TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD LOSS, STILLBORN, MISCARRIAGE.
If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was Misty. *HEART BREAKS NOW*
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Her spirit had always fought to be alive. Going back to the beginning of her memory, she remembered her soul being deserted. No one understood her, except Stevie.
Stevie understood everything. They both knew a language that could only be heard by the white witches. Misty knew that there were others like them; she just had to find them. Her tribe.
She searched her entire life for them. Thieving at every opportunity to connect with any living essence. She gave her heart away so many times, and rarely ever got it back in one piece. Animals seemed to be the only creatures that truly appreciated her, that's why she loved them so much. They were like her…wild, passionate, and they loved unconditionally.
At this point the breath in her lungs didn't seem to move in and out quickly enough. The still little one that lied in between her thighs hadn't made a sound yet. She knew that it was going to be just fine. It was the thought of losing something she never thought of having made the air fill with fear. She was happy, and she would die for eternity before she let that go.
"Come here, Willow," she said reaching down and picking up her daughter whose color had already darkened from the absence of life. Misty touched her cheek with her index finger.
"You're beautiful," she told her.
Her baby's mouth pouted into an "O," like she was breathing; she wasn't. Misty's blonde curls fell just low enough to dip at the baby's head. She held her against her bare skin, determined to keep her warm.
"You know you're safe, right?" Her smoky southern whisper was strong. "I'm your mommy. You know what that means, right?"
The baby remained still. Born sleeping, Misty missed the umbilical cord. It was hard enough to deliver her baby all on her own. She could barely get through the night with those contractions. She had been waiting and waiting all of these months. She was so excited all she could think about was having someone to love and take care of. She had made her own clothes for the baby, and also blankets and cloths for changing. She even pushed her bed against the wall so that the baby would be between her and it, unable to fall, away from harm between her mother and their home.
She couldn't wait to be able to feed it from her body and hold it all hours of the night. All she ever wanted was to have a bond with something, anything. And now she was given a gift, this miracle. It was the strongest love and the strongest bond known to any human alive.
"Know what that means? It means I love you more than anything in the whole world."
Her throat tightened to where it hurt to even breathe.
"And I'll never leave you. I'll be your mother until the day you die."
She held her limp daughter. Her cheeks were so round, she came out much bigger than Misty expected. It was no wonder it hurt so bad. She would take every contraction again though, if it meant getting to keep this little gypsy of hers.
"I'm right here, Willow, it's time to wake up. Come back to mommy," her hand cradled the baby wrapped up in blood stained sheets against her sweat glistened skin.
She began to hum, maybe it was a Stevie song, in that moment she wasn't paying attention to herself. She was taking her pain, every tear drop, every feeling she ever felt and was using it for energy. She wasn't asking for life, she was demanding it.
"You can't leave me, baby. You're all I have."
The walls of the cabin cried. They had already seen so much pain.
They were watching the night the child was conceived, out of violent force. And when Misty cried every night for someone to talk to. For someone to listen, for someone to comfort her. They were there when Misty went into labor. They were there through everything. They heard her screams of torment and her cries of exhaustion. They saw the child, suffocated by its own cord, slip out. And they watched its mother sob for her power and love to be enough.
Willow Day made one tiny little gasp, it was so quiet her mother barely heard it.
She sighed loudly and smiled down at her precious baby, her lips began to move as she cooed and made little newborn sounds. The most beautiful and comforting sounds Misty had ever heard in her life. Not once did she cry or squirm, or seem afraid.
Misty lifted the baby up and kissed her cheek, then softly held her against her shoulder. Her bloody hands stroked the baby's fluid-caked back. She pulled the sheets up and covered her.
"How could you think about leaving me?"
She pressed her lips against the newborn's head again, she did it a couple more times to be exact. It was something that she couldn't seem to do enough.
"You're the most beautiful baby in the entire world."
Misty held the baby against her skin until she felt her body warm. Her teary oceanic blue eyes watched the color in her face return. She lied down on the bed with the baby right next to her. She watched her little gypsy eyes close once more, this time only for a little nap. As exhausted as she was herself, she couldn't look away.
She couldn't believe how something so amazing and perfect and that made her this happy was…all hers. And no one's but hers. It seemed unreal. After a lifetime of being alone and longing for a friend, she finally had one.
"You're my tribe," she whispered to the newest magic flower of the Louisiana woods. That she was, replacing her once lost soul with direction and purpose, finally freeing her to where she could be her best self. Awakening what was dormant for so long.
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