Face Down
Murtagh slunk around the corner, making extra certain his father didn't see him. His four-year-old frame shuddered as he remembered the think scar running down his back.
But he had to see his mother. She had been screaming again last night.
Sometimes Murtagh wished he had never been born. Then, his mother didn't have to stick around with Morzan.
Hey, girl, you know
you drive me crazy,
One look puts the rhythm in my hand.
Still
I'll never understand why you hang around;
I see what's going
down.
"Momma?" Murtagh whispered as he stuck his head around the door.
Selena looked up sharply from the mirror, her hand in a jar of powder. Her fearful expression softened as she saw the little boy.
"Murtagh," she murmured, and strode over to pick him up and set hit on her hip.
This gave her son a prime view of her cheek. A blotchy purple bruise was patchily hidden by face powder.
Murtagh buried his face in his mother light brown hair, and mumbled, "Daddy hit you, didn't he?"
Selena sighed, placing a slender hand on his back. "Yes, sweetie. But it will never happen again, I promise."
Murtagh clenched his small jaw. It would, he knew. His mother cried every night, when she though he was asleep. Morzan hurt her, and yet he always told her that he loved her.
Murtagh may have been young, but that was not love.
Cover up with
makeup in the mirror,
tell yourself, "it's never gonna happen
again."
You cry alone and then he swears he loves you.
Years
later, Murtagh stood, proud and tall, a boy of 12. He was confronting
his father, eyes blazing. Selena lay on the ground at his feet,
whimpering and clutching her face.
"You hit her!" roared the young man, glaring down the leader of the Forsworn.
"Yes," spat Morzan, "I did. What will you do about it, boy?"
Murtagh clenched his fists, nails digging into the palms. From the ground, Selena's eyes shot between the two, fear dominating.
"I'll –""Will you?" asked Morzan lazily. "You forget, Murtagh, about that scar on your back."
It took all of the young man's will not to punch Morzan in the face. Instead, he hoisted his mother up, snapped, "Do you feel better now, Father?" and marched out of the room.
Do you feel like a
man when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls
to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's
going to end
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.
At age 14, Murtagh waited outside his mother's room for the healer to depart. He paced quickly, worried for the one person here who truly loved him.
Finally, the healer emerged. He snatched the woman's shoulders.
"Oh!" She let out a tiny shriek. "Sorry, sir. For a second I though you were Morzan."
Murtagh's eyes narrowed at that remark. He hated his father. So, so much.
"So what's wrong with my mother?" he demanded, choosing to ignore the hearler's remark.
"Everything. Ever since she's returned, she's been a wreck. I think she's dying."
A pebble in the
water makes a ripple effect,
every action in this world will bear
a consequence.
If you wade around forever, you will surely drown
I
see what's going down.
I see the way you go and say
you're right again,
say you're right again,
heed my lecture.
"WHAT!?" Murtagh roared. The healer cowering against the wall, he barged into his mother's room.
Selena lay fragile and ill on her bed, skin so pale it was near translucent. "Oh, my baby boy," she whispered, drawing him near.
Murtagh knelt beside her, a hole slowly eating its way through his heart. "Mother…" he whispered. "Why are you ill now?
Selena shook her head. "We're unsure, but the healer thinks I have bruising from… past injuries…"
Murtagh's eyes burned. He stood up, and with a crack, smashed a wooden frame. "Morzan," he hissed. Even now his mother still felt the affects of his cruelty.
Do you feel like a
man when you push her around? Face down in the dirt, she said,
Do you feel better now as she falls
to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's
going to end
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has
found.
"This doesn't
hurt", she said,
"I finally had enough."
The pain in her eyes read otherwise.
One day she will
tell you that she has had enough Do
you feel like a man when you push her around?
it's coming round again.
Do you feel better
now as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one
day this world's going to end
as your lies crumble down, a new
life she has found.
"No," he whispered, clutching her hand. "NO!"
"I'm sorry," Selena murmured. "It hurts, Murtagh. I say it now. It hurts. And I've finally had enough of life."
Murtagh screamed out, "NO!" even as Selena's hand fell limp in his own.
Face down in the
dirt, she said,
"This doesn't hurt", she said,
"I
finally had enough."
Sobbing over his mother's body, Murtagh whispered, "I swear by my mother, I'll never be Morzan. Never."
