The Skeleton in the Throne

Can you hear it? Thud… thud… thud… thud… you,,, are alive! You could not hear it? Try harder…. Thud… thud… thud… thud… That is the sound of life: the sound of it flooding through your body. But what of the lack of it? That is surely the telltale sign of a dead carcass!

Mmmm…. I can feel the crisp frosty air stabbing at my barren flesh. Oooh, the sting of the fresh brandings and icons of His divinity! Oh, how it hurt, but it was all for Him! Him, I say! The bringer of darkness and repulsion….

I stand here before His chapel: this cave of plague and despair…. I can hear my life trampling through my very veins…. It must be given back! I must prove my devotion to His disease! Oh, but I dare not arrive before Him with only my body! No, no, no! I have bathed in the blood of the damned! I have ingested and fattened myself upon the innocent! Oh, how He will praise at my atrocity! I have devoured and absorbed the very children I have birthed! Though that is not all, no! I have taken from the needy and preyed upon the weal! And I have brought these disgusting little larvae for Him! I, and I alone, am the Maggot! The devoted receiver of His grime! All of these putrescent children are mere squirming larvae!

Oh, how beautiful is this winter sky! How tranquil are the peaceful evergreens that house all that is natural and right! It must all burn and rot! For that is His will! Oooh, how comforting is the daunting sight of the cave before which I stand; with its grotesque formations and rancid stench of decay that seeps from its mouth! Before I intrude, however, I must slaughter to him one of these horrid larvae!

“Come hither!” I bark.

It raises its teary eyes and slowly inches forth to me, and I tear away its squishy pale throat! This is for you, my father!

I send the first pair of larvae into the cave to meet their glory, but I know it will be their end. I keep sending the children into pairs into the dank abyss to their early fate. They believe me when I tell them they will find honor. Now there is only myself.

I prepare myself to go into the entryway; but what is this? Fear? I have done everything I know to do….

It is so very dark in here. I can barely see the entrance from which I came. I have to remind myself that I am the Maggot and no mere larvae. Where are the children? I should have found a body at least. I cannot see or hear, but I keep descending into the darkness, nonetheless. I suddenly hear to the right a soft, distant whimpering. I turn my head, but can see nothing, so I grope the rocky wall with my hands. Yet… there is no wall. It seems to be a tunnel of some sorts…. I follow it.

I come, after what seems like hours, into a dimly lit chamber where I find an empty and ancient looking throne. On the floor around it are the larvae that I sent to meet their doom. Oh, but they are not dead! They are very much alive and sobbing! Slowly and angrily they turn their weeping faces to meet my own.

“Is this not what you wanted?”

I am startled to find in the previously empty throne a man donned handsomely in royal skin and furs, with an ivory crown atop his head.

“Why are you startled?” he asks. “Did you not send these beautiful creatures to be with me?”

“I-I…” but this is not the Lord I had expected! These repulsive larvae are not beautiful….. Is this some sort of trick?”

“You do not think us beautiful?” the larvae inquire in unison.

“My children! My daughters and sons! Why would you ever think something so nasty?” the handsome man asks the children.

“Those are her thoughts. They are most impure.” Again, all in unison. The man raises his face to me, wearing one of mock. Confusion lines are spreading across his face.

“Is this true? Could it be? Of the most devoted of my followers?”

“Of course not!” I say hurriedly. “They are beautiful little cherubs!”

“She lies, Father!”

“I believe you are right, my children,” He concurs. He now appears to be very old, but his voice is clear as ever.

“Tell me, what are you?” he addresses to me.

“I am the Maggot! I am your most loyal; your most devoted!”

“The Maggot? And I suppose the children, some even your own, are but disgusting larvae. Hmm?” His eyes are glazing and His skin is getting tight.

“Of course! They are vermin! They are nothing compared to me!”

“But just only a second ago, you said they were beautiful. Did you not?” His skin is receding into holes of decay.

“Tell me, my children, what is the difference between a maggot and other larvae?

“There is none,” they chant together ominously.

“That is not true!” I burst uncontrollably. He looks back up to me calmly: insects now devouring the jelly of His eyes.

“Oh, but it is! A maggot is only single variety of larvae. Also, out in the world, nobody finds being labeled a maggot as a compliment. No, it is an insult, one that you proudly don upon you fattened bosom. Tell me, who did you pain when you indulged yourself and took from the needy?”

“Nobody, Father!” I cry.

“She lies! She devoured our very brethren! The very ones she birthed!” the children wail.

“Yes, I know, my children. She lies to the ones who know.” This new voice comes from behind me, and in steps a decaying woman of obvious former beauty.

“I allowed this gluttonous fiend the privilege of mothering our children, but mother them she did not! Rather, she consumed them for her own fulfillment,” She consults to the one in the throne. “Tell me, woman; do you pride yourself in being such a gruesome plague against Nature? Against me?” I can feel Her staring into my eyes. But She is now but mere bone.

“Mother, she has no heart. She has only greed,” the children tell her.

“My children, I know,” She responds.

“So,” the skeleton in the throne begins,” I believe that it is only fair to assume that you truly are The Maggot here. You feed yourself on the pain of your children; in the hopes of you appearing holy in front of some sort of monster that is not I.”

My head is pounding. It is true; I have no love for these little beasts, only hatred and contempt. “But this is… thus… this is not what I expected! I sent these creatures to die for you! You are the unholy Disease! At this, the skeleton rises out of His throne and points His long, bony finger at me.

“You dare refer to me as an unholy disease? Yells He. “You have only sent these innocent children to their early graves for your persona; gain and wicked pleasures! You have no love for them, and no room to excuse yourself!”

“You have only contempt and greed,” the Mother added.

“Why do you not love us? We were your children!” the tiny skeletons shout in unanimous rage and despair.

“You are beneath me! I am your better! Why should I care for you? You are the squalor under my castles of superiority!” I scream hysterically.

“You,” the Mother interjects, “truly are the unholy disease here! It is your duty to love and care for your children, yet you send them to their deaths! You must love them!”

“I quite agree,” the Father concurs, quite disgusted. “Therefore, you shall spend the rest of eternity how you have lived: cold, dark, and alone. Never again shall you see the light of the sun or that of a candle's flame. Never shall you hear the sound of another being, now will you encounter one! And never<” He emphasizes, “shall you ever be released of your ways; but that is a confinement issued by you, not I! You have chosen to live in these cruel ways, and thus you shall forever!”

Suddenly, before I can imagine what is happening with such abruptness, the dim light simply ceases to be. I call out for those who were just previously with me. No response; though, that does not surprise me. Frantically, I grope about in the dark to find contact with anything except myself and the stone floor. Nothing. I continue to call and reach, but I know that I will never find what I am looking for.