farewell. The sister of the fury Jiang
Wei, whose name was Diabola, was told to accompany them on their trip to
the mortal world. With that, the four set off, drawing the attention of
every pathetic shade and spirit in the neither regions.”
Li suddenly stopped and blinked for a moment. Delirium broke in.
“Poor little Ade and Andy must have had the worst luck in the world.” She
continued, frowning sadly as the little mice in her eye lashes began to weep
petals of silver and gold. “The fury Diabola was nasty and jealous of all the
nice things Uncle Hades gave them. She thought that she deserved them
and decided on the way that the two ‘sniveling mortals’ had to be punished
for their insolence in ‘demanding’ these things from her Lord. So she took
out a spool of magic, invisible thread and spun it around the two, placing a
curse on them. She made it so that every child Ade would give birth to
would be born deformed. Poor, little Ade didn’t know that and gave birth to
many children. The first two, Amy and Antonio, twins, stopped growing by
the time they were six. Ade wasn’t tall herself, but the two barely reached
up to her waste in height. Her third baby had a harelip, the fourth a huge
birth mark that covered her face. This continued to her twelfth child, who
was born lacking the proper number of fingers and toes, when Diabola
decided to check in and see how things were doing.”
Li stepped in. “Twenty years had passed since the birth of Amy and
Antonio, and the fury chuckled cruelly, thinking of all the pain they must of
lived through. But, to her immediate anger, the first 7 children had lived
happy and content with their own, loving families. The fury waited, and saw
that every one of Ade’s malformed progeny, despite the curse, had fallen in
love, married, and had perfectly normal children. At this the wench
screamed and cried and wailed a banshee’s wail. She couldn’t believe that it
was possible the ugly could live happily ever after. But she stopped her
caterwauling when she realized that, if the ugly ones were beautiful on the
inside, then the beautiful could, in turn be ugly on the inside. She cackled
and fled to the then pregnant Ade, and worked her magic on the unborn
babe inside, making sure that when it was born, it would be beautiful and fair
of face, but vile and black of heart.
“Ade gave birth, to Andy’s pride, an adorable girl-child. They took the
thirteenth babe home and raised her well. She grew more graceful and
lovely every day, but also more cruel. For example, one day her parents
caught her torturing mice in the back yard, keeping them for days in clear,
plastic boxes where the mice slowly died of dehydration and heat. They
took her back and yelled at her, but that only made sure that she performed
her foul deeds in secrecy, growing more and more evil as the years went by.”
Delirium blew a bubble which floated over to where Iris was sitting,
and in it a picture formed. It was of a cat kept tied up by it’s tail with a
short, taunt rope. A small bowl of food was in front of it, but just out of
the reach of the animal. “Every day, she’d take freshly roasted meat to the
bowl. The scent drove it mad, and chewed off it’s tail in angst to get to the
food. She killed it before it could get there.” Del blew another bubble, this
one of a small little girl sitting solemnly on a bed. A very familiar looking
little girl. “Eventually she took a mate, who she discarded soon afterwards,
but not in time to avoid becoming pregnant. No one’s really sure why she
went and had it. An abortion was within her reach and if she’d wanted one,
she would have got it. Perhaps she was so malicious that she had turned
masochistic, and wanted to brutal towards herself as well by the pains
of labor.”
Iris frowned. “But I thought you said...”
Li raised an eyebrow. “If you wouldn’t interupt, you would have known
that gift of easy birth had visited Ade only, and, sadly, all of her children
were suceptable. But as for if she actually punished herself, who knows?
All we know is that the child was born and she treated it like dirt, but at the
same time trained it to become as cruel and merciless as she. The babe
learned well, and the mother discarded it and left it to the cold streets.
The girl was picked up by an orphanage, and it was adopted soon after, for it
had the full-blown beauty of it’s mother. And shortly after that, Ade died,
followed by Andy a day later, and they were invited into the glorious
paradise of the Elesian Fields. But for the child, it grew in it’s...”
Iris interrupted. “Would you please stop calling the child ‘it’!?” She
asked, a pleading look in her eyes.
Li looked at her, a strangely pleasant look in her eyes. “Why ever do
you ask?”
Iris looked at her desperately, silently begging her to not make her
answer the question.
Li gave a small, cold grin. She was enjoying seeing her squirm. “Why
are you so concerned at how we talk about someone you don’t even know?”
She gave a mock show of sudden realization. “Or do you?”
Iris looked down at her ankle, at the scar that had been there since
she could remember, since the day she had played with Mommy’s make-up.
“She’s me, isn’t she?” Iris said to herself, coldly matter-of-factly. She sat
there rubbing the offending spot unconsciously, staring into a memory world
which only she could see. “I’m the grandchild of Ade.”
Li laughed, a whooping sound that was completely different from her
earlier laughs. Clapping her hands, she earned a glare from Del, but ignored
her, as usual. “Give the girl a cigar!” Li giggled and moved so she could stare
at Iris directly in the face. “And do you know what? I forgot to mention
part of the curse. Stupid me! You see, the fury saw that even though the
thirteenth child was evil, she was enjoying it, so she placed yet another
curse upon her. She said that every time that the girl, or any of her
progeny would touch someone, the people they came in contact with would
inherit a bit of evil, and also a bit of beauty to go along with it.” She patted
the shocked Iris on the head and gave a sickening wink. “And guess what?”
She chortled violently, then grabbed Iris by the collar so that she couldn’t
move. “You’ve caused an outbreak of evil sooooo big, even I’m jealous! Every
time someone touches one of the infected people, they get a bit of evil,
however a lesser amount, inside them. And it goes on, and on, and on, and on,
and on!” She crackled, thinking of all the buried pain Iris must be feeling.
Delirium watched helplessly as Iris fled the room.
“Why are you acting so mean?” She asked her mother angrily, “You
were never this nasty before!”
Li flashed her child a grin. “Because I am.” She answered smugly.
“It’s what I do.”
“But she’s upset and all you can do is laugh at her!” Del cried, angry at
how Li was acting.
Li suddenly sat up and grabbed Delirium by the hair. Startled, she let
herself be dragged to a sitting position where Li gazed at her through cruel
eyes Del had never seen before. “I used to have a job where I could do this
all day, and I’d sing their sorrows and dance their demons over and over and
over again.” She was singing now, a high pitched, terrible sound which dissolved into
laughter every second or two. “And now you...”she said the word ‘you’ with
such distaste that Del shivered and two of the frogs she had singing in her
hair shattered into white powder. “And now you are probably going to tell on
me to Big Daddy Hades that I’ve gone and stolen another body, now aren’t
you?” She sighed and examined her fingernails for chips in the polish. “This
body certainly is beautiful, but it is also very stupid. After all, the moment
you say a fury’s name, you invite her attention.” She turned and glared at
Del. “And you never want to invite a fury’s attention! Ever!” She spat,
seething with sudden hatred.
Del realized that something bad was happening here. “You’re Diabo...”
She cut herself off, remembering the once-mother’s words. The woman
nodded, and made a gesture for her to go on. “And you stole into my
mother’s body when she said your name?”
“Yep!” Once-Li sang out in triumph. “And before you ask, I didn’t
choose you because you don’t have the right personality. You see, this
person here...”She tapped at Li’s head, “she has anger in her. Burning anger
at everyone who’s ever insulted her. You...”she pointed. “You don’t have
anything like that at all.”
Del felt like crying for a minute, then remembered something. She
had power! More power than Li or Diabola or whoever. She turned and gave
the Once-Li a small, sorta confused smile. “Wait, though, you’re wrong. I’m
usually the one that’s wrong but you’re wrong, this time. You see, dispite
what you may of thought, I really like Li. Seems you thought I didn’t. You’re
wrong about a lot of things, actually. See, everyone has anger.” She paused
and gazed at the seething woman with an eerie innocence that made Diabola
want to gag. Del opened her eyes very wide and wet her lips. Both of her eyes were poison green.
“Do you really wanna face mine?” And with that, she pushed a flood of
power into Li, causing her to shake and convulse as the energy filled her in
every pore. Her mouth dropped open and a dark howling came out and filled
the room with the scent of ashes and death. Then it was gone as the last
spec of power drained from Delirium’s fingertips.
“Ow.” She heard someone say.
“Li?” She asked, afraid that she might of done something bad to her
system. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” Li rasped. “Go find Iris. I have a bad feeling.”
“Are you...”
“I’m fine!” She snapped. “Now go and make sure Iris is all right!
Hades will kill me if she gets hurt.”
“ ‘Kay.” Delirium got up, wobbled a bit, and somehow managed to
stumble outside.
“Iris!” She shouted and examined the crowd. She was too drained for
a locating spell, and just about everyone in the entire world seemed to be on
the street today. “Iris, where are you?”
* * *
She sat quietly in the near empty restaurant table, hugging her legs
and shaking. She didn’t have her portfolio anymore, and she doubted she’d
ever see
it, or the keys again. She certainly wasn’t going back there. She knew that
if she did, she’d probably try to commit suicide or something. But then
again, she
thought, suicide might not be so bad. She sat there for a moment, suddenly
aware of everyone one she’d touched, everyone her mother had touched;
they’d all gone bad. She remembered the little girl. Stacy, her name was.
Was she going to be evil also? She wondered. Was that little girl, that
innocent little girl going to grow up cruel, hating everyone who got in her
path and harming those who got in her way. “Like Mamma did me...” she
whispered and rubbed her ankle, remembering her mother’s face when she
came in the door, and saw her there smearing lipstick on clumsily, blue eye
shadow seemingly everywhere except on her lids, and took the scissors and...
“Hey, Lady, wanna buy a calendar?” A voice asked her, startling her
out of her day dream. A shoddy looking man stood in front of her, holding a
greased up calendar with a small kitty on the cover. “Only three bucks.”
“No thank you.” She whispered, unable to keep her voice from shaking.
He leaned over to her, his torn jacket brushing her arm. “You sure?
They’re one of a kind. Very...”
“Don’t touch me!” She shrieked and scrambled out of the chair in
terror that she had come in contact with him. People were looking over at
her. Let them look, she thought as she watched the man give her the finger
and stalk away. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she saw a small, pink
blur. Stacy, she thought and raced towards the little girl, now pausing for
breath.
“Stacy,” She said, kneeling in front of the little girl, “I’m so sorry that
I hit you. Please forgive me. I really didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t mean
to hurt anyone, but I did and I know that I’ll never make up for what I did to
you. I’m so sorry.” She finished, and gazed at her, pleading for some sort of
forgiveness. The little girl stared at her for a moment, then, giving a cruel
smile exactly like the one Li had given her, and spit in her face.
“DADDY!!!!” She screamed, “SHE’S HERE!!!”
Before Iris could do anything, a long board connected with Iris’ neck,
slamming her into the harsh brick wall of the building. The man and his
daughter laughed and walked away, never caring to check if she was alive or
not.
“Iris!” She heard vaguely as Delirium came rushing up. Small bits of
glitter poured from the goddess’ mismatched eyes as she felt the poor
mortal go limp in her hands. “You meanies!” She whispered angrily and gently
closed Iris’ eyes for the final time. She glared at the direction the two had
gone, and tapped her slowly growing reserve of magic to turn herself
invisible and followed the offending pair.
They were at a hot-dog stand ordering some soft drinks. The old man
gave the cups to the father and accepted the money, but at the same time,
brushed his thumb. The man watched them go, then snorted and spit into
cart where the meat was kept. He looked around to make sure no one saw,
then continued his cleaning his wares.
Del stood a moment and tried her best to think. The disease would
continue spreading no matter what she tried. But, she thought, if I start a
good disease, it’ll make things good wherever there might be bad. So she
sat down on the concrete and began to concentrate, but kept on messing up
because the mortals kept on stepping on her. So she floated up to a window
sill and sat down gracefully. She opened her hands and made in her mind a
gorgeous, shimmering
butterfly that dripped glitter as it flew. When she opened her eyes, it was
there, in her hands. Taking a box of crayons from air she colored in its
colorless wings with bright reds and electric blues, aristocrat purples and
lion eye yellow. She sang a high-pitched song as she watched it fly down to
where a stern business woman was walking briskly away from a pleading
beggar. It alighted on her shoulder, and the woman suddenly burst into a
smile and handed the homeless man her wallet. He leaped up and stared at
her, confused, thinking that maybe this was a trick, and she wanted him in
trouble or something, but then she touched his shoulder and he grinned and
gave her a hug. Delirium giggled as she saw this and clapped her hands in
joy. The butterfly fluttered away, landing on a person every time it got
tired, and then flew some more.
She got up, and went back to the building and made a thousand more
butterflies with her mother and Uncle. Their shiny glitter got all over
everything, of course, but this time even Uncle didn’t care, and with her and
Li’s help, transported them all to major cities across the world. He made
Diabola help too, and in the end punished her by making her keep track of all
the butterflies so she’d see what good they’d do and learn. Sometimes
Delirium helped also, and if you can, you can see them together, an ugly,
swearing old hag stumbling alongside a wild, skipping girl as they follow the
path of a butterfly.
