Children of the Corn: Matriarch

In a small town in Nebraska, not far from Gatlin.*

            I did not know what happened to any of them.  At the beginning of the day they were normal and going about their daily lives but after six at night, they turned on us.  Every adult in town went wild and started to scream and cry at the same time.  Every child in town under the age of twenty-five became afraid of their own parents. 

            The fathers dealt with the oldest children first because they were the strongest.  The mothers focused on the younger ones.  The single parents team up to gain on their children.  The date was June 6^th, 1966, my birthday.  I just turned six years old that day. 

            I was in the playroom, playing with my dolls when my parents turned into monsters.  I heard their screams and hid in the game closet and then I heard footsteps.  I heard them both enter the playroom.

“Where is she?” I heard my mother ask.  Then the door to the closet open and I stared at my parents.  They looked and smelled like my parents, but their eyes were shot red.  They stared at me with their monster eyes. 

            My father picked me up by my hair and threw me to the ground.  My mother kicked me and they both yelled at me, calling me a terrible daughter and wishing that I would burn in hell.  I did not understand what was happening or why my parents were acting crazy.  Then they stopped and I was bruised and bleeding everywhere.  It became difficult to breathe but I struggled to live. 

            My mother left and returned with a pair of scissors and cut my beautiful blonde hair.  I cried and asked her why she did that but she did not respond.  Then my father grabbed me and the pair of scissors from my mother’s hand.  It all happened so quickly.  He slit my throat and I died.  But while I was dying I wished for revenge.

            In the year 2016, fifty years after the massacre of the children, the town seemed like any other town.  A town with shops, schools, cars, and families.  Everyone was happy and many thought that the story of the children massacre was a myth.  In one such house lived a little girl named Eve who would soon be six.  She lived in the house with her parents and her older brother, Matt who just returned from his first year of college. 

            When Eve’s birthday arrived, everyone was happy for her and gave her presents.  At home she got her favorite chocolate cake and got a new doll from her parents.  Her brother got her a locket with their pictures in it.  Then when their father clock stroked six at night, Eve changed. 

“Is everything alright, honey?” asked her mother.  Eve just finished her first piece of chocolate cake and stared off into space with her hands shaking. 

“Eve?” asked her father.  Eve became pale and then when the clock said six ‘o’ one, her color came back and her hands stop shaking. 

“Honey?” asked her mother and she reached out to touch Eve, but Eve pushed her away and left the table. 

“Eve, apologize to your mother!” exclaimed her father, but Eve walked away and into her room. 

“I’ll go talk to her,” said Matt.  Matt became worried when he found Eve sitting on her bed, staring out side the window. 

“Eve is everything okay?” Matt asked.

“When was I born?” Eve asked.  Matt found this to be a strange question but answered it anyway.

“Today, silly.  June 6^th in the year 2010,” Eve then had a smile on and turned to her brother.

“Then I am six today?” she asked and Matt saw that his sister was back. 

“Yes!  Do you like being six?”

“I love it!  I wish I did not have to age.  I want to be a kid forever.  How old are you?”

“Did you forget?  Oh well, your still young, forgetting is okay.  I will be twenty in November,”

“Twenty?  Then you are still young too!”

“I guess, although I feel old,” Eve then got up and started to play with her dolls.  Matt thought she was okay and went back downstairs to talk to his parents and tell them Eve was just fine.  But when he walked out the door, Eve had an evil smile on her face and took two Barbie dolls that represented parents and took off their heads.

            When the clock stroke midnight, Eve got up from bed.  She walked into the kitchen and looked around.  She found a butcher knife and stared at her reflection. 

“I look better with brown hair,” she said to her reflection.  Eve quietly walked up the stairs and into her parent’s bedroom. 

“Now, you will pay,” she said in a low voice.  In a quick chop, she cut off her mother’s head without hesitation.  The blood splattered her on her face and the rest hit the wall.  Her father was still snoring away in his sleep, thinking that everything was all right and that his family was safe. 

“You’re next, daddy,” Eve said and walked to his side of the bed.  Just as she did to her mother, she did to her father.  Blood hit her face and pajamas and blood hit the wall.  The wall looked as if it was bleeding.  Her parent’s bed was filled with blood. 

“Good-night, mommy and daddy,” she said before walking out.  She took the butcher’s knife and buried in the backyard along with her pajamas.  In the bathroom she washed her face and then went back to sleep.

            The police arrived when Matt called.  Matt made sure Eve did not enter the room or see the police arrive.  He sent Eve to school and called after the bus picked her up. 

“Did you hear anything last night?” asked the police. 

“No, I did not hear anything.  I slept the whole night.  I was tired from work,”

“Do you know anyone who would want to harm your parents?”

“No, I don’t,” and Matt watched them remove the bodies in bags and the police went into the room to investigate. 

“Officer, my sister and I will need a place to stay.  I can’t afford the mortgage,”

“Did you try calling your friends?” Matt was so overwhelmed he did think about calling anyone.  His closest relatives lived on the other side of the country and then the next closets lived in Europe. 

            Matt called his friend Robert and asked if they could stay over and told him what had happened to his parents.  Robert’s parents quickly decided to take in Matt and his sister. 

            When Eve arrived home that afternoon, Matt told her everything.  Eve shook her head and started to cry.  Eve locked her self in her room and pretended to be sad but instead she was planning. 

            Matt drove himself and Eve to Robert’s place that was on the other side of town.  By that time, the whole town heard about what happened. 

“You can stay here as long as you like,” said Robert’s mother. 

“My brother and I are going to share my room.  Your sister and you can stay in is room,” Robert said as he escorted the two to his brother’s room.  The room had one bed and a mattress on the floor. 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Robert’s brother said when he saw the two orphans going into his room.  Eve gave Robert’s brother a dirty look as if saying ‘beware’ but Robert’s brother over looked this. 

“Why is he wearing such strange clothing?” asked Eve to Robert.

“He’s a priest at the local Church,” he said and Eve facial expression changed. 

            It was near the end of the school year for the younger kids and Matt was surprised to have gotten a call from the school about Eve.  Eve waited for him out in the hallway during her lunch period and Matt went in the classroom to talk to Ms. Cooper about Eve.

“Is something wrong?” asked Matt. 

“I know your parents just died and this is difficult for a child but I am worried about Eve.  She’s changed and I know children change once their parents die all of a sudden, but this is different.  She’s change, extremely,”

“What do you mean?”

“During recess, Eve usually played with her dolls with the other girls or played tag.  But after your parent’s death, Eve started to gather children.  First it was two or three, but now it is growing.  At the current moment, she has gathered most of the school and each time, more join her gathering,”

“What are they doing?”

“She talks to them about God.  A God called He Who Walks Behind the Rows*,” The room was silent for a moment.

“Maybe they are just playing.  I’ve never heard of a God by that name.  We’re Jewish,”

“I know this is shocking.  But this is a public school.  If this continues, she may not be welcome back next year,” This ticked Matt off and he said that the teacher was crazy just because his little sister was fooling around.  Matt stormed out the room and took Eve by the hand.  The next morning Eve and the children went to school and to no one’s surprise they had a substitute.  Ms. Cooper died in a car accident the day before. 

            Matt kept a close eye on Eve and started to see some changes.  She went to temple but argued with the Rabbis.  Matt was told by the Rabbis to not allow Eve back in the temple.

            Eve’s class took a field trip to the high school to see a play they put on for the children.  Eve disappeared from her group and got lost in the school’s cafeteria where she started to preach to the students.  The faculty got angry with this and when Eve was about to be taken back to her class, the high school student’s in the cafeteria rebelled.  A few faculty members were killed. 

            The children in the town started to change.  Children argued and disrespected their parents.  Some even changed their names, such as the boy who lived across the street from Robert’s house.  The boy’s name was Gale but he changed it to Jonah.  The twins next store to Robert named Grace and Daisy changed their names to Rachel and Ruth.  Matt also started to notice that Eve got up in the middle of the night.  He thought that Eve was just going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water, but then he realized he did not hear any water or the toilet being flushed, so he knocked on the door and realized she was not in there.  He went into the kitchen and the TV room, but she was not there! 

            One night, Matt pretended to sleep and when Eve got up, he decided to follow her.  He follower her outside the house and she went into a cornfield that surrounded the town.  He also noticed other children, of all ages, entering the cornfields.  Matt even saw Robert enter! 

            Matt followed the children to an opening in the middle of the field.  A cross was made out of corn and he saw three corpses being hung on three giant crosses.  He immediately recognized his parents and the other one was Ms. Cooper. 

“Today I will you tell you the story of David, our first King,” he heard a child’s voice and he sat down in the corn to listen.

“David was only a child when he became a favorite of God.  When Goliath was threatening his people, David took up the courage to fight him.  Goliath saw the boy and laughed.  Saying that the army should have sent out a man, not a boy.  With one shot of his slingshot, David hit Goliath on the forehead.  Goliath, who was an adult, not a giant, fell dead, defeated by a boy.  Goliath underestimated the power of David because he was a boy but David proved to be more powerful.  Because David had God because God loves children.  We are his children.  But like any child, David had to grow up and when he was twenty-five, David betrayed God.  He slept with someone else’s wife and purposely killed the man to get to her.  His innocence was gone.  His connection with God ended.  He became a sinner, like all the adults in the world.  Do you want to fall out of favor with God?  Thus that is why the age is limit to twenty-five.  Anyone twenty-five or older, must not be trusted because they are sinners.*  Praise God,”

“Praise God, praise the Lord,”* said the children.  Matt listened to the whole story and immediately took it all in.  He started to see why the children listened to Eve; he saw why the children acted strangely to their parents.  It was because the adults were sinners!  Just by listening to one sermon, Matt started to believe in Eve’s teachings and the teachings of this God called He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

“God demands a sacrifice,” said Eve.  Two older children brought out a man from the cornfield that was tied up and placed him on a cross.  Matt recognized the man as Robert’s brother. 

“This man is a sinner and worshiping a false God!  He must be punished.  Sacrifice! Praise God!”

“Praise God, praise the Lord!” Eve picked up a scythe and handed it to Robert.  Robert’s brother had fear in his eyes and looked at all the children.

“Children!  This is blasphemy!  Remember what the bible says, do not worship false Gods!  Beware young children!  Beware false Gods!  Robert, my brother, don’t do this!  I’m your brother!  Jesus is our savior!”

“Lies!” exclaimed Eve, “It is also stated in the bible that a child shall lead them.  Anyway, our God is powerful.  We’ve have seen his powers.  Your God is false!  Our God is powerful and is older then Jesus himself!”

“You worship the Devil!  My brother!  Children!  Repent!” yelled Robert’s brother with fright in his eyes.

“You should repent brother for your time has come,” and Eve nodded to Robert.  Robert chopped his brother’s head off with scythe and watched the head roll to the ground.  Robert had no emotions on his face.

“Praise God, praise the Lord,” he said.  Then I saw Eve’s head turn and I knew that she knew my presence was in their mists. 

“Come out from the corn,” she said pointing at me and I came out.  Everyone stared at me but no one moved.

“My dear brother, you’ve finally joined us,” Eve said with a smile.  I walked to the back where the older kids sat and sat down next to them. 

“I wish to hear more stories,” and Eve told another tale. 

            It was almost July fourth and unlike in the past years, none of the older children went to sleep away camp because they knew the time had come.  Eve told them the date and time of when to take action and when it arrived they took action. 

            Every child in the town took their parent’s lives as the lives of Eve’s host took hers.  That night, instead of the children screaming, the adults screamed.  Some even prayed.  By the new morning, every adult in the town had been dispose of and their bodies taken to the cornfields.  Eve’s host finally got her revenge. 

“It has been done, Eve,” said Matt who is now called Matthew.

“Brother, my name is not Eve.  Call me, Sarah,”

The children gathered on the night of November 15^th, 2022 in the center of the cornfield.  Every child was carrying a lit candle except for two.  Matthew and his sister, Sarah.  In her left hand, Sarah was carrying the bible of the group. 

“Do not be afraid, brother,” Sarah said to Matthew.

“It is God’s will,” A girl named Elizabeth, who was only twenty stood next to Matthew and in her hand was a baby boy. 

“Sister, will you do the honor of naming my son before I go?” asked Matthew. 

“Of course brother.  I know a perfect name for the child.  There was a boy, many years ago before any of us were born, before the twenty first century.  He led a group of children not far from this town.  He promised us that he would come again when the time was right.  We have been waiting ever since,” Sarah looked at the baby and gave the child a smile and a kiss. 

“What shall his name be?” asked her brother.

“His name, shall be Isaac*,” said Sarah.

“Isaac,” whispered Matthew and he kissed his child on the forehead and his wife on the cheek.  He gave Sarah a smile and headed towards the cornfield.  Before entering, he turned around and looked at the group of children.

“Praise God! Praise the Lord!” and then he enter the cornfield. 

           

References
1. “Gatlin” is a reference to the original location of the short story “Children of the Corn,” by Stephen King.

2. “He Who Walks Behind the Rows,” is a reference to a God created by Stephen King in his original short story, “Children of the Corn”.   

3. “Don’t trust anyone over twenty-five,” is a reference to the novel Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. 

4. “Praise God, Praise the Lord,” is a reference to the original saying from the original short story “Children of the Corn,” by Stephen King. 

5. Isaac is a reference to the original leader of the children in Stephen King’s original short story, “Children of the Corn”.