STORY OF THE CURSED

The despondency and disconsolateness that had clouded her existence for thirty years was lifted on the fall of August 1952.It was on this fateful day that Sarah Den-right felt a kind of ineffable felicity at the birth of her first and only child.Fate, it seemed, had finally harkened to her cry of poignancy and filled her soul with bliss and ecstasy.
For years on end she had been repudiated and brushed off by those she called next of kin. Innumerable times she had been mocked and ratified for her childlessness. But now everyone would know that the heavens had alleviated her gloom. They had nicknamed her the cursed woman of Clayton town for she had hit the sixty year old mark and had had nothing to show for the abounding marriages she had been into. Sarah had been married six times and it was either that her husbands asked for a divorce or they simply abandoned her (quite often with a note neatly stuffed in her bedside cabinet saying they couldn’t stand the mockery that came with hr childlessness).But now they would call her blessed …more like Mary from the bible whom they called the Favored one of God or perhaps like Elizabeth who had grown old and weary and remained barren till the Lord’s appointed time. Whichever the case, she was certain that all those who mocked her would wallow away in shame and embarrassment.Ignominy and stupefaction would follow them around and they’d have no choice but to apologize to her…she thought. The mere thought of her foes begging for her forgiveness sent her sprawling into a gleeful mood.
She gazed upon the wide heart shaped arresting face of her five minute old daughter. It was a look of love that dangled in her eyes. She whispered to herself, somewhat heartily…this one I will name Precious for to me she’ll forever remain invaluable and cherished. She leant forward to scrutinize Precious’s tiny face. Her deep blue eyes were large and set evenly apart sitting below her thinly plucked eyebrows that seemed to curve down as a natural extension of her sharp pointed nose. Her thin lips were painted bright red-rather more of a crimson red with a little tinge of apricot. Alas! The long wait had been worthwhile. Beautiful babies like Precious weren’t easy to come by you know.
AS she and her beloved baby left the hospital the next morning, an air of jubilance could be felt around her. She matched down the hospital corridors head held high in dignified pride. Her elegant walk down the road despite her advanced age was a testimony that her age long dreams had been fulfilled.
Sarah arrived home to meet an overly excited and gaiety husband, Patrick Simpsons. Patrick rushed to receive his wife and newborn daughter but he was in for a surprise. He stretched his arms-a clear indication that he was ready to receive his bundle of joy but Sarah’s next actions baffled him. She leapt back, held the child close to her and in a rather grotesque and unfamiliar voice, she bellowed “she’s mine and you can’t take her from me”. Sarah’s ferocity and seemingly inebriated stunt didn’t surprise Patrick as much as the fact that the woman standing in front of him withheld his daughter from him.

Abraham was startled by his wife’s behavior but he sure wasn’t letting her stop him from seeing his infant child. Once more, he stretched out his arms and moved forward one step towards Sarah who immediately ran outside upon this move by her husband-clutching tightly at the baby. She didn’t want to be separated from Precious. Precious was her life-and her life she wasn’t ready to part with. As she walked towards the barn, she mumbled a few words to herself or rather, to Precious “I won’t let them harm you my dear. They will never hurt you, I promise”
This marked the beginning of her disease.
The paranoia…..it had set in.
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Patrick was not the only person Sarah wouldn’t allow to see Precious. The neighbors too were barred from seeing the beautiful baby. The only way that Patrick could see his daughter is if he waited for his obviously insane wife to sleep(or like he liked to call her…his psychopathic deranged wife)that way, he’d sneak out of bed and tip toe to his baby’s room where he’d hold her and caress her trying his best not to make a sound or awaken the sleeping infant as this would awaken his loony wife.Of course the thought of living as a henpecked husband fired him up, but he was not about to leave his only daughter in the hands of a woman such as Sarah. Who knows what her crazy mind would lead her to do? Countless times he’d thought of eloping with Precious but he thought of how inexpedient it would be for little Precious to grow without a mother (though at this moment he knew that Sarah couldn’t quite be counted as a mother).Besides, he knew Sarah all too well. He knew that running away would only awaken her melancholia further and that she’d turn the entire universe upside down to find Precious.
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Soon little precious was going to school, which was a constant reminder to her mother that time was flying and she was fast aging. The kids in Sarah’s class would always tease her and make fun of her.
“Your mommy is a grizzled old fellow Presh”,they’d say.(Presh was a name that that kids had given precious –probably since Precious was too long for them)
“She’s got wrinkles all over her face and hands”, they’d say giggling and laughing as if what they said was an intensely humorous joke.
Of course Precious felt bad and she’d run away to the back of the class to hide and cry her eyeballs out. At home she’d sit by the fire place, a sad look imprinted on her heart shaped head. Sarah felt bad that it was because of her that little Presh had to suffer. She had vowed to protect Precious but how could she protect her against herself (Sarah that is).She felt a strong desire to revenge against those kids who brought tears to her angel’s eyes but how could she revenge yet she was the very reason why they made fun of Precious?
She’d try and console her little angel. She tried to wipe out the tears from her daughter’s eyes but Precious wouldn’t let her.
“Don’t touch me”, she’d scream. “It’s because of you the kids hate me. It’s because of you I have no friends. I hate you”
This words cut through Sarah’s heart like a sharp double edged sword. She tried to hold back the tears but she couldn’t. Her world had been crushed into a million little pieces. But still, her eccentric love for her daughter still lingered on.
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When it became obvious to Patrick that Sarah was never turning over a new leaf, he made the toughest decision he’d ever made his entire life. He decided to leave-leave his six year old Precious to her deluded mother. “But I’ll always check on you”, he whispered to himself. So that bright Sunday morning round about the time Sarah would clean up baby Precious in preparation to go to church, Patrick gathered his few belongings and packed them in his bag and slowly walked out of the house. You could tell from his face that a serious battle was going on in his mind-should he leave or should he stay? Nonetheless, he had already made up his mind. But before he could walk out of their dandelion filled compound, he noted something strange about this early Sunday morning. The compound was silent. He couldn’t hear Sarah’s horse voice singing to little Precious like she always did when giving Precious a birth. The silence was deafening so he dropped his bags at the front door and slowly made for the bathroom. He slowly turned the door knob and swung the bathroom door right open. Suddenly he heard the hoarse voice of a lady singing in the backyard. “That must be that vile creature Sarah”, said a thought at the back of his mind. He looked inside the bathroom once more and headed back to the front door to pick up his bags. Wait a minute. Were those tears in his eyes? He sure was gonna miss Precious. He bent low and fumbled a long time in his bag as if looking for something. When he finally got what he was looking for, he headed back to the bathroom .It was silent. On the floor lay his daughter’s body ,cut into a million pieces. Beside her, sat Sarah with a knife in hand, mumbling words only she could comprehend. He looked at his daughter’s body then turned to Sarah.

Gun clicks.