Chapter Text
Winter, 1996
She had made a deal with the devil.
That was it.
After it was done, she played her part to save her bright son from the blight the world had cursed him with. In those early years, the process had thoroughly tested her patience for how uselessly slow it was. For the money she spent on it, she thought it would have done a faster job, but in the end, it was to her benefit. A lot of her frustrations were quickly satisfied at the results it would bring, and the punishments she dispensed balanced out the disappointment she felt had they been disappointing. It was a fair trade in her opinion.
Only after she had made sure that not another malignant entity could enter her youngest’s body, only then, did she get rid of the little creature that invaded her home. Nobody said she had to take care of it until it became fully grown, so it was an obvious decision to bring the thing elsewhere—anywhere, the furthest place possible, preferably.
Not wanting to bother the rest of her family, she chose a couple of days when they all had their own arrangements, and she took the young devil as far away as she was able to. It almost saddened her that she would be unable to just punt it across the sea, but it was a necessary sacrifice. The fewer contact involved, the fewer the paper trail, then far less of a mess would be made in general, and thus, much more practical to clean up after all had been said and done.
It was genuinely laughable at how easily she managed to trick the hell spawn.
To believe such a lie from her mouth is its own fault. As if it deserved a reward for curing her son, as if it wasn’t made to do so from the very beginning. It should have been thankful for even existing because of her. In any case, barring her disgust at becoming the center of its attention, she would say her plan was able to be executed quite smoothly, with nary an error.
At least, if she did not include the surprising weather that awaited them at their destination.
Although the unexpected snow in the usually sunny location caught her off guard, she found herself eventually reveling in it, assured that it must have been a sign that things were in fact in her favor. The cold after all made for a much more fatal condition for her to dump the gremlin. It was like the land gave her mercy so as to not dirty her hands any further, giving her the simple task to bury it under the snow, out of sight from any bystanders.
As if bolstering her belief, she had soon found the perfect place to drop off the unwanted devil. It didn’t want to be left alone at first, and she scoffed at its pitiful resistance. She spared a few words to get the animal to obey, “If you don’t behave, then you don’t get to play anymore.”
“B-but… you promised, mom!”
Shuddering at the reply, she resisted the urge to remind the thing that she was never its mother, the thought alone sickened her. “Then you best behave now,” she gritted out her response with some more honeyed lies, had it drinking up every word that came out of her lips, and it was with a confident grin when she turned away from it in the end, and walked away from the shivering, silent child. It was almost poetic, to have a creature born from fire and have it freeze itself to death.
Purposefully, she ignored it calling out from behind her while her smile grew larger.
Just like that, within those few days, she had successfully left the bastard where it would expect a lonely fate, and arrived back safely at home, all by herself. Finally, she thought. Finally, she could be relaxed in her house without that ghastly blemish on its face tainting her view. It felt like nothing could bring down her mood then, not even when her silly husband started questioning her about the whereabouts of their once convenient tool.
“We don’t need that devil anymore, dear. Our son is all better now, don’t you see?” she comforted the older man. Wholeheartedly, she expected him to share in her relief, so she did not understand why her words had made the other turn into such an unhealthy pallor instead.
Almost immediately, her husband rudely brushed her aside, and began to shout for the damned thing despite her protests, much to her mortification. There was no need to cause such an unsightly commotion – what would their neighbors think if they saw how desperate he sounded in the dead of night? An oddity is what it was, for there was no longer a need for him to pretend to be attached, surely.
“Honestly, it is only a devil’s child, there is no need for such dramatics.” In her attempt to quieten the man, she tried to appease the man with a concerned tone, “I’ve returned it to its home. Now stop that incessant shouting and get back in the house.”
His shocked eyes turn to her, an accusation heard loud and clear, “What are you talking about?! This is Evan’s home. Where is he?! What did you do to our son!”
She pursed her lips, uncomfortable with the notion.
Sharing a home with a damnation like that child, treating it as hers?
Nauseating.
Her head filled with displeasure, she rebuked the implication with a shake of her head, “This has never been its home.” With a disgruntled scowl, she reminded the man, “Enough is enough, Philip. We only have one son, and we only needed that child until Daniel got better, and now he is! He’s got a clean bill of health! With it, that thing had become obsolete, so I simply removed it, seeing as it is of no more use to us.”
With satisfaction, she saw the fight slowly leave her husband’s face, gladdened that her words helped make him come to his senses. Now if only the man could cease asking her the obvious, she would be much more pleased with the situation. Tired lines were drawn on his face, and the man looked at her, staring right at her with clouded eyes.
“Margaret, what did you do?”
Defeat. Exhaustion. Resignation.
His words absolutely dripped in it, and it confused her why that might be. She didn’t understand why her husband continued to plaster on the charade that he had built, why he was skirting around the topic, as if he didn’t want to comprehend what she had done across the state. If it were not for his wealth and good looks, she might be convinced the other was slow up in his head. Oh well, she sighed, deciding that she could indulge in this odd moment he was having.
With a sweet smile, she cupped her husband’s face with both of her hands, reiterating what she had done, “Don’t you remember? Maddie and Daniel were getting too attached, so I simply took it on myself to right that wrong when I had the time.”
No more pretending to be happy to host a devil, and especially no more worrying about whether her two children would be corrupted further by its influence. She had saved them, she explained it clearly to him, “That child is right where it belongs now, it’s no longer our problem. We did it, we won! With that little devil gone, our family is now everything I’ve envisioned it to be.”
Chuckling, Margaret wiped away the 'happy' tears that fell from Philip’s eyes.