MicroHorror

She twisted her body and let her arms glide upward, crisscrossing, fingers clasped together, her arms supple and writhing, a swan’s neck. She stood up on tippy toes and tried to spin around on the soft floor, she felt gentle and light, breezing through the room, on a downy cloud. She closed her eyes and she was on stage, so sensual and slim, as fragile as a bird, held tight and strong, firm yet so precisely, a big man’s hands, a wonderful man’s hands, strong muscle and hard jawed.

She stopped and held her hands out to the front of her, eyes still closed. She was in a forest, she was a fox, an energy possessed, eyes bright and darting, she could feel the hunters, didn’t even need to see them, their scent was strong on the wind and they were clumsy. Today they hunted without dogs, she would win this time. She laughed and scuttled into the dry brush that grew along the banks of the stream.

She opened her eyes and squinted, hunkering down, still, so quiet. She peered cautiously around the room, nothing stirred. She relaxed and sat cross-legged in the middle, her hands resting, fingers dangling off her knees. The daylight almost done, a latticed window of sun on the floor in the corner, dusky, the evening lights still not turned on.

She thought of Meredith and where she might be now. She missed her. Her sister. Gone for so long that she couldn’t remember when, or even why. She thought of daytrips to Aberaeron and eating honey ice cream as the wind roared along the harbor wall, salty air, the frigid breeze of late September.

Sometimes she remembered what the newspapers had said about them, the few things she’d been able to see, been allowed to see, but she knew better. She knew that it wasn’t her fault or Meredith’s. She knew that their Daddy was a bad man.

They’d told her, the nurse with the auburn hair always tied up in a top-heavy bun and the small bald man with the tiny round glasses and buggy eyes, that soon it would be her eighteenth birthday and then she would have to go somewhere else, that they wouldn’t be able to look after her anymore. They said that she might be able to spend some time with Meredith again before she went to the new place.

Sometimes she remembered what had happened to their Daddy, what they’d done, but mostly she danced and smiled. She was going to be such a wonderful star one day and she wanted to make sure she had it just right for when Meredith came to visit.

She closed her eyes again and spread her wings wide, very wide, even wider. She took a deep breath and leaned forward ever so slightly. She held her head high and proud, her mouth wide with a smile, ecstasy anticipation for the kill. She pulled her feet together and arched her back. Below her she spotted a mouse and began to circle the room readying herself for the dive.