The Shadows of Death

 

By: Kendra Luehr

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 1

 

+ Embittered Longing +

 

 

      "Mommy....what are you doing?"

 

      Faye sighed as she drew away from the view port and turned to face her daughter, her heart heavy and swollen due to excessive yearning over a particular individual. "Nothing, Aurora.....go back to sleep, sweetie."

 

      "But mommy, I have sad feelings that won't leave," she insisted fretfully, clinging to her stuffed animal in anguish. "You have to make them go away!"

 

      Faye sighed, murmuring, "Alright....come here, sweetheart."

 

      The child obediently strode over to her mother and allowed her to hold her close, not realizing that she was crying.

 

      "Everything will be alright," Faye whispered tearfully, only pulling her daughter closer. "Just tell me what's bothering you, sweetie."

 

      Aurora's angelic face reflected hurt and bewilderment as she mumbled, "All of my friends have daddies but me....where's MY daddy, mommy?"

 

      Faye bit her lip as her vision blurred over with a veil of tears, her heart feeling as if it had just been split in two right down the center.

 

      Just looking at Aurora made her miserable since she had her father's green, wavy hair with a few violet streaks in it. What was especially unsettling was the fact that she had his mismatched eyes, too, except Spike had lost one eye in an accident; it wasn't genetic. Whenever her gaze would lock with Aurora's, an icy-cold chill would tremble down her spine like a miniature earthquake.

 

      "Mommy?"

 

      "Wha?," Faye demanded, just getting it together. Once she had realized that Aurora was still waiting for her question to be answered, she began softly, "Your daddy is out there somewhere, sweetheart, but its better off that you never come to know him, ok? He didn't give a damn about either of us, so.........he left."

 

      "Daddy doesn't love me?," Aurora asked in a hurt whisper, her bottom lip trembling with vast pain and confusion.

 

      "Oh....well, I-I don't know, sweetheart," Faye admitted softly, gently cradling her daughter in her arms. "If it helps any, I love you more than anything else in the galaxy."

 

      Aurora gave her a warm smile. "I love you, too, mommy."

 

      Faye returned her daughter's smile of pure innocence, gazing on at the beautiful little girl in admiration.

 

      "I never want her to fall in love with a man," she realized, bitterly standing up with Aurora in her arms as her smile melted down into a miserable frown. "I don't want for love to destroy her as it has so recklessly destroyed me."

 

       Aurora snuggled closer to her mother and closed her eyes, sucking her thumb with contentment. This only made Faye weaker, tears streaming down her cheeks as she began to carry her child on to her room.

 

      Once she had carefully placed her daughter into bed and had tucked her in, Faye lingered in the bedroom doorway, thinking, "I love her SO much.....I-I only wish that I could give her what she needs to live a good life. I can't afford to send her to school where she belongs, let alone buy her new clothes. Oh, if only Spike hadn't run out on us.....she actually WOULD have a father and a loving atmosphere, which she so desperately needs! DAMN HIM FOR BEING SO COLD AND HEARTLESS! DAMN HIM TO HELL!!!"

 

      With this thought burning like a raging fire within the vast chambers of her mind, Faye carefully shut the door behind her so that she wouldn't awake Aurora, then shivered, wondering why the room had been so terribly frigid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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