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SAGE
August 430 BC
A man and wife lived in Athens during the great Peloponnesian War. Athens and its allies fought against Sparta and theirs. That year a plague hit the city of Athens. It decimated almost two-thirds of the population. The man’s wife was pregnant and at full term. The midwife was in the room with her getting ready for labor while the man anxiously waited outside the room. He was the last of his family. There was no one to carry on the family name or legacy if something happened to his baby during childbirth. The midwife came out to tell the man that there was something wrong. To help save the life of the mother and hopefully the baby, the midwife told him they would have to cut the baby out.
The man went into a fit of rage. The baby had to come out naturally and healthy. He was the last of his family. All others succumbed to the plague or the war. He needed this baby born healthy. The midwife told him it wasn’t possible, that they had to cut the baby out. She turned to go back into the room, and the man grabbed a knife that was on a table near him and stabbed her straight through the heart. With blood on his hands, he looked at the woman with deep remorse. He hadn’t wanted to do it. He’d had to. For the sake of his unborn child. With regret filling his heart, he took the knife and cut off the midwife’s beautiful red hair. He braided it and tied it off with twine and made it into the sacred symbol of a cross to show his remorse. He gently laid the cross on her body. He went outside and fell onto his knees.
He looked up at the full moon and prayed to the God of Fertility and Goddess of Childbirth to have a healthy baby, even if he’d just committed a horrific deed. He heard his wife scream, and he ran to her side. She then gave birth to twins—healthy boys.
His story began circling Athens. That if a red-haired woman was sacrificed in August under a full moon, that man’s family would have fertility for that generation. Soon, it spread outside Athens. To other areas that are in modern day Greece. Before most people knew how to write, it was spread by word of mouth. Now it is written and will never be forgotten. It spread outside of Greece, outside of Europe. This belief has become a society. Everyone in this society is family. If someone needs help, they will receive that help from whomever is able. Discretion is needed in this new day and age, but it must be done. For the greater good of all the families who are in need of fertility.
I stared at the last sentence in disbelief. Did Alex and all those other people really believe that killing someone would bring fertility to their family? They were crazy. Insane. What I read was only a couple of pages, yet this book was thick. Curiosity got the best of me, and I turned the page to see a list of names and dates. Realization hit, and my blood ran cold.
I was cast in darkness when Alex turned off the flashlight. As my eyes tried to adjust to the candlelight, I attempted to stand up. But he pushed me back down onto the stool.
“Hold on,” he said as he gently set the book back on the stand and made sure it was just as they’d left it. This time when I tried to stand, he let me, keeping his hand firmly on my shoulder.
“Did you read it all, Sage? Don’t you see? This needs to happen. If we weren’t doing this, so many family lines would cease to exist. Including mine. It’s for the greater good.” He wanted me to agree with him more than anything.
My gaze dropped to the floor as I clenched my jaw. If I opened my mouth, I wouldn’t be able to keep my thoughts to myself. He grasped my chin, forcing my head up until we locked eyes.
“We do this so families can survive. We did this for us. So when we get married, we will be blessed to have kids. I’ll do anything for you. I want us to be together forever.” He looked at me pleadingly, his eyes begging me to understand. It was his way of life. He’d grown up believing this. His whole family was in on this, and who knew how many others in the world.
“Did you plan to kill Lacey this whole time?” I asked quietly. This time he broke eye contact and looked away, almost ashamed. I knew I should agree with anything he said. Pretend I understood and believed him. But I needed to know exactly why my sister had been chosen.
“Your family has been chosen for a long time,” he stated, still avoiding looking at me. “Honestly, years ago, I didn’t care if it was going to be you or your sister. But then we started talking, and I fell in love with you. There was no way I could have let you be sacrificed.”
“My family’s been chosen?”
“It had to be your sister.” He ignored my question.
“No, you didn’t have to kill—"
“Yes, we did. You read it, Sage. It had to be done.” His eyes bored into mine. “I’m just sorry it happened the way it did. Like I said earlier, how it happened was not the plan. You finding this mansion and staying here was not the plan. I don’t know what happened back at the campsite. Bad luck, I guess. They were going to take Lacey when she was down at the beach by herself, and have it just been ruled an accidental drowning, and that be the end of it. I never wanted you to see this. But you were down here when the ceremony was about to start. I couldn’t let you interrupt it. Tonight was the last full moon.” He finally relaxed the grip on my chin, and I tore my face away from his hand and looked away.
“You planned to make it look accidental? My sister missing forever, just like my mom was.” I was doing all I could to hold my composure. It was all too much. My hands curled into fists as I tried to silence the tremors rolling through my body.
“It was the best way to do it. But obviously the plan had to change when you all decided to stay here for the night. Lacey wanted to go stay somewhere farther away, where there were more people. That would have ruined the plan.”
“What were you going to do with—with her body?” I choked out.
“We are very respectful with the remains of all the sacrifices. We try to inflict as little pain as possible. Usually they are still unconscious when it happens. I’m sorry she was awake,” he explained. Like this was a normal conversation. Disgust shot through me when I understood it was normal for him. He continued, “After the ritual, we find a place in the middle of nowhere and bury them and give them a proper funeral. They deserve that, for their sacrifice.”
“You bury them?”
“Yes, a proper burial. We get a nice coffin and have a little service—”
“Coffin. Like an oak coffin?”
“I don’t know. That’s not what I help with.”
I stood there silently. Clips of conversation from months ago popped into my head. Your mom was found in an oak coffin. Whoever buried her took the time. It looked like they cared. The investigator’s voice rang in my ears. She was killed by one stab wound to the heart. There was no evidence of her hair in the coffin.
I flailed both of my arms at Alex, hitting every part of his body I could. Shocked at the sudden outburst, he scrambled to grab me. After a couple of seconds, he managed to catch my wrists.
“What’s wrong? You were so calm asking questions—”
