Hush Little Baby
Title: Hush Little Baby
Author: Dire Banshee
Rating: R
Warnings: character death, disturbing themes, alludes to murder and child death. This is by far the darkest thing I've ever written
Summary: Taken from a prompt at sharp_teeth : Ellen was alone the night Jo was born.
She hadn't meant to. The baby had been crying for hours, colic the doctor called it, a high pitched scream that cut into Ellen's head, throbbed behind her eyes, slicing her brain to pieces in her skull. Bill was gone, hunting some ghost six states away and not home where he belonged. Why wasn't he here? Ellen needed him, their baby girl needed him...
God! Why wouldn't she stop crying? She wasn't hungry, wasn't wet... was just screaming for no reason! Slamming down the pills the doctor had given her Ellen strode over to the crib, yanking the baby into her arms and holding her to her chest. She started crooning a lullaby her own mama had sung to her, bouncing the baby as she paced the floor, around the bedroom and out to the closed bar. It didn't do any good, the baby kept up the same high wail, barely pausing for breath and Ellen walked faster, bouncing her harder.
She didn't know how long she kept it up but she eventually registered the blessed silence and sighed in relief. She was finally asleep. Slowly, so slowly, she eased her daughter back from her chest and into her arms, staring down into the baby's peaceful, sleeping face. She was so different from before... so quiet... so still...
"Jo?" she whispered.
"Ellen?"
Ellen glanced up, catching sight of Lilly Peterson, an expectant mother who Ellen had shared a lamaze class with, standing in the doorway.
"I brought you something for Jo, for her colic. Is she finally asleep?"
Ellen's eyes fell from Lilly to the too still form of the baby in her arms. Oh, God... what did she do? What would Bill say? What would he do? He couldn't come home to no baby, he loved Jo so much it would kill him... Ellen couldn't do that to him, she just couldn't!
Wordlessly, she offered the still form of her child to Lilly, forcing a smile as she eyed the other woman's rounded belly.
+ + + +
It was easy enough to dispose of the bodies. Ellen just had to dig down a few feet more into the bbq pit behind the Roadhouse, cover the corpses with salt and fire, and bury them at the end. It was nearly morning by the time the flames had died and the last of the dirt was shoveled back into place.
Ellen could hear Joanna Beth crying for her from inside.
"I'm coming, baby," Ellen said softly. "Mama's coming."