Cauldron Anthology Issue 15 - Crone 1st | Page 17

wrong and had embraced silence as some story of coping mechanism . Because , she was very good at her job and , also for she had been serving the family since his father ’ s days , Steph refused to let her go .
All Annita had was her phone and her books-things that held no life basically . She had to wait for Steph to be back all day and even then all he would talk about was his babygirl . How perfect she would be ! How free of sins ! How incomparably pure !
And then he would make her sit in the newly made ridiculous looking chair that looked more like a throne from some pre-historic era . He would go on to wash her feet and then kiss each one twice . Hailing her like some goddess .
More like St . Anne , you lucky bi ***. Natasha sounded a bit envious , and , she could hardly be categorized as the jealous type .
She wondered what the black mistress of her dead father might say about such bizarre nightly rituals and scolded herself immediately for allowing her mind to go there . What is it about Cornelia Stillhouse !? In moments following such undesirable line of thoughts , Annita mulled over her dead father- Ashwick Brighton . Could he genuinely be held responsible for forgetting his first wife and her mother only one year a er her demise ? It took but only one year for him to forget her and seek solace in the arms of the darkly enigmatic Cornelia Stillhouse- his beloved Crone .
There was always some sort of high-handedness about her as if she had descended from the heavens above . Although her dark one might suggest otherwise . Annita had never seen anyone living so unapologetically especially not a woman . Even a white woman . Her mother might be rolling in her grave thinking of the betrayal of her darlin ’ husband . Or , so she imagined her to be doing . More like you expect her to baby . Goddamn you , woman .
Valentina Brighton and Cornelia Stillhouse were like night and day . Exemplary situation and tragic accident . Had they been daughters of the same mother , one would always be locked and chained during family dinners and the other proudly displayed before guests .
Cornelia didn ’ t believe in the institution of marriage and had rejected her father ’ s proposal saying we one in soul honey and that ’ s what counts . She was the only one who didn ’ t like Steph and had gone out of her way showing her disapproval . As if Annita cared two cents !