Mythos

Miriam was eleven when they pulled her mother’s body from the Wismar Reserve. It was six in the morning and the maids at the Estate had forgotten to take the newspaper from the kitchen table where a photo of a water-logged body was printed on the front page. 

Orphans, Miriam realized. That’s what she and her twin siblings were now. 

Tears welled in Miriam’s dark eyes, and she stepped away from the kitchen table where the newspaper laid out the devasting truth about her mother’s disappearance. Miriam’s mother, Selena Adamos, had vanished three weeks prior. 

Running through the halls of the Estate, she refused to let herself slow down for even a second. 

“Grandma!” Miriam’s voice was hoarse as it called out into the large foyer of her family’s estate. A crushing weight formed on Miriam’s shoulders as she looked around the dauntingly large room where portraits of family members past hung and watched her every move. 

“Grandma!” Miriam cried out again. 

“Miriam?” her grandmother’s voice called out. Miriam erupted into tears as she ran up the stairs leading to the second floor of the mansion. Her grandmother wore her typical long black dress and as she took in Miriam’s tear-stained cheeks.  

“They found her,” Miriam threw herself at the older woman. Her grandmother’s hand landed on Miriam’s back and rubbed up and down. The action did little to suppress the numb feeling filling her chest. “They found momma.” 

“What?” her grandmother asked placing her hands on Miriam’s shoulders and crouching down so that they were face to face. Her grandmother’s wrinkled thumb wiped at Miriam’s face. 

“They—they found her body,” Miriam said in between sobs. “Momma, they found her in-in the river.” 

“Which river?” her grandmother asked. She repeated herself when Miriam didn’t answer. 

“The Reserve,” Miriam replied in a low voice. 

Her grandmother scowled and looked away at the floor. She took Miriam’s hands in her own.  

“How did you find this out?” her grandmother asked. 

“A news-newspaper in the kitchen,” Miriam answered. 

Knock. Knock. Knock. From their place on the second floor, Miriam and her grandmother could see the men knocking at their door. Miriam wanted to ask her grandmother why the Monsignor was at their front door, but her grandmother moved down the stairs before Miriam could. 

“Stay here,” her grandmother hissed at Miriam. 

Miriam wrapped her arms around herself and tried to stifle her sobs. Her grandmother cracked the door open just wide enough for her head to poke out. 

“Monsignor,” her grandmother said. “What do I owe the pleasure? It’s quite early.” 

“May we come in?” The Monsignor asked. Her grandmother hesitated before she nodded and opened the door. 

The Monsignor was a tall and thin man whose skin seemed to hang over his bones. His dark beady eyes locked with Miriam’s. His smile made her stomach turn and she stepped back from the railing overlooking the foyer. Two men in seminarians’ clothes stood behind him but Miriam was too focused on the roiling in her stomach to notice their faces. 

“Hello Miriam,” he said.

“Hello Monsignor,” she replied in a small voice. 

Miriam’s grandmother stepped forward and placed her hand on the Monsignor’s arm. “What do we owe the visit? I’m sure you have Mass to prepare for soon.” 

“Today’s mass will be handled; I have just stopped by to offer my condolences,” The Monsignor said. For a moment the man’s face did drop into something that resembled a scowl. “Selena was a good woman.” Miriam’s grandmother’s upper lip quivered, and she smoothed her hands on the fabric of her long skirt. 

“So, it’s true?” Miriam’s grandmother asked. 

“I fear it is,” the Monsignor said. 

Cries echoed throughout the foyer as Miriam’s grandmother fell to her knees. The Monsignor crouched down next to Miriam’s grandmother and muttered something in her ear. 

He turned his head up to look at Miriam where he beckoned her forward with a hand. She paused for a moment but eventually walked around the railing to head down the stairs. Her heartbeat almost blocked out the sound of her feet hitting each step on the way down. 

The Monsignor stood to his full height as Miriam came to stand behind her grandmother’s sobbing. 

“When was the last time you saw your mother?” The Monsignor asked. 

Miriam tensed up. In the silence following the Monsignor’s question, Miriam’s grandmother lifted her head up. 

“Last night,” Miriam replied. “In my dreams.” 

Miriam’s grandmother came up to her knees and grabbed hold of her granddaughter. “What did she say?” 

“Nothing,” Miriam shook her head. 

“Don’t lie,” the Monsignor’s voice was icy. Miriam’s grandmother placed her hands on Miriam’s cheeks. 

“Please,” Her grandmother pleaded. 

“She told me it was my time,” Miriam said. “She said she was sorry. She told me to go into the kitchen.” 

Miriam’s grandmother looked over her shoulder at the Monsignor. “And that’s where she found the picture. I told you she was Blessed.” 

“What?” Miriam scoffed. The Monsignor looked over his shoulder towards the two seminarians behind him. 

“What about the other children?” The Monsignor asked. “Let’s see what they say.” 

“Miriam, go get your siblings,” Miriam’s grandmother pushed her back towards the stairs. Miriam’s stomach twisted but she listened regardless. 

The door to Vincent and Vienna’s room opened with a creak. 

“Vinny? Vienna?” Miriam called out into the dark room. Peeking her head into their room, her blood ran cold. The single window in their room was open, and neither of her siblings were in their beds. Miriam ran into the room and to the window where she looked out towards the large field behind the Estate. 

“Miriam?” her grandmother’s voice echoed alongside the sound of her steps going up the stairs. 

Just as Miriam turned around her grandmother entered the room. “What—Where are they?” she asked Miriam. 

“I don’t know!” Miriam replied. 

“Oh my,” her grandmother placed a hand on her chest. She looked back at the door and crossed the room to shut it. 

“Miriam,” Her grandmother dropped to her knees and beckoned her granddaughter towards her. “Go, go out the window and go to the woods.” 

“Gran—” 

“Don’t ask me any questions,” her grandmother said. “Vincent and Vienna are Blessed too. You’ll find them in the woods.” 

“Helena?” The Monsignor voice echoed. 

Miriam ran over to the window and swung her leg over the windowsill. The fall would hurt but she would live. She took a deep breath and threw herself out the window.