Burn Chapter 2

Fendora Robinson sat next to her husband in the front row. The sugar free gum that she was currently plastering to the roof of her mouth with her tongue had lost its flavor a long time ago. Fendora didn’t pay attention so much to the sermon as she did to the heavens. Her eyes rose as if seeking divine intervention from the sky above and her hands folded demurely in her lap. Or rather what was left of her lap. At almost 8 months the twins in her belly had managed to stretch her previously size six figure into something grotesque. It wasn’t as if she were complaining. She loved the thought of her babies. 1

Honest. It was just that they took up so much room. And they moved ALL the time. Not only was that irritating but it was painful. Her bladder had calluses on it from the pounding of their little baby feet and their little baby fists. 2

The little baby bastards.3

Not that she was complaining.4

She loved kids. She loved thinking about what it was like living inside of her body as they were. She had a vision of her twins, (Who for some reason looked surprisingly like little green aliens) floating and bouncing inside of her belly as if they were astronauts in space. If she shifted to the left she could imagine their little world being turned upside down as they went with the movement. 5

She wondered if when she farted they shot straight into the air until they hit the edge of her womb and bounced off. Fendora sighed and looked at her husband out of the corner of her eye. At the sight of him the blue-green orbs narrowed, her lip curled, and the babies kicked in what she imagined was distress. She and Daniel had been married a good two years now and in the two years she had learn exactly two things. 6

First, that she did not like being a housewife. And second, that she especially did not like being Daniel’s housewife. When she was sixteen her father had arranged the marriage with the help of Daniel’s parents who happened to be big corporate clients of her father’s. Between the three of them Daniel and Fendora had run into each other often and finally agreed to date just to get it all over with. The only reason that she could come up with now that she had fallen in love with him, is because she had been young. She wasn’t young anymore. She knew better now, knew what kind of man Daniel was. So why didn’t she leave?7

Simple. 8

He wouldn’t let her.9

When she heard the double doors of the church burst open she couldn’t keep her body from jerking in reaction but she did refrain from turning to look. God, it was like she was a war veteran or something. Hitting the ground at loud noises and bright flashes of light. She did glance over though when the screaming started.10

“I SEEK SANCTUARY!” Fendora’s skin grew cold and she could almost feel her babies draw back in fear. She watched the woman, pale and drawn and screaming almost as fast as she could draw breath scrambling in blind panic onto the alter, pushing the old priest out of her way. Licking her lips nervously Fendora turned to look at the gaping doors of the cathedral. At the sight that greeted her, Fendora’s breath exploded in a pained gasp. Nausea and fear made a sick combination in her stomach. 11

“Demon.” awe and fading hope softened the declaration and she came to her feet in a rush, her long slender arm pointing at the thing that materialized on once holy ground. She screamed it this time, screamed so hard her voice cracked. 12

“DEMON!”13