Survival of the Fittest

"There she goes again," Marie pointed at the window where everyone could hear this horrible wailing by the window.

John picked up and moved the crucifix from the shelf over the fireplace to the window where the wailing was coming from.

"Who's sick?" Mary asked as she placed a second crucifix next to the one John had sat down.

"No one that I know of," commented Marie.

"Joyce died at the mercy of those thugs down by the bar," John pointed out. "I think that Banshee is Joyce."

No one answered as another round of wailing began.

"Joyce had disappeared, or at least her body had disappeared shortly after she'd been raped and beaten group of thugs that always came into town after midnight. They'd come in, go to the bar and drink-up until daybreak. The night Joyce died she'd been attending the bar. She'd refused to keep filling up their glasses. One of the thugs had grabbed her by the waist pushed her down in the bar and had his way with her while the whole bar watched. Then the other two had their share. Each bashed her with their fists until she was just full of blood and bruises.

The bar cleared out. No one wanted to battle with the Recon Brothers. Everyone hopped on their horses and disappeared into the night. Long after the crime had happened the sheriff showed up in the bar. Joyce's body was laid out flat on the top of the bar. Her clothing had been ripped off and pieces of it and her skin could be seen on the bar and the floor around where the murder had happened. Blood dripped from the bar to the floor. Streams of it flowed out the doors and onto the street. The sheriff turned towards the door and threw-up outside.

After about a half hour of swearing under his breath and wiping tears from his eyes the sheriff turned back into the bar to see about clean-up. The body was gone...

------------------------

Breathing wasn't difficult, she noticed. Perhaps, that was because she wasn't breathing anymore. As she moved down the road a trail of blood followed in her wake. She never noticed. Waves of her hair blew away and around her like a breeze was always blowing but she never felt it. As she walked Images of events yet to happen danced around her like images in a dream. As each image presented it's self and someone died she felt the urge to scream. She wondered off into the forest wailing and screaming as she went.

---------------------

Time passed. The brothers were found and brought to justice by the sheriff. Each brother claimed nothing happened. "How can you prove anything?" They asked. "There's no body." The brother laughed.

On the ground around their feet a small cat roamed crying out as if in pain. One of the brothers kicked at it. "Get out of here you mangy old cat!"

The cat avoided the foot but continued wailing.

Folks avoided the cat. It's color wasn't normal and the high pitch of its cries were not normal for a cat.

"That's a banshee," someone whispered to someone else standing around waiting for the brothers to be sentenced to a hanging. Everyone who'd been in the bar that night had stated what they'd seen before they'd fled.

"She's telling us they are gonna die!"

"That's Joyce!" Everyone agreed.

The sheriff put the brothers in a line and each one was taken, one at a time, to the hanging rope.

"Each of you will watch the other hang to their death, before it becomes your turn."

"We didn't comment a crime!" They all screamed as the first brother was taken forcefully to the rope.

The cat disappeared from the public's eye. But the wailing didn't stop. It grew louder as the rope was placed over the first brothers head and the stool he was standing on was pushed away so he swung around, peed his pants and died a slow painful death.

As his soul lifted from his body and moved away in the air. The Banshee pulled it to herself. She rubbed her blood stained hands across his face and his forehead making the sign of the cross. The brother screamed and his spirit burst into pieces in the space where they were hidden. Once the body exploded her body began to change. Her fingers stopped dripping blood, her hair calmed down and lay over her shoulders as it should.

The second brother screamed his head off. Begged for mercy and promised to do anything needed to keep him from death. The sheriff laughed. "You should have thought about that before you beat and raped a women killing her in the end," the sheriff stated.

When the second brother was put to death the banshee's form grew even more real. The cuts and bruises on her body began to heal. The images she saw started to fade away. As she'd done with the first one she did the same with the second one. She pulled his soul to her body and ran her hands along his face. Marking his forehead with the same cross sign as she had the first one. His body exploded and bits and pieces flew everywhere.

The last brother was on the ground now begging for mercy. The sheriff let him know there would be none. He was dragged over to the rope and hung the same as the other two. He fought the noose so hard that in the end his eyes popped out and landed at his feet on the ground. The sheriff turned away. The crowd turned away just in time to see Joyce emerge from the woodland.

Everything about her seemed to scream dead! When anyone looked at her they noticed her eyes and the way they danced in a strange writhe. People avoided her. What else could they do? Everyone knew she ate their souls. Most felt they deserved it.

No one noticed every now and again a small black cat who always came around when a family lost a member. The cat always licked it's lips as it walked away. Another soul gone so it could survive another day...