The Sacrifice

The day of ritual was quickly approaching, and the town was going all out with a week-long celebration in preparation of the big day. The tv screen was a blaze of red, gold and silver as the picture lit up with scenes of a usually dull village now beautifully decorated. The streets were lined with people as they gathered around to see the floats designed to depict the Gods. Everyone looked so happy and loving as they smiled for the camera or hugged their loved ones a little closer, too bad their happiness was at the expense of my demise.

These people were nothing but monsters trapped in human form lying in wait for my day of ritual. Their smiles  were almost as suffocating as the thick blanket of fog that coated our little mountainous village with how eager they were for it to begin. 

     The closer it grew to ritual day the more suffocating the atmosphere of this place became, to the point of nearly choking me. I couldn't count how many times I've wished that I could escape to somewhere people have only ever dreamed about. To be free of this crappy place and the hypocritical people that embody it. 

       To finally be me and live where no one could find me. I just wanted to meet people who didn’t make my skin crawl at the very thought of interacting with them, like the soulless people I’ve known my whole life. Too bad that was all just a pipe dream. I was barely allowed to leave my own home, let alone travel to distant lands. A lack of freedom is the price one pays when they are the village’s sacrificial lamb.

     I was condemned to death the day I was born. On that day it was discovered that I bore the mark of a crescent shaped moon on my left shoulder and in a village like this, a birthmark like that is as good as a death certificate. To be born with the crescent mark, one is said to be the long-lost child of the goddess Sabette and it is our job as the mark bearer to return to her.

      The legend says that long ago the goddess Sabette and the god Hirran had a beautiful baby girl that bore the symbol of the crescent moon just like her mother and was adored by all, all that is, except for Sabette’s sister Liliana. Liliana loved Hirran and grew envious of her sister, whom she felt had stolen the love she would never have. One night Liliana’s jealousy grew to a boiling rage, she waited till her sister left for her duties and stole the child away. She casted her sister’s child into the land of man and hid the baby girl in the deepest recesses of the mountains in the hopes that the child would never be found.

     In her grief at having her child stolen, Sabette searched far and wide praying to the god of gods that she would find her beloved baby girl. However, the longer time passed without any results, Sabette’s despair blossomed into outrage. She grew to hate man for keeping her child hidden from her within their realm and in her rage began to slaughter villages as punishment for not returning her child.

       In order to appease the angry goddess, villages across the land began to sacrifice any girl that bore a birthmark that even remotely resembled a crescent moon. The humans senseless actions did nothing to appease the goddess, instead the senseless murder of those girls only infuriated her even more. How dare they squander the lives of their daughter's while keeping Sabette's child from her.

     The humans began to grow more desperate as time went on. Eventually it was not safe for any young girls with even the oddest shaped birthmarks, for risk of being sacrificed. When the destruction finally reached our mountainous town there was only one girl, no older than fifteen, that had a mark fitting that description. All the villagers gathered to witness the sacrificial ritual in hopes that this would be the one to stop all of the destruction. Once the final prayer was said and the last drop of blood flowed from the young sacrifice’s body all destruction ceased at once. Sabette and Hirran had finally gotten the beloved daughter back. Now in order to protect the land every few decades a girl with a crescent mark appears in this village and is sacrificed back to the sorrowful goddess.

    Honestly, I think the story is a total load used to justify the sacrifice. I understand wanting to uphold our ancestor’s religion but not like this, not with such heinous acts. What goddess would want their child to be murdered over and over again, but I guess you can’t tell the villagers that. They believe in the old tale whole-heartedly to the point that they take pride in being the village that returned to goddesses daughter. My parents are especially proud to be the bearers of the marked daughter. It is the highest honor one could ask for and they milk it for all it’s worth. Never mind the fact that they’re condemning their only daughter to death, if the village was happy who cares. Was it wrong to want to continue living while risking the lives of others? Is it wrong to want to live my life outside of this place, outside of the shadow of a simple birthmark? No, it wasn’t. The people here were doing the same thing I wanted to. They were willing to sacrifice me so that they could all live, so how was what I wanted such a bad thing? 

    The knock on my door told me that those fantasies of freedom were destined to die with me. Tonight was the ritual and it was time for mother to come and help me prepare.

      Of course, my mother didn’t bother to wait for a reply before barging into the room. “Why hello mother, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

     “Don’t play dumb, it is time to prepare Astrid. Now turn that television off and go make your way to the cleansing room so that we may begin with the preparations.” Her icy tone never failed to pierce deep. 

      A mother was supposed to be warm and caring, not a walking talking blizzard. I had always hoped that at one point she really did love me and just put on this act because she knew that one day she would lose me, but as I stared into her gaze, devoid of any emotion, I knew that definitely wasn’t the case.

     “I do not wish to perform the ritual mother. It is a barbaric tradition; one I think our village could do without. If you really loved me, you wouldn’t make me do this!” Finally, some emotion sparkled within her crystal blue eyes. Too bad it was flames of heated anger and not the tears of despair and understanding I truly wished for.

       “Listen you ungrateful little girl. This is the highest honor anyone could wish for and to have it bestowed upon this family is a miracle. Do not bring shame upon us by spouting this useless nonsense, especially not today of all days. You will perform this ritual and be reunited with the goddess Sabette for the greater good. The sooner you understand that the better, now go prepare for tonight.” With one harsh shove towards the cleansing room, mother swept out of my bedroom to don her own ritual garbs and finish her preparations for tonight.

      “If it is such a great honor why don’t you do it.” The petulant side of me muttered as I descended into the now lukewarm tub of water.

     Mother new nothing but to be a blind follower, but I knew better. There had to be a way to escape this fate. To escape this twisted village and the people that ran it. I just need to figure out how before it was too late.

                                                                                ***

            It was too late. The cleansing ritual and dress preparations flew by in the blink of an eye leaving no room to devise a truly solid and effective plan of escape. I had nothing as I was led through the damp silent forest, only the soft squish of footsteps a hint that any life dwelled here at all. Even nature seemed to echo my sorrow because not even the creatures of night seemed to stir at our presence.

     I was being led barefoot to the alter in a thin light gray cloak by a procession of villagers dressed in their heavy black garbs. I was the moon in a starless sky, standing alone. I wanted to look around at the shrouded faces of the villagers that I had know my whole life and beg for salvation, but I knew how futile that would be. These people were stuck in their ways and they weren’t about to help the person they believed to be the key to their well-being. The only solace I could take from this moment as the alter grew closer was that at least it would soon be over and hopefully I would truly meet a better end.

     “We are here today on such a momentous occasion to pay respects to the goddess Sabette in her time of sorrow. As the village blessed with the daughter of the crescent mark, it is our duty to return what has been lost to our goddess so that she may once again know true joy.” The High Priest began as I kneeled down on the steps of the alter awaiting his blessing so that I may find my way to the one true mother Sabette.

     The High Priest looked down at me with a lifeless smile as he continued his speech all the while sprinkling me with the blessed water of our goddess. “Lady Astrid this village thanks you for the sacrifice that you shall make tonight, and we pray that you find your way to your one true mother. May your journey home be smooth and one full of bliss. In the mother’s will we trust.”

     “In the mother’s will we trust.” Echoed all around me as I was guided from my position on the stairs and laid down on the bare alter.

     The cold stone of the alter shocked me awake from the trance I had fallen into while listening to the priest. I started to panic as the weight of those who had lain here before me pressed on my chest like a stack of bricks. I wasn’t ready for this. I didn’t want to die yet, not like this. Not with everyone watching with morbid attention. I was only 15, merely a child. I hadn’t even truly lived, and I definitely wasn’t ready to give up my life for people who didn’t even care about it in the first place. In a panic I searched around frantically hoping to find something, anything that would help me get out of this.

     As my head whipped from side to side looking for anything, for the briefest of moments my eyes locked with my mother’s but all they seemed to scream was ‘behave’. Finally, as if it was a sign from the goddess herself, my eyes landed on the little alter table that held the glimmering knife that was marked to end my own short life. In a last-ditch effort to save myself, I snatched the glittering knife from the holding table next to the alter and jammed it into the side of the High Priests neck. I watched in horrified satisfaction as the front row of stunned spectators were bathe in the blood of their newly appointed sacrifice.

     “What have you done?” Pierced through the air as my mother stormed onto the stage, the priest’s blood on her face completing her mask of outrage. “You have damned us all you ungrateful wretch!”

     “Why what ever do you mean mother? You wanted a sacrifice and I gave you one. Is the High Priest not the purest of us all? Does that not make him a more befitting sacrifice than I?” My head tilted as I examined my mother. Here she was seething in outrage, yet I couldn’t understand why. The town wanted a sacrifice to appease the gods and I gave them one, an all-powerful one at that.

     “You idiot! The goddess will not be happy with some second-rate sacrifice. It was meant to be the one who bears the mark, which is you not the priest. We must make this right. We need to finish the ritual accordingly.” She grabbed my arm in an iron tight grip as she tried to shove me back onto the alter.

    “No mother you can’t force me to give up my own life for some stupid superstition.”

    “It is not some superstition it is our lives that you are toying with, you foolish little girl” Shouted someone from the crowed, as they grew more outraged.

    As if to support the spectators rage, the ground began to tremble so violently beneath our feet that the stone alter itself split in two.

     Screams of panic ensued as trees crashed to the forest floor the longer the ground trembled. “Forgive us goddess.” Could be heard chanted throughout the village as the villagers prayed for redemption as if some invisible entity was causing the earth to quake.

     “Calm yourselves! It is just an earthquake. It’ll end soon, just remain calm.” My voice carried to deaf ears as the people continued to panic. This is why they shouldn’t place their faith blindly into superstition, because when true natural disasters happen, they are unprepared.

    “This is all her fault! Someone grab her so that we may finish the sacrifice and appease the gods.” My heart broke as I recognized my own mother’s voice from the crowd.

     Mob mentality is a scary thing. Almost in unison the crowed seemed to come to order in their agreement that this predicament could only be solved by my untimely death. Fearing for my life more than the dangers of running through the forest during an earthquake, I jumped from the severed alter and dashed into the trembling forest choosing that danger over the one the villagers presented.

     As I escaped into the forest, damp soil squishing between my toes and the blood of the High Priest soaking into my gown, I could finally taste the freedom that I so craved just on the tip of my tongue.

     I may be alone now but I knew that deep down in my heart this was the right path and if that meant I had to trample on the villages stupid ritual to take that path, then I would. There was something far greater out there for me than just being some sacrifice. As if the goddess Sabette herself agreed with me, the earth gave one last deep tremble causing the tree to collapse onto the path of the village. Sealing the path from my pursuers and opening the world to me.