Crowned in Serpents, Not Sin.

I will always treasure the last living memory I have of her: the night before I left home. She pulled each strand tight, the way her mother had done for her and her grandmother before that, and while she worked, she told me the story. She said it was the oldest one she knew. She also said it wasn’t finished, and that I was part of it now.

She began her story as if she had been holding onto it for a long time. She looked ahead and spoke beyond the light, letting her words float in the shadow.

“They will tell you she was a monster,” she said, crossing one plait over another.

“They will tell you she was punished. Don’t listen to the darkness, listen to me instead.”

She paused, then smiled softly into the black.

“She is here in this very room, and she has been patiently waiting for you to know the truth.”