Momma Sybil's home

  Momma Sybil is seated at the parlor table. The dark curtains are drawn back, allowing dim light to filter in from the dirty window. A tall white candle stands lit in the center of the table. Sybil's head is bent as she meticulously studies the long line of tarot cards lined up in front of her.

  "It is you!" A deep male voice calls from the doorway.

  Sybil jerks her head upward, eyes wide and weary. She studies the large man standing in the entryway of her otherwise sacred home. She hadn't heard him approach or come in. So absorbed was she in the disturbing revelation unfolding in the cards. Sybil's breath catches in her throat and she does not speak. She only stares at the large stranger, struggling to place him.

  "I've never been in here," the man says.

  He steps further into the parlor, seemingly admiring the celestial pattern on the window curtains. After a brief study of Momma Sybil's curtains, the man returns his gaze to Sybil's terrified face. His voice drops an octave and he grins wryly.

  "But then again, I've only lived in town a year. Used to be, I only traveled here for animal feed. Started doing that back when my father owned the store in Fenton. You remember Fenton...Don't you, Aurora?"

  At the use of her real name, Sybil climbs from her high-backed chair, backing cautiously away from the slyly approaching man. Her eyes are now even wider with terror. It can't be. It simply can't be. Not now. Despite changing her name and her appearance; despite her grievous injury and disability, the son of her destroyer has finally found her.

  "What are you doing here?" Sybil/Aurora screams. "Why can't you just leave me alone? I didn't cause you any trouble. Why did you have to seek me out?"

  "Oh...I didn't seek you out, Aurora. But...You are rather hard to forget."

  The man's eyes slide over Aurora's curvy body, stopping at her mangled leg. His brow creases and he bites the inside of his jaw, as if mauling over whether or not Momma Sybil's disability is a deal-breaker or not. From the lowering of his eyelids, Sybil can guess the final conclusion.

  "You really should have come back to town, Aurora," the man says. "My father never meant to hurt you. He would have made sure your leg was fixed up real nice and pretty. All your suffering has been for nothing, Aurora. Why didn't you just come back? Why did you have to fight it?"

  "What do you mean? You weren't even there! You didn't see what you're father did to me! You were only a kid. How could you know anything?!" Sybil protests, her chest heaving from fear and a need to flee.

  "I know...I loved you," the man says, sliding closer, eyes growing thin in his face. "Even then, I knew I loved you. You were always so pretty, Aurora. Every time, you came to the store...It was me who would sneak those licorice sticks into the bottom of your bag. I knew how much you liked them. My father knew that too. When you thanked him...He couldn't help but take the credit. He wanted you so very badly. Maybe even as much as I did."

  Momma Sybil glances down at the cards spread out on the table. Had she read them incorrectly? Is today the day the big man kills her? What will become of Claudia and Jeremiah? Will he kill them too? She hadn't seen anything like that in the cards. But maybe that is because they will live long after she is gone. Can one see a future they are not a part of?

  "I told my father about my feelings one day. And he beat the hell out of me," the man continues, approaching still closer. "He told me never to say that again. Said I shouldn't touch you because you belonged to him. I was there that night, Aurora. I saw you hit my father. He would never have thrown you off that bridge if you hadn't hit him. My father loved you. He told me so. Things were different back then, Aurora. Dad had to be extra careful. He loved you. And so do I."

  Sybil's mouth gapes as she absorbs the horrid words oozing from the big man's lips. Does he really believe the words he is saying? Or is he trying to trick her? The same way his father had tricked her many years ago, convincing young Aurora that his rough entrance into her body was to be expected and accepted. That his terrible bites and his hard slaps were only part of the game.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  How many times had the big man's father held her down, his teeth clamping down on the soft flesh of her breasts. How many bruises had she nursed while sleeping in oversized boxes under the bridge? How many times had she packed her underwear with ice to numb the pain? Far too many.

  "Well, my father is dead," the man says, stepping into Aurora's face. He reaches up and grips her chin in a strong hand. "He is not here to tell me not to touch you."

  "Stop! Please! Just stop! You've already raped my daughter. You have her living in fear...Of both your wrath and her husband's. What the hell are you even doing!? What is wrong with this family of yours?! Are you spawn of the evil one? Why do you do these things?"

  The man's eyes flash with anger and he grips Aurora's chin even tighter. His mouth twitches under his dark mustache. With a loud sigh, he wrenches the slightly older woman's face close to his, angling her head so that he can land a hard kiss on her trembling lips. But that is as far as he goes.

  Releasing Momma Sybil, he roughly shoves her away. Aurora nearly stumbles, her bad leg threatening to collapse beneath her. The man whirls and storms toward the door.

  "You'll regret this, Aurora! I promise you that!"

  Without another word, the big man strides through the parlor and out the front door. Momma Sybil watches him as he goes, her body shivering from head to toe. She contemplates her future. Can she afford to pack up and leave again? Does she dare leave Claudia or her young grandson? Especially, knowing that the hateful man may hurt either one of them?

  The decision is made for Momma Sybil. Three months later, her violated body is found floating in a nearby reservoir.

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  Jeremiah stares at the star chart taped on his wall. The chart of the cosmos given to him by his other grandmother, the grandmother he is not to speak of. The grandmother found brutally murdered many months ago.

  In young Aquarius' right hand, he massages a deck of tarot cards. His eyes lose focus as he remembers the previous evening. His father had come home very angry. Loud yells and noises had come from downstairs, followed by his mother's scream and a horrific crash. His mother had been taken to the hospital with a broken arm. The story was, she'd fallen down the back stairs. Jeremiah knows better.

  The big man hasn't been around as much. But he still comes. He was here not long before the angry fuss between Jeremiah's mother and father. Mother and the big man had played their usual game. Like his mother had said, Father was not happy about it. Jeremiah had taken it upon himself to leave another drawing in his father's lunch box. He'd wanted to see the big man punished for his games. Instead, Mr. Clayborne had returned home and punished Jeremiah's mother. Is that how the game is played?

  Jeremiah looks at the deck of tarot cards in his hand and grins.

  Many Years Later

  Aquarius stands just inside the woodline. A small blue sedan is parked at the end of a winding path. Sabrina's car. From his spot near the woods, the man is able to see everything through his night vision binoculars. Sabrina and the large man from his youth are in there. The movements of their bodies making the car bounce.

  The future killer's blood boils. Once again, the man has taken what does not rightfully belong to him. Sabrina's beauty has condemned her to the same fate as his mother and grandmother. The large man will not stop. Not until he has had his fill.

  Aquarius continues to watch the animated copulation of the two parties within Sabrina's sedan. Every so often he catches a tantalizing view of the young woman's shapely body. Most of the time, Sabrina is hidden by the big man's broad back and shoulders.

  Pressing Sabrina hard against the passenger window, the wide man kisses her neck and chest. Finishing that, he uses one hand to angle her head, fiercely kissing her lips.

  Aquarius stands like a statue for close to an hour. He watches the large man make love to the woman he so desperately wants to love. The woman so much like his mother, whose internal warmth he had also craved, and taken for himself.

  The day he had gone into his mother, Claudia had slapped him repeatedly across the face. She'd called him every name under the sun. By then, Aquarius' father had left them, and Jeremiah had been much bigger. Almost as large as the man now having energetic sex with Sabrina. Aquarius had taken Claudia without much difficulty.

  The big man had not been happy. Without the presence of Mr. Clayborne, the big man came around a lot more regularly. Although, he still kept his own family on the other side of town. The towering man had ordered Claudia to send Jeremiah away. If she didn't; he would. So, Jeremiah had left.

  Aquarius had eeked out a sad existence doing odd jobs and living in dank hotels. Eventually marrying a prostitute, Jeremiah tried to settle down. Until the fateful day, he met Sabrina Engle. The beautiful young woman with eyes like Momma Sybil--his murdered grandmother. And whose body was like that of a sex goddess.

  The year Claudia committed suicide, Sabrina turned eighteen. Waiting for just the right time, Aquarius had invited the young woman into his bed. While Janet made money on the streets, Jeremiah and Sabrina made love atop Janet's silk sheets. For an entire evening, they had rolled turbulently on the queen-sized bed. Sabrina's wonderful body had given Jeremiah immeasurable pleasure.

  The big man had not been happy about that either.