And The Sky Cried For Her

She hated buttons. They reminded her of HIM. Him and His insatiable hunger. His rage.

Buttons reminded her of what she used to be. A proud, beautiful woman. Now she was a cowering, broken spider. Not to mention a murderess. She had sewn those hated buttons into the eyes of lovely, innocent children. They thought the buttons would let them stay with her forever. They were half right. They would stay with her forever, but it was not the same. They were wisps, mere memories of the children they once had been. A constant reminder to her of what she was, and what she had done. Stripped them of their souls so that HE could consume them and finally give her a moment of peace.

He was always there. Sometimes in the corner of her mind, whispering to her, sometimes filling up her mind and shouting so loud she thought she would shatter into a million pieces. No matter where He was or what volume He used, He always said the same things. Pathetic. Worthless. Weak. Monster. Evil. He was always right. The hate she could handle, after too many years of feeling it, hearing it, she was almost immune. But she could not handle the one word He said the most. HUNGRY. He was always hungry. Needing more and more innocent lives to absorb. Never satisfied. He would shout and beat against her mind, never stopping when she cried out and BEGGED Him to stop. But He would not. Not until He got what He wanted. And He always got what He wanted.

Even when she had been human it had always been this way. Before she was the Beldam. Back when she knew her name. Back when He had been her husband. She had never been good enough for Him, as He had so constantly reminded her. She owed Him, for He had married her, the failure that she was. Infertile. That fact came every month, along with the purple hand prints across her skin.

She had rejoiced when she had finally run away from Him, only to fall into an abandoned well. She cursed her luck, for it seemed she had none. The fall had been long, and filled with terror. When she had finally hit the bottom, she was filled with relief. She was about to die, and He could not follow her there. There was no pain as she looked up at the sky above. Only peace, and shards of a broken porcelain tea set. She smiled. The stars gleamed as she took her final breath. Then she was gone, and the sky cried for her.

Rain filled the bottom of the well, washing away her memories and humanity. It should have carried her away, and would have, had it not been for the ring on her left hand. A ring of silver and a black button. An object so infused with hatred that it poisoned the very place she had embraced death; churning the waters and turning them black. They twisted around her, melting her body and shaping it into something new. Infusing into it a cursed life.
She had woken up in a strange place. A web. Confused, she looked down at herself. Silver hands, arms, and legs; and a cracked porcelain body and face. She had too many legs, and they were so skinny. Silver hands that had needles for fingers. She felt her body. Silver stuck out of the cracked porcelain. She felt her face. Horror. She no longer had eyes. Buttons. "Look at what you've become." The voice whispered. She shivered, it was HIS voice. He was still there, still with her. "Always"

And so she continued to hear Him. His pleasure over her anguish about her cursed body. His laugh when she thought about children. His hunger. His ever present hunger. He was constantly there. So, in desperation, she ran far away, only to find Him still there. "Always" So she ran yet again, this time to her old house, only it wasn't hers anymore. A family now lived there, a family with a little boy. She had been delighted! A little boy, that she could love a way that a mother would. She did not know what a mother looked like, so she changed herself to look like his real mother, but she could not change her eyes. It made her very unhappy, but she could not change it. She saw that the boy was unhappy, so she made a new world where he would always be happy. A world just like his, but better; with people puppets that behaved the way you wanted them to, and buttons. All you had to do was unlock a small door and crawl through a magical tunnel to reach paradise. Little did she know that He was watching her, and He approved.

In her obsession with motherhood, she forgot the little boy had another mother, a real mother that he would remember and want to return to. She just couldn't let the boy leave! She loved him! Oh, how she loved him. He was the only thing that gave her a respite from that awful voice. So she sewed buttons into his eyes. Now he would stay with her forever! But HE had other plans. He was hungry. So He sucked the poor boy's soul out of his brand new button eyes, and devoured all of him; leaving only a ghostly memory, and the despair of a porcelain spider.

The poor creature was so distraught over the little boy, that she locked herself away from the world. Throwing away the only key that could unleash her. But His voice taunted her and tortured her, never leaving her alone until a girl had found the key and unlocked that cursed door. Immediately after the Beldam laid her button eyes on the young girl, her wretched heart loved her. The Beldam couldn't think about the danger, all she could think of was how much she loved that little girl, and how wonderful it was to not hear Him anymore. But the girl had started to miss home, and the Beldam couldn't let that happen. Then the girl was gone, and she was alone with Him again. "Always"

She could not bear to hear Him again, so right away she set her sights on a new girl. But the new girl did not find her right away. So the Beldam made something that she knew would lure the girl in. A doll, looking exactly like the little girl except for the button eyes. Sure enough, the little girl was entranced by the doll, and then entranced by the Beldam. And the Beldam loved this little girl too. But the little girl had a twin sister. A sister that did not want anything to do with the Beldam or her strange world full of strange people puppets. The Beldam could not bear to lose both of them, so out came the buttons. And a sister was lost anyway.

The Beldam was aware of how wrong it was. He told her everyday, chuckling as she sobbed and agreed. But she could not stop. She could not deal with His voice anymore. And she had lost all shreds of humanity so very long ago. So when a girl with blue hair moved into the house, the Beldam jumped straight into action. She changed the doll to match this blue-haired girl, and loved her with all her might. But she could not hold her world together for much longer, she was growing weak. She could hear Him more and more, and she was getting impatient. So she did everything she could to keep her there. She even stole the girl's parents to get the girl to agree to the buttons faster. But the girl cheated! She threw a cat at the Beldam! The Beldam hated cats. The cat tore out her buttons. She was slightly relieved, but now she could no longer see! He was starting to fill her head and drown out all of her reason when she felt the girl get stuck. He vanished as she lunged for the girl. But the girl reached the tunnel and was going to lock her in! She stuck her hand in the door so that it could not close; and screamed for the girl to come back, to not leave her, and that she would die without her blue-haired daughter; but the girl broke off her hand, locked the door, and she was left alone. "Never alone"

Later, the Beldam sent her broken hand after the girl, determined to get that key, so that she would never be locked up again. She had been so close! But then a rock crushed her hand, the way her soul had been crushed so long ago, and her last hope was tossed down into the well, just like before. This time, she could not see the stars. She saw nothing. She could not hope for a new beginning. She could not die, so she could not even hope for an end. All she could do, was listen.
"Always"