I breathe out, relieved. At least that's okay. I know he can't break that promise. I can feel it in the blood. I hold my hand out, trying not to get blood on my dress, though I guess that won't matter too soon.
"Do you understand why you are doing this?" Father asks, in that sweet voice he's got when he's being Auntie Tammy.
"Because... Because you own Mama's death, and so you could use her as a sacrifice. And you need a sacrifice. But I can give you my death instead." My chest feels tight and strange.
"And this is your own choice? You know that you could say no, and I would let you go away unharmed?"
But you wouldn't let Mama go, I think. I don't know if it's a free choice if you'd hurt her, because I can't live if he'd hurt her when I could save her. But I just nod. Father looks at me for a while, and nods.
"The maiden sacrifice is usually older... Your mind is so far advanced of your body, darling. But for this ritual, appearance matters, too. Things should look as they have been foretold. I thought perhaps to wait a little longer to do this, a year or two, and you would have aged enough, but matters have changed."
I think about having another year with Mama, and I almost start crying, but I make myself not. I don't want Father to see me cry.
"Would you like to grow up, Rose?" Father asks, quite nicely, and I nod, suspicious.
"Of course I do," and she puts her little white hand on my head and -
It hurts a lot. I can feel things changing inside me, growing and stretching, and I scream, I do. And then suddenly I'm taller than Auntie Tammy, just a little.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-01-13 03:38 pm (UTC)"Do you understand why you are doing this?" Father asks, in that sweet voice he's got when he's being Auntie Tammy.
"Because... Because you own Mama's death, and so you could use her as a sacrifice. And you need a sacrifice. But I can give you my death instead." My chest feels tight and strange.
"And this is your own choice? You know that you could say no, and I would let you go away unharmed?"
But you wouldn't let Mama go, I think. I don't know if it's a free choice if you'd hurt her, because I can't live if he'd hurt her when I could save her. But I just nod. Father looks at me for a while, and nods.
"The maiden sacrifice is usually older... Your mind is so far advanced of your body, darling. But for this ritual, appearance matters, too. Things should look as they have been foretold. I thought perhaps to wait a little longer to do this, a year or two, and you would have aged enough, but matters have changed."
I think about having another year with Mama, and I almost start crying, but I make myself not. I don't want Father to see me cry.
"Would you like to grow up, Rose?" Father asks, quite nicely, and I nod, suspicious.
"Of course I do," and she puts her little white hand on my head and -
It hurts a lot. I can feel things changing inside me, growing and stretching, and I scream, I do. And then suddenly I'm taller than Auntie Tammy, just a little.
"There," she says, smiling. "That looks right."