Eye by Marianne Micros

Author:Marianne Micros
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781771832588
Publisher: Guernica Editions
Published: 2018-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

The Cave of Lust*

DARKNESS. DEEP INSIDE the rock. Tunnel that never ends. I do not dare go any further. I hide in the corner, hoping he will not find me. I hear breathing at the cave entrance, step back a little further, touch something soft, almost scream but cover my mouth with my hand. The soft object moves and gasps. “Shhh,” I say.

After a few minutes, the creature at the cave entrance moves away, and I turn toward the soft thing behind me. “What is it? Who are you?” I ask.

“Just me, an old person here, just nothing, a thing, a piece of scrap, a used rag, hardly even a woman anymore, but still a woman, still with all parts of me intact and somewhat functioning. I am here to save you. When he comes for you, I will go to him, satisfy his desires, keep him from devouring you.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I was once you. Someday you will be me.”

I don’t know what she means but I am quiet.

“Sleep now,” she says. “He won’t come back for a while.”

So I do. I sleep but dream of a caged beast, playing the bars as if playing a xylophone. He has forgotten to ask for his freedom. He just plays music.

The old woman shakes me. “Wake up, here eat something while you can.”

I take what she hands me, put it in my mouth. It is as hard as a rock. I take it out of my mouth with a gasp.

“Hold it in your mouth for a few minutes. It will soften. It’s just bread. I’m sorry I don’t have anything else. But there is water. He always brings fresh water.”

Once the bread is softened, it is not bad. I chew it and swallow it. I’ll need my strength. Somehow I’m going to get out of here.

“Tell me who you are,” I ask her.

“Nobody, really. He took me from my parents, brought me here when I was young. I’ve belonged to him ever since.”

“How terrible! Did you never try to escape?”

“At first. But, now, this is my life. I can help others, the young, the virgins. It is not your time yet. I will let him take me, and you can run away.”

A roaring fills the cave. Something dark is blocking the entrance. He is huge and terrifying, a dark shadow, a beast, he is death. “Is he death?” I ask the woman.

“The death of innocence, he is. But not death to life. He lets you keep on living. That is worse than death.”

He is moving towards us. I shrink back into the darkness. The old woman pushes me behind her and whispers, “Hide.” I go as far back as I can. I feel the earth behind me and find a blanket, crouch underneath it.

“Where is she?” he asks. “I want her. It’s her turn!”

“Not yet,” the old woman tells him. “She is too weak and tired. Give her a chance to get her energy back. You don’t want a limp rag.

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