A Dazzling Blue

A Story by Gilad Levanon

A disturbing short story set in London of 1497, written to shock my English teacher.

Friday afternoon, in Lyana’s world, was her only time of peace. Working the filthy streets of London on 1497 was ugly, brutal work; clients were disease-ridden and rough and pay was often diminutive. But prostitution was the only occupation Lyana had ever been able to hold onto.

It was early on, in her time as a lady of the night, that Lyana came across her strangest client " an older man, nearly sixty years of age, and with the oddest haircut Lyana had ever laid eyes upon; a neatly shaven crown ringed by a carefully cropped head of hair. And more peculiar still, one of his eyes was green, and the other a dazzling blue.

As well as his curious features, the man behaved like an excited teen lying with a woman for the first time. He perused Lyana’s body with hungry eyes and when he finally dropped his trousers and entered her, he was overcome with lust and eagerness, so much so, that he finished what he paid for in a matter of seconds.

But that incomprehensibly weird man left Lyana with more than just confused memories " he left her with a daughter. An equally bizarre character, that girl grew to be; always the child sought attention, always she wanted others to worry about her, yet it was only Lyana that ever paid the girl any head.

And, on the Friday afternoon of the girl’s twelth birthday, Lyana found her beloved daughter growling and convulsing like a person with the mind of a wild beast. Believing her daughter to be possessed (as the girl had wanted her to believe, in her ultimate act of attention-seeking), Lyana carried the squirming child to the nearest infirmary.

And there she left the girl, promising the nurses that she would return each day to see if her daughter had recovered. Lyana did not return. However, the nurses, loyal and kind, provided a haven for the girl. But when the child’s wailing and shrieking had left the nurses too disturbed, they called on the Church to rescue her.

A lone priest responded to infirmary’s letter, sweeping in like a blessing on legs. He spoke reassuring words of comfort and consolation and gently asked that he be left alone with the possessed child. Eager to oblige, the nurses abandoned the girl to the priest’s will.

“Little w***e, I know you’re not possessed, but I also know that no-one will believe a word that comes out your mouth,” the priest whispered into the wriggling child’s ear as his hand forced its into her most private regions. Her screams then became sincere; they became yells of true pain and horror. Yet the nurses dared not interfere with the exorcism.

It was only when the priest finished forcing himself on the child, when she was finally weeping quietly to herself, that Lyana returned. She to the infirmary just as the priest stepped out and she couldn’t help but notice that one of his eyes was green, and the other a dazzling blue.