WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:17.679 Bland Story Studios, Kain Story a Voice. This is Addison Peacock and you're 2 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:34.280 listening to The Wicked Library. Warning. The Wicked Library is a horror fiction 3 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:40.200 podcast created for a mature audience. Our stories contain graphic descriptions of pain, 4 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:47.960 murder, violence, blood, betrayal, and inhumanity. Monsters win, people 5 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:53.320 die, and hope is often shattered. There is also beauty, heart, 6 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:59.719 catharsis, and raw emotion. Fear may be deeply personal, but we all 7 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.040 share. If at any time a story takes you to a place too dark, 8 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:10.680 turn on the lights, press pause or press stop, and always remember 9 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:15.959 that, unlike in the real world, these nightmares and your participation in them, 10 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:34.680 are under your control. Welcome to the Wicked Library. I'm Daniel Floytech, 11 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.480 and I thank you for listening. A sincere thank you to those of 12 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:40.599 you who are supporting the show. Without you, this show would not be 13 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:45.920 possible. This season, all episodes are heard first by Patreon supporters and later 14 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:49.359 shared with the full audience. When you support the show, you can choose 15 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:53.480 between ad free episodes, early access to the stories, and at higher levels 16 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.560 of support you'll get premiere access to and field detective agency. Currently in production. 17 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:00.400 That's right, Frank is coming back and to your ears soon. You 18 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:06.040 can support the show at Patreon dot com forward slash Wicked Library. A lot 19 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:08.080 of hard work and money goes into making the Wicked Library, and I really 20 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.400 do rely on this support to help me pay the authors, voice actors, 21 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:16.120 composer and artists so that none of the Wicked Libraries contributors work for free. 22 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.840 For as little as three dollars a month, you can help make the show 23 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:24.960 you love possible at Patreon dot com Forward slash Wicked Library. Now, let's 24 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:30.479 get wicked with today's dark tale, told by Addison Peacock, featuring a custom 25 00:02:30.520 --> 00:03:27.199 score by Niko Vites of the Inky Pop prints Her drowned envy by alexis to 26 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:32.960 bond spears of grass, all damp with dew clung to my bare feet, 27 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.719 grass so wet it feels like it should be cold, but nothing is cold 28 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:46.120 anymore. The dawning sun hangs swollen in the sky, mirroring my overrighte belly, 29 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:53.639 making my blood enameled thighs glow in the orange light. I lacker the 30 00:03:53.680 --> 00:04:00.639 field and crimson with each step, marching across the endless green toward the birthing 31 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:06.879 pond, trying not to crumple in pain. Halfway the way, so many 32 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:14.479 women do, careful not to slip on the ruby's slick landscape, already soggy 33 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:20.439 and oversaturated, cutting through thick, swampy air. I have to make it 34 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:27.360 to the pond, birth the baby underwater, wait for it to rise. 35 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:33.439 His face will cut through the surface, his round baby belly will be a 36 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:41.800 smooth little island. Only the strongest will surface, the ones who can survive 37 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:49.120 this new world, this wet sky and weighty damp. There hasn't been a 38 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:54.920 baby strong enough to float for as long as I can remember, not since 39 00:04:54.959 --> 00:05:00.199 I was a child myself, not a single baby born with the lungs to 40 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:08.199 buoy them to life. I've pictured this moment a thousand times, and now 41 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:13.920 that it's here, I am more certain than ever. I will be the 42 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:20.800 one. I will know motherhood, prove that life can persist, that this 43 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:30.240 dampness won't drown out mankind. My baby will mean there's a future. I 44 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:38.519 will be the woman who ushers in hope for humanity. So many have been 45 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:46.360 denied, but not me. I refuse to fail. I will not return 46 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:54.839 without a child. I am owed that much fruitless births are expected. And 47 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:00.040 though the women who carried these doomed things inside of them, who hoped for 48 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:05.279 a child and bled and cried for nothing, returned home in defeat, at 49 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:15.759 least they have people to return to. I have nothing, no one. 50 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:23.079 I have always been alone. And here I stand at the mouth of the 51 00:06:23.079 --> 00:06:29.279 birthing pond, in the middle of an empty pasture. I'm afraid of the 52 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:36.000 solitude that surrounds me. Most women say that's the worst part. But I 53 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:42.959 am as alone anywhere else. As I am here alone in this silent morning, 54 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:51.600 alone in the shallow water, my body quakes. It's coming soon. 55 00:06:54.519 --> 00:07:00.680 I am alone for the last time. Reeds bend toward me, too sodden 56 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:04.920 to stand upright, collapsing under the weight of the air. They look as 57 00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:12.759 if they are bowing. They bow to my baby as it crowns, defiant 58 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:19.439 and determined and ready to breathe. You will live, I say, between 59 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:28.079 cries, you are the one. Beads of salt water drop from my brow 60 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:32.199 and into the freshwater pond that's seen so many should be mothers and their sweat, 61 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:40.160 so many grieving women and their tears, so much salt and sacrifice, 62 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:46.319 so much blood and death, and never new life in return. But today 63 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:54.040 is different, Today is mine. All the breath rushes from my lungs as 64 00:07:54.079 --> 00:08:01.680 I push and contract, push and wail into the suffocating air, that thick, 65 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:07.240 foggy air, as heavy as glass, shattering to liquid shards against the 66 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:13.439 force of my screams. I duck down beneath the pond. Water lie flat 67 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:20.279 against its silty bottom, paint it red. Blood spools from my body, 68 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:28.040 dissipating like smoke, rising and dancing in the ripples of my contractions, sanguine 69 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:37.159 flames, engulfing me until all I am is inferno. One last scream boils 70 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:43.159 from my mouth as bubbled chaos explodes against the stifled air above. The baby 71 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:48.519 is out, and I dragged myself above the surface, gasping for breath, 72 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:58.399 waiting for him to meet me. Slowly he floats to the algae freckled surface, 73 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.639 rising like mercury. His back breaks through to the wet air above. 74 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:16.960 Turned the wrong way. He doesn't scream, he doesn't breathe. I lift 75 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:26.759 his tiny body, heavier than it should be. His face is slack ray, 76 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:35.519 his eyes are swollen, and his lips are cold. Nothing is cold 77 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:43.399 anymore, except my son. I try to shake him to life, but 78 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:56.440 his head only lolls loose limp. The baby is dead. The pond rises 79 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:05.840 with my tears. Reeds shake behind me, announcing that I am no longer 80 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:11.799 alone, not even a moment to spend with my misery. I'm going to 81 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:16.279 bury the baby in the bank of the pond. It's a rushed job, 82 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:22.279 sloppy, but the intrusion jars me with panic. I suck sounds of grief 83 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:28.759 back into my mouth and hide. A woman approaches, fighting her way through 84 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:35.360 the wet canary grass. Wails like bolts of lightning, slice through my fresh 85 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:43.320 anguish, my sorrow overshadowed by bellowing hope, still searing with the pain of 86 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:50.159 a torn body, still trailing blood. I keep silent. The woman enters 87 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:56.320 the water, unaware of my eyes on her, and sits with her knees 88 00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:01.480 bent into herself, shoulder deep. I don't need to see her face to 89 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:09.519 know, even from behind, she's unmistakable feline. Those cries that sound like 90 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:13.919 bird's song, that hair that water falls down her back, soft and clean, 91 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:22.759 silky even in the dense, disgusting air. If it wasn't for all 92 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:28.080 this water, this constant, hovering vapor. Feleine would have seen what everyone 93 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:33.679 else could see. But mirrors have long since become obsolete, two beaded with 94 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:43.200 dewy specks of condensation to show anything but a clouded silhouette like Feleine. I've 95 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:50.639 never seen my own face, but I know enough to be envious. With 96 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:56.039 fingers that were never quite as long and slender as hers, I've traced my 97 00:11:56.120 --> 00:12:01.559 features, lashes that don't feel rich and lush the way hers are, Lips 98 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:07.879 easily lost beneath my touch, not like the plump, pink pillows that stretch 99 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:13.120 across Pheleine's face when she smiles, which is all the time. Besides, 100 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.159 I can tell from the way people look at me that I'm no great beauty. 101 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:26.960 Feleine has everything, and now she will have a baby too. It 102 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.960 was always going to be her. This baby will be the one, the 103 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:39.000 baby born of Feleine's perfection, born of a woman whose life has never known 104 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:50.679 sorrow or failure or want. It should have been me. Screams shake the 105 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:54.840 earth for hours, and I stay stone, still out of sight, hidden 106 00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:01.399 beneath the drooping reeds. I am folded too, quietly, quivering from the 107 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:05.440 pain of birth that shreds my body. But I'm too focused on this endless 108 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.960 aching moment to succumb and make a sound. Not even a whimper leaves my 109 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:16.240 lips. I will be a mother. I just have to be patient. 110 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:24.720 Not until the sky turns black does Feleine deliver. Her cries halt for a 111 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:33.320 moment, and everything is silent with anticipation. The air, for once is 112 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:39.600 light, made of a million angels, all holding their breath. The darkness 113 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:46.639 of a moonless night blankets the field, the pond Felene. But when an 114 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:56.759 unfamiliar pitch ruptures the emptiness, I know exactly what it is. Victory Feline 115 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:03.559 dissolves into laughter. All the stars that hid in the black sky, wading 116 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:09.600 with hope and worry, reveal themselves and shine down on her. The pond 117 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:18.480 dances in celebration under their twinkling light. She is the first mother of the 118 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:24.120 New World. Her blood, red as rose petals, blooms in the water, 119 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:31.600 its feckined fragrance concealing the sharp tang of my congealing placenta rotting in the 120 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:39.320 marsh, unceremoniously discarded in my hurry to hide the salt of faline sweat joins 121 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:46.000 the sweet smell of birth blood, earthy and rich, swallowing the vinegar stench 122 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:52.360 of denied motherhood. I emerge through the reeds at last, wielding the rock 123 00:14:52.519 --> 00:15:03.200 I've been gripping for what feels like forever. I returned to town, met 124 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:11.759 with thunderous applause. Tears streamed down, faces already beaded with moisture. Sprays 125 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:20.000 of waterfly from clapping hands. I hold new life in my arms. Humanity 126 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:26.080 may yet survive because of me. I will never be alone again because of 127 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:33.639 him. They all watched through the windows, too devastated by habit to hope 128 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:37.679 as two women left for the pond. But they are used to women not 129 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:43.679 returning, and no alarms are raised when Feleine does not follow my arrival. 130 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:50.919 Childbirth is perilous, even in easy times. They might not even notice she's 131 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:56.759 still gone. Feilene has never been overlooked. If only she were alive to 132 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:03.759 see it, to feel the invisibilit that is so familiar to me. No 133 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:10.279 one even mentions her name when they realize she hasn't come home. They'll all 134 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:15.759 assume she didn't make it through her birth. So many women don't. But 135 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:22.279 the first time she'll be ordinary. They have no reason to think. She's 136 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:29.279 lying at the bottom of the pond, head caved in just above her loved 137 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:38.440 eye. Motherhood is everything I knew it would be. The baby takes to 138 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:45.360 latching easily, painlessly. He sleeps through the night and rises with the sun. 139 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:53.000 He cous and smiles like he understands the miracle. He is. A 140 00:16:53.080 --> 00:17:00.799 month of laughter and peace, Mother and baby, Me and him, and 141 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:06.759 the glory of dreams come true. For a full cycle of the moon. 142 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:17.960 I know, unflemished joy, never alone anymore. Now it's me and him. 143 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.160 It isn't until the emptiness of a black sky that he cries, the 144 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:26.759 first time a moonless night blankets our home. I try to sing to him, 145 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:33.200 try to comfort him. I tell him that he's mine and we will 146 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:37.200 be together always, that I love him and no harm will ever come, 147 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:44.440 That he is the start of a new world, that he is so special, 148 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:52.119 my baby. But he does not stop. He pulls away, shrieking 149 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:59.079 and howling, tries to free himself of my grasp. I offer him my 150 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:04.759 breast, and my motherly instincts are strong, so attuned to him, so 151 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:11.359 natural. I was made for this. No one has to teach me a 152 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.519 thing. I doubt anyone would have anything to teach. The last generation of 153 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:21.640 mother's is gone, unable to withstand the wet air in old age, no 154 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:26.839 one still living would have any experience to share. There There, I whisper, 155 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:33.400 maybe he is only hungry. The pain from his suckle strikes hard. 156 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:37.839 My milk is too hot as it passes through me into his eager mouth. 157 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:45.000 He sucks greedily from my body, but it struggles to reach him, and 158 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:53.480 he sucks harder. It feels curdled, clumpy. Pain radiates through my body 159 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:00.480 and I pull away. Mother's milk dribbles down his chin, But it's wrong. 160 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:11.559 It's gray and watery, murky silt speckled peppered with sediment. A slight 161 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:18.759 green tint coats it like varnish. He cries again and reaches for more. 162 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:26.279 Though it hurts, I endure. I cannot stand to see my prints. 163 00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:32.119 Unhappy. Grains of dirt leave my body and tears fall from my eyes. 164 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:38.559 Failine could never persist through this pain. I was made for motherhood. This 165 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:47.319 is as it had to be. I wipe algae from his chin. The 166 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:55.720 baby does not stop. Until morning. I put the knight behind me. 167 00:19:56.759 --> 00:20:00.000 It had to have been a bad dream, despite the linger skuld in my 168 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:08.079 body that insists otherwise. Another month passes, all giggles and glee. He 169 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:15.400 is growing and becoming so strong, a hearty baby, a survivor, a 170 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:22.559 champion. But under the darkness of another moonless sky, he cries again, 171 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:33.200 screaming wailing animal sounds that pierce my skull, unnatural sounds no baby should make. 172 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:38.279 I try to convince myself that I'm dreaming again, but I know that's 173 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:44.039 not true. I try to convince myself that there are some things new mothers 174 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:48.720 can't be prepared for. Maybe this is normal. But the scent of blood 175 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:57.079 fills my nose, that sweet blood, Falen's blood, too sweet, too 176 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:02.960 floral, And I remember the stink of my own after birth, like rot 177 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:11.359 and vinegar and garbage. I push those memories away. This is my baby. 178 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:17.640 There is nothing to worry about. There there, I whisper. Baby 179 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:25.480 is only hungry. He latches and suckles, and I am incinerated. Fire 180 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:32.519 rips through me. Everything burns. I remember the cold lips of my firstborn 181 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:38.759 and remember to be grateful for the heat. Heat means he's alive, greedy 182 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:42.680 boy, He's taken more than his stomach can fit. Baby spits up, 183 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:48.000 spewing cloudy gray filth from his precious mouth, and the night pulls away from 184 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:56.000 me. As I collapse in pain, the morning light reveals crusts of blood 185 00:21:56.039 --> 00:22:02.920 over my breast, the bed drenched and filtered. Dead tadpoles streak the sheets, 186 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:08.160 algae and marsh grass cling to my body. My baby's face is smeared 187 00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:17.279 in grime and blood clots, the cloying sweetness of decaying reeds, the copper 188 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:23.799 tang of a weeping womb. When the black sky night comes a third time, 189 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:30.400 I embraced to expect it. If such is the price of motherhood, 190 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:37.519 I accept. The pain of pond water feedings is torturous, but it's one 191 00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:44.599 night. I should appreciate the reminder that water brought him safely into the world. 192 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.599 It marks the miracle of his birth, a commemoration made by my own 193 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:56.200 body. With the darkness come his tears. I raise him to my breast, 194 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:03.119 exhausted already from the anticipation of pain. He suckles, but I have 195 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:11.440 nothing to give. His screams rattle my spine, his hands grab tiny fingernails 196 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:17.839 scraping across my skin. His face goes red with fury at a hunger I 197 00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:22.640 can't satisfy. Soft strokes against his downy head aren't enough to soothe him. 198 00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:29.240 Sweet melodies sung only slightly out of key don't calm him. My voice isn't 199 00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:34.960 as beautiful as Phealine's, isn't a voice made for singing. Herresses and lullabies 200 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:44.480 aren't what he wants anyway. He wants to be fed. I try again 201 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:49.920 and again, but I am empty. He only cries harder. I know 202 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:53.759 what he needs, and if he can't get it from me, he'll still 203 00:23:53.759 --> 00:24:02.720 have it. Baby, will get his water all the way across the field, 204 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:07.400 over the wet grass, and deeper into the mist, through the soggy 205 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:11.279 shield of reed, back to where we first came into each other's lives. 206 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:18.960 Here at the pond's edge, the fog is thick. Sheets of suspended liquid 207 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:26.000 turn the air to glass, heavy, almost solid with moisture. The vapors 208 00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:30.279 that hover around me pick up what little gleam the stars offer and reflect their 209 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:37.839 light, making a mirror of the haze. I see my reflection for the 210 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:47.000 first time. I see my own body, my face, the baby wails 211 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:51.160 in my arms, but I am so struck by this revelation I barely hear 212 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:57.440 him. The figure before me is a bit gauzy, just clear enough to 213 00:24:57.480 --> 00:25:03.079 see that I am st breaking. My lips are full and plum, purple, 214 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:10.039 stunning. My eyes are light and milky, unlike any I've ever seen. 215 00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:15.720 My cheeks, though sunken low, even in the darkness of the night, 216 00:25:15.640 --> 00:25:22.440 a glitter like. My skin is made of dewdrops. In the mirror 217 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:26.119 of the fog, my baby is so much more still than when I look 218 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:32.599 down at the kicking boy in my arm. In the mirror, he's sleeping. 219 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:41.279 He's smaller, too, like when he was new. Baby reaches grabs 220 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:45.079 at the reflection. He smiles, even though this is his night to cry, 221 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:52.440 a smile bigger than I've ever seen. His wails are giggles now, 222 00:25:53.079 --> 00:26:00.640 and he stretches forward toward the fog with eager little fingers. His reflection does 223 00:26:00.680 --> 00:26:07.839 not mirror his impatience. Spell Bound by my own beauty, I lean in 224 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:14.680 to inspect the blurry image more closely. He squeals with joy as my movement 225 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:21.359 brings him nearer. Even at this distance, it is difficult to make out 226 00:26:21.400 --> 00:26:26.079 the details of my face and the gossamer glass. I step forward, too 227 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:32.400 mesmerized to notice the tangle of reeds at my feet. Caught in the knot, 228 00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:36.759 I tumble forward, shattering the mist. With the baby in my arms. 229 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:40.039 I can't use my hands to break the fall. I will not let 230 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:45.119 him go. My arms clasp tighter around him to shield him from the impact, 231 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:49.240 and I plunge through the surface of the pond, down to the bottom, 232 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:56.079 where a red stained rock waits for me. A hollow thud drums against 233 00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:02.839 my skull, and my vision goes black as the night. Cracked bone leaks 234 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:07.200 brain fluid, blood swells, my eye, lid shut still. I cling 235 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:11.160 to the baby. I cling to him until there is no strength in my 236 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:21.480 arms, until something pulls him away and he is gone. Blood and salt 237 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:27.079 and silt fill my lungs, and all I feel is cold. All I 238 00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:37.000 hear is the sound of laughter, layered laughter, mirrored giggles, a voice 239 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:45.519 I know, like bird song, so much more beautiful than mine, A 240 00:27:45.640 --> 00:27:55.480 harmonized blur of happy sounds, falling farther and farther away until they vanish. 241 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:06.240 I'm left with the familiar scent of blood and the familiar silence of solitude. 242 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:14.440 I shut my eyes in the murk of the pond, knowing I will never 243 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:48.799 open them again. Thank you for listening to episode number twelve oh eight. 244 00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:56.000 Today's author was Alexis Dubon with her tale Her Drowned Envy. Today's story was 245 00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:00.440 told by Addison Peacock. I'm Daniel Foytek and I've been your host today. 246 00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:04.160 Our resident composer and executive producer is Niko Vettes of the Inky Pop. Print. 247 00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:08.440 Artwork for today's episode was created by Greg Schaeffer. To find out more 248 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:14.039 about The Wicked Library and other Ninth Story Studio shows, visit the Wickedlibrary dot 249 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:17.759 com and ninth Story dot com. If you'd like to help keep this collection 250 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:21.880 of dark tales coming, please support The Wicked Library on Patreon at Patreon dot 251 00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:26.119 com forward slash Wicked Library. You can also help by leaving a five star 252 00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:30.720 rating and short review in Apple podcasts. These ratings and reviews help other listeners 253 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:33.759 find the show, which helps generate revenue to ensure no one contributing to the 254 00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:38.599 show works for free. The Wicked Library is created by Ninth Story Studios LLC. 255 00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:41.839 All rights reserved.