(A/n: Thoughts)
(T.W: Blood, gore, death, murder, suicide, fire, curses)
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20 November 1503
(A/n: Thoughts, *actions*)
(Lucrezia's POV)
Arghh.. I opened my eyes, I was lying on the ground on what I thought was grass.
Where am I? Where is my child!? I thought, as I looked around. I was in a forest, it was night, and I couldn't see within a inch of my hand, so I groped. ... tree.. , tree.. but what the hell!?... I felt my hands get wet with something viscous. I smelt them. They smelled very familiar...they had a familiar smell...iron,IRON!??. Suddenly i could see what was on my hands. It was blood. But who was it?.
"AAHHHHHH," I shouted, falling backwards and falling to the ground, my legs trembled. What's going on? "*sniff*", I burst into tears,"*sniff*... Matteo, ... Ofelia. ,*sniff* where are you? *sniff*, MATTHEW, WHY DON'T ANSWER ME.. *sniff*,*sniff*, please.. answer me .. matteo. .SOMEONE.!!! *sniff*" . I begged for someone to answer.
I stood there crying, sitting, legs hugging my chest. I waited.... I waited, minutes, hours, days, weeks passed. I could no longer tell the time. "Please God, please help me find them..." I prayed to God with the now hoarse and exhausted voice, I got up from the ground, helping myself with the trunk of a tree, I removed the earth and the dirt from my dress, then I dried my face with the sleeves. And I continued my research.
Trees and just trees, until I look into the distance, a village. My village. I felt my heart lose a beat, and immediately without thinking twice, I ran to the entrance of the village.
I bent forward and with my hands on my knees, I tried to catch my breath. " *pant*...*pant*...*pant*...I'm back," I said , catching my breath and starting smiling with joy. But it did not last long, because as soon as I entered i realized that something was wrong. It was empty. The village was empty.
The huts were in ruins, the streets empty, the fields uncultivated and left to rot and there was nothing left. Until I saw someone in the distance. AGATA!? , "AGATA, IT'S ME, LUCREZIA, WHAT HAPPENED, WHERE IS EVERYONE!??" I smiled and asked her shouting, not waiting for her to reach me.
But she didn't smile back. Indeed, as soon as she saw me she started running in my direction, and she looked at me, I noticed that her eyes were like those of a bloodthirsty beast. Agata was thin, very thin, looking like skin and bones.
"YOU!!. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT AND YOUR DAMN FAMILY!!". She shouted at me, with so much anger that she seemed to have foam in her mouth. She was three feet away from me when suddenly, she jumped, we both fell to the ground. She was on top of me.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT AND OF YOUR DAUGHER!,OFELIA, THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER, THAT WITCH!!..IF SHE DIED AT BIRTH. THEN GOD WOULD NOT HAVE ABANDONED US!,AND OUR LANDS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CURSED!!". She was out of her head.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" I asked her petrified and horrified. She heard me and stopped screaming. Her emotionless face looked at me. She stared at me with her bloodthirsty eyes. Like she wanted to tear my soul from my body. And then She started laughing and then she burst into a maniacal laugh.
"hahaHAHAHAHAA.... .LUCREZIA... YOU'RE SO STUPID!!. .AHAHAHAH.... YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!??" Agata told me, hysterical.
"WHAT HAPPENED?" I asked her. " YOUR DAUGHTER!!! IT'S ALL HER FAULT!! , IT'S CURSED!" she continued: "IT'S THE DAUGHTER OF SATAN!! HER HAIR! WHITE!! AND HER EYES! VIOLET!! SHE'S A WITCH!!. SHE'S CONDEMNED TO ROT IN HELL!!!... AND YOU!!." She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. ".. HER MOTHER, YOU TOO ARE DAMNED!!! LIKE ALL OF US!.. AHAHAAHHAA"
She burst into a maniacal laugh. Then she started mumbling something, then she put her Dirty and bony hands around my throat. I can't breathe!! . I opened my eyes wide. In disbelief of what was happening, I was starting to lose consciousness. I desperately tried to free myself, but her hands looked like steel tongs. I was weak. Is this how I will die?. NO. I WANT TO SEE OFELIA GROW! AND MY MATTEO... WHERE WILL THEY BE? ,I HAVEN'T FOUND THEM YET!. I DON'T WANT TO DIE! NOT NOW!!! .I was desperate to never see my family again.
Desperately I tried to raise my hands, and once free; I placed them on Agata's face. And I gouged out her eyes.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH", In my hands, now stained with blood and mud, I held his eyes tight.
"GASP! *cough*,*cough*...*pant*.... *pant*". I collapsed, touching my throat. It burned. Struggling to catch her breath, I saw Agata out of the corner of my eye. She was lying on the ground, holding her face with her hands. Blood flowed between the slits of her fingers. Much blood, which ran down her arms, dropping to the ground.
"WhAT HavE YOU DoNE LucrEZIA!!!?. aaHHa... IT HURTS!!". Agata exclaimed in pain, taking her hands off her face, and with tears of blood falling from her sockets. Now empty.
I immediately got off the ground, and stared at her, what did I do!! , I looked for a logical explanation, NO... NO. .NO. WHAT DO I DO NOW!?? I thought, shaking my head, my face full of tears and stained with Agata's blood. I lifted my bloody hands to my head and I shook my hair.
WHAT I DO!! THINK LUCREZIA, THINK!! , IF THEY FIND ME THEY WILL HANG ME!... OR WORSE ... THEY WILL BURN ME AT THE STAKE!! I thought and I thought, but I couldn't find a solution, until I looked around and had an idea. IT'S EMPTY, THERE'S NO ONE WHO SAW ME! IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT! .YES, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!..
I was relieved and with a slight smile, I looked around again making sure there was no one who had seen me hurt Agata. When something that sparkled caught my eye, it was an axe, standing next to someone's hut. I looked again at Agata, who was feeling the ground with both hands. She was looking for me, screaming blasphemy and screaming in pain.
I looked at the axe again, and stealthily approached it, paying attention not to alert Agatha. Once I got there, I approached her, stopping a few feet away.
"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU LUCREZIA!!?. COME HERE NOW. HELP ME!!".
I waited for the right moment, I raised the axe, and then I dropped it cutting through the air, the axe ringing. A whistle.
It made contact with Agata's head by splitting it in half. Then I left the handle of the axe. It got stuck in her head.
... Now I have to hide it, but where? , where?. Here!. Found it!!. Looking around me for the umpteenth time, I noticed the communal well of the village, it was a great hiding place, and no one would find the body. Not until they smelled it.
I dragged the body to the well, then with a rope, I tied the body, making sure that the stones did not untie, making the body emerge. Then with all the strength that my body could give me, I threw it in and with a large PLOP, Agata touched the surface of the water and sank. To never again Agata, thank you for everything you've done, but you know... I'm a mother too, and I have to protect Ofelia, my little girl, I'm very sorry. Farewell, may God have you in glory. Having done that, I covered the well with beams so as to contain it all, and walked to my house. I came to the door of the hut. It was ajar.
I opened it wide open, and my blood froze. " NOOOOOOO...*sob*... MATTEO... PLEASE ANSWER ME.. *sob*... WHY DID YOU DO IT!!?? ? , noooo. .AHHH... *sob*". I found Matteo hanging from the ceiling with a rope tied around his neck. He was emaciated like Agata. I cut the rope, I fell to the ground and dragged him up to me and I squeezed him to the chest. Please God...no, not him please. I prayed to God and begged that it was just a nightmare and that it wasn't real."*sob*...*sob*,no...please, nooo". I stood there maybe for an hour. I stood up and wiped my eyes. Matteo was dead and Ofelia no trace. I was tired. tired of everything. And I prayed to the Lord again that he would not take my child from me.
I went out and looked again. Nothing. Where will it be?. I stopped by a haystack to catch my breath. "UEEEE.... UEEE". I didn't believe my ears, it was her. She was locked inside the haystack, I could hear her. Poor thing, she must be scared and hungry. " OFELIA!! MOMMY'S HERE, PLESE DON'T CRY DARLING!!". With a stick I tried to pry on the barn doors. They opened, and I saw her. She was lying on a pile of straw. She was crying.
When I crossed the doors, but as soon as I did, suddenly, the walls of the haystack began to catch fire, then I ran, but a burning wooden board, falling, blocked my way. COME ON. MOVE!!... FUCK!! ... MOVE FUCKING BOARD!! . I tried to move the beam, I had been burned, but I didn't care, I didn't feel the pain anymore, I could only hear the cries of Ophelia.
"No. *sob*.NO.*sob*.NO.. *sob*. NOOO!!! , OFELIAAA!!" I kicked and punched the beam, but it didn't move a millimeter. And I stood there, watching my daughter burn. I felt my heart shatter. I didn't care about anything anymore. I had already lost everything. I remained there. Devoured by the flames.
03:27 a.m.
( Author's POV.)
*GASP*, Lucrezia awoke suddenly, sweating and with wide eyes on her face, pale as a sheet.
Immediately, with her hand she looked for Ofelia, who was covered, She started to grow hair
She breathed a sigh of relief when she found her sleeping between her and Matteo, and with trembling hands she took her and held her tightly to her chest, as if she wanted to merge her with herself. I must hide her or they will hurt her. And she fell asleep with Ofelia in her arms, troubled by that nightmare.
The five-month-old doll was asleep, and she was unaware of the horrors that fate had reserved for her.