The Waning Crescent, by Maharet Alexander
i haven't been sleeping. hardly at all. the dreams are becoming more vivid. i
can see It. across the sea of ice, through the whipping fog. It's features are
clearer every night, It's vile smile more visible. and then i wake up,
frothing mad, more so each morning. the voice of Virgil, mommy calls him,
stopped comforting me at the last full moon.
the moon is a crescent tonight, so It's louder. last night i barely slept at
all. i kept breathing slow, remembering all the happy stuff. daddy saying i'm
his princess. mommy combing her fingers through my hair. uncle row smiling and
laughing. professor wiccan praising my progress. kendrew's laugh.
but It's relentless. unyielding. i finally got up and walked downstairs from
my room at the jolly beggar, where the gruff innkeeper has let me stay a few
nights and never asked for pay. People stared at me. i went outside and walked
to the docks, the morning fog still lifting, and looked into the water, and
would have fallen in-- i looked dreadful. scary. my eyes were all ringed and
black, and my hair was all icky-looking.
so i just sort of wandered. i may have napped. i almost cried when i snapped
awake at a table in the beggar and saw a few coins had been dropped near my
hand. like i'm one of those nasty beggar people. but the innkeeper just looked
on. he's really nice in his own way, i think.
finally it began getting dark. i felt awful. you know how It sounds to me?
like a dull roar, occasionally a whisper, sometimes this weird laugh that
makes the goose flesh come. It's just there, all the time. getting louder and
bolder. these nice doctor ladies came in to the beggar and said hi-- i guess a
lot of people know me because of mommy and daddy, even though i don't remember
them--and i jumped up and huddled against the wall. everyone at the inn looked
at me like i was a crazy or something.
so i got to talking to these nice doctors-- munkie and liel, i think their
names were-- and i told them my story. they know now. i'm sorry i told them,
but i'm getting too tired. It's getting too loud. ammy was right-- i can't do
what he did. i made my bed, so i should sleep in it, just like he said. i
called It back, i need to deal with It.
zillahface and lime-wine came in, too, and the doctors began asking them about
my 'possession,' which is the weirdest word ever. that nasty professor came
up, but i told them No, i wanted nothing to do with that weird professor,
because he gave zillahface a bad time. i think lime-wine agreed with me, but
she was acting sort of funny and smelled sweet-nasty-- moris would say
'inebriated.' he knows all the big, smart words.
but then doctor liel said she would talk to her mother, who i guess has
friends who know about this stuff. and munkie was really nice and said
everything would be fine and they would try to find a way to get rid of It.
i'm kind of hopeful, but i'm scared, too, because of what ammy said. he's been
right all along. so i went to uncle row and cried a little, and he gave me tea
and said i was a good girl and then i cried again because i was so happy. he
said i could stay at his place for the night, and he even had this little doll
that looked like mommy, so i went to sleep hugging mommy really tight.
