From the Underside of the World
WARNING! Mild description of child sexual abuse and allusions to it throughout.
In the long shadows, Lucretia can just barely make out the form of her little brother in his crib. Bunching and un-bunching her toes, the small blonde itches the scab on her elbow from the tumble she took outside a few days before. Shifting, she feels a pang of anxiety knot in her chest; why does he do this? Why does he keep her waiting? If he's going to do it, why can't he just get it over with?
Taking her thumb to her mouth, she gnaws on it as her stomach rolls with the nerves that always make her throw up after. He gave her a new hair clip today...But he hasn't come yet. Why hasn't he come? Worry so strong in her, she feels her chin begin to quiver. She lets out a mournful sob. Curling into a little ball, she turns her head to cry into her lace-trimmed pillow. She jumps when the nursery door opens.
In the dim glow of candlelight of the hall, Lucretia sees her father smiling at her. Sitting up in bed, she opens her arms.
"Father..."
He's there instantly, picking her up, cradling her, fingers running up and down her back; playing with the hem of her nightgown...Plucking at her knickers. Looking over her father's shoulders, she sees baby Orion awake and silent in his crib. Her one arm wrapped around her father's neck, he stands her up in his lap and she feels him sliding down her knickers. Staring at her brother, she lifts her hands and covers her eyes. She can't watch him watching her. Lucretia can't stand her brother watching her father reveal the monster he truly is in the night's long shadows.
She'll be leaving for Hogwarts in a week. It's by far the most exciting and happiest time of her life. For once, her home feels warm. Mother and Father regal her with tales from their own schooldays over dinner and she talks about all the fun she and Walburga are planning to have, Orion, the dear boy that he is chimes in from time to time with questions and pouts in between because he can't go with her.
It's after a particular funny tale from Father, one that left everyone laughing joyously, that the almost familial atmosphere changes. Father, with crinkles around his eyes, reaches beneath the table and pulls out a little box.
Lucretia feels her stomach drop, anticipating what she will get a necklace maybe? No, he gave her one a month ago...Maybe a new perfume? But instead, against all expectation, the innocent white box is handed off to her younger brother.
Orion with wide eyes takes the gift. He had – everyone - had always thought Lucretia was his favorite. But maybe it isn't so?
Father sends an almost apologetic look to the blonde. "You're going away to Hogwarts, love, I need someone to spoil, you see," he remarks to the eleven year old.
The rosy pink dashed from her cheeks, the girl gives a clipped nod. "Of course, Father," she whispers.
Reaching over to pat her hand, Father's eyes crinkle once more as he stares at his heir. "Are you going to open it, child?"
Fumbling, Orion agrees, "Of course, Father."
Popping open the top, he finds a little gold snitch.
Winking at him, Father remarks, "To go with that broom you got for your birthday, it'd be nice to have a star chaser someday."
A bit surprised at the sudden aspiration, the black-haired boy can only murmur, "Yes, Father."
The meal continues after that, quiet and thrumming with tension. When he glances up from his plate, Orion always sees Lucretia staring at him in a strange (scared) way.
-v-v-v-v-v-
Tossing the snitch up and down as he lay beneath the covers, Orion ends up missing the chance to catch it when his bedroom door opens. Looking up, he sees Lucretia in her nightgown and robe staring at him with the most awful expression.
"What's-" he starts, but in a blink of the eye, she's at his side, hand over his mouth.
"Hide!" she hisses.
He doesn't understand, he's only seven and he doesn't remember what he witnessed those late nights from his crib across from his sister's cot. He does, though, know when to listen to her and when not to. Scrambling up from under his sheets, he makes to dive under his bed when his bedroom door opens again, showing Father in the doorway. He wears a grin for all of a moment, a frown quickly replacing it.
"What are you doing here, Lucretia?" he demands, voice oddly hard.
Half-shielded by his quaking sister, the little boy watches her.
"I am here because he is my brother," she hisses.
Father shrugs. "It is no matter, I will lock you in the closet."
Lucretia turns, fingers just grazing his sleeve when Father rushes forward. Snatching her up, he shoves her into his closet as she screams and scratches at him.
"You can't do this! You can't!" she shrieks and once Father's forced her and locked her into the closet, he puts a silencing charm on it. Father turns back to him, those crinkles around his eyes stronger than ever before.
"Where were we?" he asks as he swoops in on the seven-year-old.
-v-v-v-v-v-
Hours later, Lucretia grieves over her brother. He squeaks and winces with every small movement and stares up at her with hazy eyes. Leaning down and kissing his cheek, the girl apologizes again.
"I'm sorry."
"He did that to you too," Orion murmurs unexpectedly.
Cradling her little brother against her, the young girl lets her tears run into the thick black locks atop her brother's head. "He does," she agrees.
They take solace in each other and let the night slip into morning (where the monsters hide).
When her father dies, Lucretia only goes to his funeral to see that he is truly and rightfully dead. Ignatius walks up with her to his casket; he tightens his hold on her shoulder as she stares down at the slack face of her boogeyman. He is pale and gaunt, the crinkle that was once so evident about his eyes gone. Her stomach rolls and she begins to weep. Her father is dead.
Hand patting her forearm, Ignatius leads her away. "It's over now..." he soothes (the wonderful, patient, virtuous man). He then returns them to the spot beside her brother, his wife, and young sons. The priest begins to speak and Lucretia startles when she feels Orion take her hand.
Glancing sideways, she sees him stare staunchly ahead at the priest giving a proper funeral eulogy. Giving the smallest of nods, Lucretia too turns her gaze forward and squeezes the hand of her brother. Outside the window behind the priest, she sees the sun set on the life of a monster that will not lurk in the doorways of children any longer.
As tears spill down her cheeks, no one has to know it's for all the children who still have years and years of monsters to go.
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Thank you very much for reading and please review.
EDITED: 7/31/15