DARK DAUGHTER

On the ninth day of September 1988, as the school lunch break was about to come to an end, three young girls storm a classroom seeking the attention of a grown up, any grown up will do. Three teachers so happened to be inside this one particular classroom, getting a brief chat in before classes were to resume.

'Miss ... Miss ... Miss ...' calls out one of the girls before bursting into a fit of mumbles.

'Calm down, what is it girls?' one of the teachers asks.

The three girls all try to answer at one and the words the teachers do manage to hear are attack and bees ... apparently there are many bees.

The teachers look at one another, it doesn't need to be said but us said anyway ... 'the Horrowitz girl ...'

No further time is wasted, for the teachers follow the girls out into the yard and to an area of the yard unsupervised. Those who are on yard duty are up the far end of the school yard which is quite the distance away. There is a girl unconscious on the ground with marks, many marks on her face.

'It's Mary Lou Watson' speaks one of the teachers.

'What happened here?' asks another.

'I'll go call for a doctor ...' speaks the third teacher before heading off to do just that.

'Bee stings ... who is responsible here?' asks the first teacher before answering her own question after a moment of silence. 'Melanie Horrowitz, wasn't it?' There are a number of nods. 'Where is she?' There is no response. 'I asked, where is she?'

'I don't know Miss ... none of us do. She was here but not anymore ...'

A couple of hours pass by such time which Mary Lou's parents are informed of her condition which is just fine, and she will indeed be fine once she received the customary amount of time to rest. Mister Watson is seething, he is so furious he wants to go hit something and he is even more disgusted by the fact that this little Miss Horrowitz's family has not had the decency to come see how Mary Lou is getting on.

Indeed, Mister and Missus Horrowitz are not at the hospital though the school principal is and seeing the frustration taking place, tries to interject himself to calm things if he can.

'Mister Watson ...'

'Don't you Mister Watson me' he says balling his right hand into a fist. 'If you had had the balls to do something before now then none of us would be here. I am going after that kid and I don't care what age she is ... she ain't no ordinary child. I am going to do what everyone else is much afraid to do ...'

He punches a wall then stares a look into the eyes of the school principal before beginning to make a move. Second's pass, he turns back ... 'if you are man enough, you will come with me and we will do something about this together ...'

Darkness has arrived by such time a mob has gathered to indeed do something about a certain little girl. Now one might think this a little much though there are many who believe just as strongly as Mister Watson does, that this Horrowitz girl definitely is no child, definitely not like any other child and she needs to pay. Indeed, a mob made up of parents, some teachers, neighbours, those who believe there is a darkness in little Melanie Horrowitz. If only they knew what the true facts are.

Streetlights all along the road the Horrowitz family live upon are all out and this is not coincidence. Mister Watson has come prepared. He has a two by four with an old lint rag dipped in wax at one end and he has that end lit with fire. This is a mob, and they are seeking out their very own Salem witch.

There is no answer at the front door of the Horrowitz home. All the demands in the world may be made though is there anywhere there to answer those demands. The Horrowitz family had been home and had attempted to make an escape out the back as quietly as they could though they are caught out and chase is soon given. An angry mob are out for blood, the blood of a child of Darkness.

It moves on to the town park, a place as much a forest as it is a public park. A family are just three though they do have a nighttime darkness on their side. The mob close in and just as they believe they are to achieve their goal and probably more too, a gathering of shadows arrives. No member of the mob is safe. They are attacked, one by one, by something that goes unseen. A child in her haste, bolts through darkness, catches a foot and falls down an embankment.

Nobody is killed on this night. A fire quickly rages through that park. There are burns, broken arms, cuts and bruising, though the worst suffered injury is that what had been received by an eight-year-old girl. What had been gone after had been got but not in the way anyone anticipated.

A daughter of Darkness, whether known to be of Darkness or not, still is a daughter, still is a child. Such a child may have come into the world a little differently and may have a gift or two of the most unusual kind, still these children, this child is still a child. Like Ester Fontaine had been taken out by a severe blow to the back of the head, so too did Melanie Horrowitz. Her foot caught, running in darkness, a fall, a blow to the head followed by quite the tumble ... her body broken ... her mind lost ... one year passes before a decision has been made and another little one is ... gone.

Darkness ... he will have his day. He is confident of this and he is going to make the whole world pay ...