The Cherub and The Hellion (A Horror Story…or Is It?)

21 Feb 2012 3 Comments

by Ife in Uncategorized Tags: baby, banshee, Cherub, Children, daughter, father, Hellion, horror, horror story, humor, Shiva, Skye, sleep, sleep deprivation, sleeplessness, story

My daughter has two sides to her fledgling personality. One side is “The Cherub” whom I admire and adore; the other is “The Hellion“…who scares the be-jebus out of me.  The Cherub is sweet and kind and burps like something out of a Disney or  Don Bluth cartoon.

The Hellion comes alive just past midnight, and screams and wails like a Scottish banshee until nothing remains but bleary eyed half-humans where once intelligent beings roamed.

The Hellion arrives to rob you of your sleep at the very moment you need it the most.  Like a hungry lion, it waits just beyond the pale veil that separates the Land of the Living from the World of Dreams.  It waits until you cross the threshold. Then it pounces, knocking you off your feet and back into sleepless reality.  She tosses you about like a helpless bunny in a sadistic predator’s paws, leaving you bloody and bruised and, worst of all, awake.

Just when you think all is lost and you are to be devoured, she disappears as quickly as she arrived.  You hurry to your feet and search the darkness for any sign of the Hellion.  But it’s gone.  All that remains is the Cherub at your feet. You are surprised by this new development, but it’s just so cute, the way it gurgles and coos.  Foolishly, you pick it up, all memories of the Hellion gone for now.

The Cherub’s eyes are closed as it squirms gently in your arms.  An unbidden “aww” escapes your lips.  Surely this child and the hellion are not the same.  Surely not.  This innocent bundle of heavenly goodness could no more be the Hellion of afore than you are the current incarnation of Shiva.  There is no way, you say.  No way.  The words have scarce escaped your lips before the hellion returns.

The tiny bundle in your arms jerks and wiggles like a manic top in a tiny cage.  Its jerks become more violent, as two tiny arms and legs rip through the swaddling cloth that a second before had bound them.  Only these are no arms and legs, not human ones anyway.  They’re black as shadows and as sinuous as a dragon.  Razor sharp claws spring from their tips and slice your arms like scissors through paper. You think to drop the bundle but it still has the face of the Cherub, and it is smiling.  But even the smile is…twisted.

The “Cherub” opens its mouth, but it is no coo or gurgle or innocent babble that comes forth, but a long, demonic shriek that drills into your skull and rips your brain to ribbons.  You scream and shut your eyes tight, hoping to ward off the madness slowly creeping into your mind.

When you again open your eyes, however, it is no longer the Cherub you hold, but the Hellion. And in its coal black eyes you see that nothing short of your sanity will satisfy it.  On and on it shrieks until the world turns red. Still it shrieks.

You think to run before your very soul, in a desperate attempt to survive, climbs out of your nose and runs away.  But it’s too late.  The Hellion’s eyes are open, and like two dark and twisted chains, they hold you fast. You scream, but the sound is drowned out by the Hellion’s cry.  It is too late!  Too late!

“I think she’s hungry,” says her mother.   And takes the Hellion from your arms.  Only now it’s the Cherub again.  You wonder if it was just a dream concocted by a sleepless mind.  You look at the innocent Cherub as it feeds upon its mother’s milk, and wonder how you could have thought it anything but innocent.  But then its eyes move from the breast and lock onto you.   For a fraction of a moment, her greenish brown eyes turn black and then back again.  You turn away, stick your thumb in your mouth and suck on it.  You will never sleep again.  Never.