A Darkness Awoken

There is a dark secret within my family. The heartwood of our family tree is rotten and corrupted. I know this from personal experience, for I was the victim.  At the heart of my childhood torment was the high-inquisitor herself, the queen witch… my eldest sister.

She had at her fingertips a variety of spells and incantations to drive a young mind into the depths of rage and despair, but her most powerful dark ritual was repeated endlessly until the victim was rendered hopeless.

It goes like this

Little Tommy Tinker
Sat upon a clinker
He began to cry
Mama
Mama
What a poor boy am I

Today even writing that out still makes my teeth clench.


I had hoped that my branch would be pure, that being the victim of years of abuse would have somehow cleaned my genetic lines of whatever chromadial (yes I made up the word, but it does have a nice cadence don’t you think) mutation caused the torment gene to be awaken.

Alas I was a fool to hope for such miracles.  

Last night we were heading out to the local Dollar Store to pick up goodies for loot bags. I had loaded and buckled all three boys in the van and then ran back into the house to grab something.  I was a little longer than I had anticipated… but when I got back to the van Liam was in a state of inarticulate rage, tears rolling down his face. I honestly believe that had I been a few seconds later there would have been bloodshed. I knew all this without opening the van doors… I could hear his wails of anguish over the sound of the running engine, and behind the closed doors…. I could also hear the cause of his torment.

Two little voices singing in the night, two little voices whispering a dark incantation over and over, two little voices repeating

I love you
You love me
We’re a happy family.

Or in two-year old speak

Me love you
You love me
We a family.

After the tears had been wiped away and the rage settled I got the full story.  Apparently while waiting in the car Aiden had started to sing the tune…  Liam, (being a big boy and using his words) informed Aiden that the song was annoying him, at which point my youngest (or as I like to call him, the child incarnation of darkness) picked up on this and started belting it out in full voice.  Of course Aiden followed along.

Poor Liam, so much like his father.  Now that the younger boys have smelled weakness they have started to circle like a pack of rabid wolves.

And to you my eldest sister, feel pride and joy, for your genes have run true and the legacy lives on.