This is all part of Hourglass 'verse--stuff that won't go into the finished product. I'll post all of my prompt responses for the contest under the title "Hymns for a Dead Sister".
[003, Beginnings]
___
MY BOMBAZINE DOLL, or,
A RECOLLECTION OF THE BRIEF EXISTENCE OF MARY ELIZABETH SMART
[I. GENESIS]
"I love you," was what she whispered, though they both knew it was but another in the series of untruths that would plague their minds and their beings. He laid on his back, tracing the spiderweb cracks in the ceiling with his eyes and waiting for the inevitable to come.
[II. A WARNING SIGN]
It was her sixteenth birthday the day she placed his hand on her nightgown and they both felt the imprint of prenatal bone against flesh. "It's been three months September," she said, and watched him carefully for signs of remembrance.
"Closer, then."
"Yes."
He turned the page in his book and frowned at some phrase scrawled too small, pushing his spectacles farther up his nose in the attempt to make sense of it. "Have you told my mother?"
"I thought you had."
"I considered it a private matter," he said. "Something for only women to talk of."
"It's a happy matter, Jonathan. You can tell her."
He said nothing. She kissed his cheek as she ought and laid on her side, breathing into her pillow and trying, as he had, to forget exactly which day it was.
[III. WHAT LOVE FORGOT]
Dear Mr. Smart,
I have so many things to tell you! Firstly, ----- told me all about babies and what they are like, so I feel very grown up. She said that babies are difficult for girls even when they are still in their stomachs, so I hope your wife is feeling all right, because I do not like to be sick either. I hope she is very nice to you. She is very lucky that she is a girl and not a --- like me.
Secondly, I (and ---, too!) will be turning ten in two weeks. She shall take us to the theatre to see "Paris Flowers", which I have heard has very beautiful music. I know that you are very fond of music so I have been learning to play the violin. I am not very good but maybe when you come to ----- to visit I shall play for you. It makes me sad that your wrists were always sore so that you couldn't play the violin. Well, I hope I will be able to make you feel better.
Thirdly, I have been thinking about you a lot. I ---- you, even though you said it is a bad idea. Though, now that I am almost ten maybe I will be old enough to ---. I have been thinking about when you left, as well. I am sorry that I did not want you to --- my----. It felt very nice when you --- my ----, though, so maybe we can do that when you come to visit. Maybe now that I am ten I shall be old enough for ------- though I am still very scared. But you can do as you please, because I --- you and I want you to --- me too.
It is strange to think that you will be a father! Do you think you will still --- me when you have a child? I do not want to be selfish, but maybe if your child and your wife go on a trip together you can come see me when you are alone.
I miss you very much.
------- -------.
[IV. UPON ARRIVAL]
When Mary was born, she felt nothing but cold.
Where is Jonathan?
Fetch him.
As her father held her to his chest for the first time, he wept bitterly until it felt like there was nothing to terra incognita but earthquakes and salt.
[V. 'TIS A GIFT]
The night he burned the letters was the night he took Mary to the river wrapped in silk, tucked into the breast of his coat so that the wool scratched at her cheeks. He knelt in the mud and made a cross upon her forehead with his thumb.
His lips parted, but there was nothing he could say to her.
As the water fell round her she was silent; his hands pressed her back against river silt until her mouth filled and she could breathe no longer.
It was simple.
[VI. WE ALL FALL DOWN]
Where is Mary?
I don't know.
Mary? Mary? Mary, my ----
But, as in her daughter before her, there was no breath left.
But that's a great thing.
Gender:
Points: 6090
Reviews: 1258