Mother Madonna
“What’s your pleasure, Miss?” the old shopkeeper asked me. He was a strange looking guy, even for a shopkeeper in the run down section of Chinatown.
“Oh, I’m a collector. I was told by a man I know that you might have something that would interest me.” I didn’t really know the man who had recommended the shop to me. He was just some weird homeless guy that occasionally ate bugs around my house. He was useful like a bat that way and I figured he might have seen a few of my mirrors through a window. “I collect mirrors; mirrors and music boxes.” Don’t ask why I collect those two things in particular. I don’t even know why, myself.
“Then I believe I have two pieces that would interest you, Miss.” The old man led me to the back of the shop with a smile. He giggled at times. Why? Who knows? Seemingly something was funny. Then he threw a sheet off of the most exquisite mirror I had ever seen.
“Amazing! Astounding! It’s…it’s perfection!” It was that and so much more. It was grotesque and yet beautiful at once. A full-length mirror, black and bronze surrounding its somewhat golden reflectivity. And in that black and bronze: faces! Wondrous faces unimagined by any but their creator.
Many faces, in various states of torture or death but four in particular stood out. One, in the lower left, a monstrous face of gluttony and greed. Fat and blind with large glasses to cover its eyes, its fat tongue was licking its flabby lips. To the fat one’s right, a somewhat beautiful woman stared out from the bronze. She was bald though and was punctured by wire. Despite her strange beauty, there was a cruelty in her eyes that made her almost ugly. Above her, a frightening monster screamed silently. It was sightless, it’s face consumed by its mouth. Full of teeth, it bared its grimace at the viewer. Finally, the most intriguing figure of all lay next to the chatterer. A handsome bald man with dozens of pins puncturing his skull. A look of cold indifference was upon his face. He made you shiver just to imagine the sort of man he would be if ever a man could exist as such.
I looked upon these faces with wonder. I don’t know how long I stared but the shopkeeper seemed pleased. Of course he was pleased. He could set the price as high as he could want and I would pay for that mirror. I would have sold the man my soul for that mirror. Oh to have it would be perfection. To simply stare at those faces every day. Those faces and…that box? I didn’t notice the engraved box in relief at the top of the mirror until the shopkeeper was pulling a replica of the box out from behind his back.
The real box was a beautiful piece of work. Intricate bronze and midnight black between, it matched the mirror perfectly.
“They were made by the same man,” said the shopkeeper. “This is a music box once it is solved.”
“Solved?”
“Yes, it is the LeMarchand puzzle box.”
“I’ll take it! I’ll take bother! How much?” I was desperate for them now. They were just what I had been looking for all along. I had never even known they existed and yet they were the reason I was collecting mirrors and music boxes: to own the perfect mirror and music box. Excuse me, I mean puzzle box.
“One hundred dollars for the mirror. The box is yours free. I like you. You will get more from them both that others would.”
I huffed and puffed and said no I couldn’t accept it free but in the end I left with a hundred dollar mirror and a free puzzle box. I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve always been a sucker for mysteries.
I got home and immediately dragged the mirror to my bedroom. It was light for such a large mirror. I pushed my old body-length mirror out of the way and placed the Mirror of Hell in its place. That’s right. I had already named the mirror. The name just seemed to fit. It was fun, having a little piece of Hell in my bedroom. I just had to remember not to let my parents see it if they came to visit. I’d show them the box instead. No, I had not forgotten the box during my fussing over the mirror.
The box. Oh, I couldn’t wait to hear its music. I knew the music would have to be beautiful to match such a gorgeous box. It was night by now so I stripped, took a quick look at myself in the Mirror of Hell (it’s golden glow made me not look half bad, almost normal even) and hopped into bed. There on the bedside table lay the box so I picked it up. Fiddled, fiddled then fiddled some more. Tough puzzle. Didn’t seem to be a way to open it at all. Well the shopkeeper had said it was a puzzle box. Finally a click and one corner rotated. Then the entire box came apart, shifted and settled back into place looking like a star. A small hole opened up and music began to play. Lovely tinkling music that I knew I would hum the tune of until my dying day.
The music made me sleepy so I turned out the light, put the box to one side, still playing, and turned over to sleep.
Little did I notice the soft, pulsating, golden glow coming from the mirror. And little did I know my doom was sealed from the moment I had entered the shopkeeper’s door.
…….
The frame of the mirror moved. A ripple went up and down its length and out the stepped: the creatures from the frame. Dressed in black leather with skin so white it glowed, they were a sight to behold. Or they would have been had the sleeping girl been awake. As it was, their presence went undetected.
The pinhead looked at the others and smiled. At they smiled back, he moved to the bed and looked at the sleeping girl. She lay with a smile, unaware of the cruel man above her.
“This one shall be perfection soon,” he said deeply as he reached forward to touch her.
…….
Someone had gotten in and was close by! Who could have gotten past the security system. I could sense the hand coming close to my face and before it could touch me I pulled my bat out from under the pillows and pointed it at the person’s head.
“Who are you and why are you here?” I could guess why a stranger would be in my room at night but I preferred to be sure. Then I saw the face, the face of the pinhead, and I dropped my bat. “But how?” I looked around at the others in my room and the looked at the blank spaces where they should have been on the frame of the mirror.
“You called us. The box. You opened it and we came.” His voice was as deep and sexy as I had imagined it would be if he was real. If? Seemingly was! Impossible, this couldn’t be happening. “Now then. We have such sights to show you. Come along child.”
I began to tell him there wasn’t a chance in Hell I was going anywhere with them when the chatterer put his fingers into my mouth. A dreadful smell of death entered my nostrils and I choked. Tearing up, I fought to hold onto the world but felt it swimming away. The smiling faces faded and blackness took their place.
…….
Through the mirror they had come and back through the mirror they returned with the girl. Into a maze they went: a maze of stone with horrors lying around every corner. They laid her down and left to wait. To wait for her to wake and for their fun to begin.
…….
I woke in a place that wasn’t cold but wasn’t warm either. It was just a place. Then I noticed the mirror. Or at least, the back of the mirror. Then I knew, I had entered the realm of Pinhead and his friends. Yes, I named him. It just fit. I could still see my reflection in the mirror but it was distorted in a way it had not been in the real world. I still looked fairly normal though. Well, as normal as I ever get.
I’ve never looked normal. I was born with white hair and two eye colors: one brown, the other blue. No doctor has ever been able to explain this combination.
So that hadn’t changed. I was also still naked. Normally, I have no problem with my body but under the circumstances, I wanted to find some clothes. Who wants to wander around a strange place as naked as the day they were born?
Deciding to find some clothes, I began to wander. This place became this maze and this maze became an utter labyrinth. I was lost in moments. In my search for clothes, I saw many sights I am loath to repeat. Heavenly pleasures and hellish torments within the same actions. Finally, I came across a door, behind which lay a pile of clothes. I found a long skirt and a shirt that was about five times too large for me but, hey, it was clothing. I continued my journey then, through the labyrinth of Hell.
…….
They watched her from above. They al laughed at her shock every time she stumbled across a new atrocity. All except Pinhead. He watched her carefully. This one would be different, he knew. She had the white hair. Her eyes were different colors. She was the one prophesized by the Engineer. This one was all his, for the future of them all. Thinking of his new possession, he smiled.
…….
I’ve been in trouble before. The way I look has gotten me into fights even. People have always shown me extra negative attention for it. However, I’ve never been in this much trouble before and it’s not even because of my appearance. Well, I’d gotten out of all of my troubles before, why not this one? Time to find the Mirror of Hell and get back through it.
But could I find it? Of course not. I had completely lost my way in my search for clothes and now I couldn’t find my way back. I wandered into a room at one paint filled with naked women writhing under sheets. At another time I stumbled across a room filled with chains and blood. I even stumbled upon a man eating his own flesh. Atrocities abounded.
Finally, I found myself at the top of the labyrinth. There I found a giant floating cube just like the puzzle box. While gazing at its beauty I heard someone come up behind me. And there they were: the white creatures of the Mirror of Hell, the owners of that damnably beautiful box.
“What the hell are you people?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“We are the people of Hell of course. We are the Cenobites,” replied Pinhead.
“And who are you who looks so different from our other playthings?” asked the female Cenobite.
“If you think you can get away with making fun of me you’ve got another thing coming! I’m more dangerous than I look.” I can’t stand people who just have to mention the way I look.
“Dangerous?” She laughed. Hard. I could feel my blood boiling. In case I didn’t tell you, I don’t just look strange. I am strange. When I said I was dangerous, I wasn’t bluffing. Those strange eyes of mine began to glow and as I got into a fighting stance my nails (which I happen to sharpen to points) began to grow.
“Stop laughing! Whatever you are, I’ll kill you if you don’t stop!” That’s when Pinhead began to laugh.
“We are immortal, fiery girl. You cannot kill us.” He walked towards me with his hand reaching out to me. “Excuse my comrade’s jokes. Welcome to Hell.” He was handsome, I’ll admit. But those pins were terrifying. I backed up and tripped. I fell backwards and was caught in a box of some sort.
Needles entered my skin. My clothes were ripped from my body. I felt something coursing through my veins. But it didn’t stay. Out it came through my nails. I felt pain like nothing else before. It was beyond excruciating and it was driving me mad. My eyes glowed dimly, then brightened, then burned like lanterns. My nails grew a foot, razor sharp and painful.
Finally, it let me go and I fell. My eyes stopped burning and my nails retracted. The pain stopped and once more the world swam from my eyes. Before the world left completely I saw Pinhead looking at me as if I was the prodigal son. If this was my home though, I wanted to be gone from it again. Then the lights went out.
…….
“She resisted the transformation. Her hair is sacred white and her nails are like razors,” said the female.
“She is the one. She will bring the Order of the Gash into the outside world. She…she is mine,” stated Pinhead. He seemed pleased at the thought. The chatterer picked the girl up and carried her off. To a room he took her and laid her down upon a sheet of metal. Before he left though, chattering, he stroked a lock of her white hair. Who knows why but perhaps he came close to pitying her. As he was leaving she awoke and in came Pinhead.
…….
“What do you want from me?” I asked Pinhead as he walked towards me.
“You are to be our Madonna. The holy mother of a half-blood Cenobite son who will be free to bring in the new sheep. We must enlarge the flock.” Never have I been so frightened by a statement before. Stark naked on a steel bed, I knew what awaited me.
…….
He walked towards her, arms outstretched like God coming to Mary. This was not an obedient Mary however. She bit and scratched and sank her nails into his pale skin. She fought fruitlessly though and the rape of the Madonna continued, watched by the others from above.
…….
So that’s how I got here. Leather straps hold my swelling belly and body down. A metal spike has been pushed through my chest and yet I live on. I am like them but not like them. My child shall be the same. I wonder what he’ll be like? Perhaps he will be a she. Either way, my unborn child is their Savior. My child, the child of Hell.
…to be continued…