Lonely Angel

Chapter 1

The whole house was silent in anticipation of what was happening in the master bedroom, upstairs. Well I say the whole house, all except one room. The master bedroom was filled with cries of pain and struggling. Outside that room, a man paced up and down, never ceasing in his footsteps. His wife was struggling, she had been quite weak for about a week – and she had finally gone into labour. She struggled, just through the closed door, to give birth to his first child. She had told him she was sure it would be a boy. He wasn't going to contradict her.

The lady of the house gave another almighty push as the next contraction hit. The doctor assured her it would be over soon, well it had bloody better be, otherwise she would probably collapse. She couldn't remember ever being close to being this knackered. But she was determined to bring her child into the world. She knew it to be a son, she had been so pleased when she found out that she was to deliver her husband a child.

The next scream almost had the husband running in there, and a couple of the servants who had been parents winced in memory, they didn't envy the poor woman upstairs. Suddenly, the screams ceased and a small cry echoed through the otherwise silent house. The silence erupted, servants jumping up and down and grinning at each other. They had a new master, or mistress.

At the cry, the man of the house could contain himself no longer, and launched himself through the door that hid his family from him. He gazed down at his wife, her face pale and weak, but smiling. The doctor looked frozen as he gazed down at the baby in his arms. He suddenly grabbed a blanket and covered the child, to an extent where it could be passed off as fear. The doctor held the small bundle to him, looking slightly wild. The main man turned to him.

"Well, can I not see my son? Erik I believe, will be his name. Unless," he paused, looking closely at the man, "Is it a girl?" the doctor looked paralysed, until he slowly shook his head.

"N – no, um. It is male." The man, now a father, walked over to him, towering over him. He took the bundle from the doctor.

"Then what is the problem? My poor son, Erik." He shook his head as the doctor crossed himself and fled from the room. "What of my wife?" He called after him.

"She will be fine." Came the distant reply. The man frowned at the door, then lowered his eyes to the small bundle as it gave a small cry. He smiled slightly and uncovered the baby's face. As he looked into his son's face for the first time, his smile froze. It would be the only one the small child would see for a long time. The smile slid off his face as he inspected his child's face. He gave a strangled cry and sat down on the bed quickly.

"No." He muttered, his child was perfect, from his baby toe to the side of his face. But that wasn't enough. The right side of the little bundle's face looked as if a knife had been taken to it. The skin was red raw, with lumps and crevices. His right eye was slightly lower than his left and it seemed as if he barely had an ear. The deformity continued round the side of his head, where people would usually have hair. The left side of his head had dark brown tufts all over it, but there was only thin, listless hair on the right side.

The father's hands shook as he beheld his son. He seemed unaware of his wife's quiet voice trying to make itself heard until she sat up behind him and tried to take the child from him. He gripped it harder and stood up away from her. She looked at him, confused.

"My baby?" She asked in a small voice. "What is wrong with my baby? My little Erik." Her voice shook, tears threatening to fall. He placed the child down on a small table and went over to her, stroking her hair, muttering comforting words.

"Shhhh." He crooned. "My darling, I regret to inform you." She stood up, quickly, swaying slightly.

"What? What is it?" She asked in a shrill voice. She made her way over to the baby, stumbling. Her husband made it at the same time. He placed his hand in hers, to comfort her as she slowly revealed her son to herself. The resulting scream echoed through the house as she dropped into her husband's arms. He heaved her to the bed.

The servants' smiles faded quickly. What was going on, that resulted in the doctor fleeing from the house as if it was the devil's own home, and, possibly the same thing, that caused the heart-broken scream to pierce the quiet. Now they feared what the man of the house would do in his anger. He always had a bit of a temper on him.

Sure enough, the man made his way out of the bedroom quickly, and soon crashes of things being thrown across the room was heard. The servants all breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't taking his anger out on them. He never hurt them physically, but they all felt terrified out of their wits when he began to shout. Up in the nursery, Erik's father stood, panting, in a pile of broken toys. He quickly picked up a small baby suit. No, that wouldn't do. He looked around for inspiration, and spied a small rag on the floor. Perfect. He knelt on the floor and used a small knife he kept on him from habit and cut a couple of small holes in it. Then he made his way back to his wife and child.

He entered the room to see his wife had regained consciousness and was sitting, looking rather forlornly at the small child lying on the table. He went over to his son and wrapped the rag round his face, showing it to be a mask of sorts. He then pulled Erik roughly into the baby suit. He left the boy where he had been and went over to comfort his wife, who looked up at him, tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

"What did I do wrong?" she pleaded with him in a small voice, "I always tried to be good, but my child, my poor little Erik." She paused, sobbing quietly. "What did I do to cause my poor child to be possessed by the devil?" she broke down, sobbing into her husband's chest. He tried to comfort her, stroking her hair. He could think of no answers for her questions. He comforted her as he best could, humming softly into her ear.

"You have done nothing. Don't blame yourself for what happened. I don't know the reasons that God couldn't protect our child, but together we shall try our best to drive the devil out of him. Erik, our son, he must be in there somewhere. We will get our son. Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault." He told her softly. And he meant every word, they would release their son from the evil that possessed him, if they had to force it out.

They tried desperately for years with the belief that their son was possessed by the devil. Poor Erik wasn't allowed out of the house for fear of being seen. The neighbours were confused about the secretive nature of that family. They couldn't fathom how their son wouldn't leave the house for everyone was aware of the pregnancy, now they declined all such nonsense.

Approximately a year after the tragic birth of Erik, his mother found herself in labour again. At first, they were terrified to learn of the upcoming birth, but the parents were very religious and couldn't take a child out of the world, even if it hadn't been born yet. So Erik's parents' house was once again filled with screams, a corridor was once again being paced. Only this time there was another in the house, a small boy, sitting in his room. He worried about the loud screams filling the house. A different doctor delivered the child – the other one had mysteriously vanished a year before. As another infant's cry echoed through the corridors, the father once again hurtled into the delivery room. His wife lay as before, she would be fine. But the father had eyes only for his child.

He took him from the doctor, who stood with a small smile on his face. He almost wept to see a perfect face smile up at him. He smiled at his son, because the infant was a boy. He looked over to his wife, who lay with many worry lines creasing her beautiful face. He smiled at her.

"He's perfect." He said, and saw her eyes fill with tears. He went over to her and gave her a hug and showed her the baby. She caressed her son's face, a large smile lighting up her face. She hugged her husband back.

"Thank you." She said, he decided not to ask the reason for her thanks, she was in a sensitive mood. "What shall we call him?" She asked him, they had gone through baby names, but couldn't decide on one. He looked into his son's eyes, an idea forming in his mind.

"What about Henri?" he asked. The child seemed to fit it, his black hair thick, even though he was only minutes old. She smiled at the little boy and nodded her head, Henri was perfect.

The doctor had let himself out, they would both be fine. The servants bombarded him with questions when he made his way downstairs, and he assured them that both the baby and the mother would be perfectly fine. She had delivered a beautiful baby boy. They seemed to be satisfied, and let him leave. He whistled all the way home.

Review please :) Dont know if it's any good??? ...