“O Evelyn, Hear My Cry!”
by Savannah Howard, 8th Grade 3rd Place Winner
Naomi had always been a troubling child, mischievous and eccentric she was. Her mother found it hard to care for such a child, and it was always worrisome when she vanished into the woods. She wondered if Naomi would run away one day, never looking back. It was a fear of hers to let that child roam free.
Meanwhile, Naomi enjoyed her freedom through the woods, escaping her overprotective mother. She wished she could fly like an angel and travel the over-world.
Naomi believed in angels, creatures who blessed humans with their heavenly voices. She had always prayed for an angel to visit her one day. She prayed every night, yet her cries were never answered. But she would keep waiting.
One day, Naomi heard voices singing within the forest, a harmonious melody of singularity. She grew curious of the source, and she followed the song through the trees. Naomi reached the singing to an abandoned establishment of a church, decaying with time, as flowers sprouted with new life to replace the old.
As she grew near, the singing grew to a chant of sorts, reciting, “O Evelyn, O Evelyn, Blessed is thy name! May your salvation save our fates!”
They sounded joyous and proud in their words. Naomi felt entranced by their litany as her hand pushed the creaky doors and walked to the sanctuary without a thought.
Upon the stage, an angel stood in all its glory. Its skin was pale and fair with no blemishes or markings, only the faintest of blush. Its hair, a color mimicking the sunlight, rippled through the air with no touch of gravity. It wore a silk robe that dropped off the shoulders modestly, and a halo adorned its head. Wings, white as a dove, spread out towards the audience in greeting.
Naomi almost shrieks with delight. An angel! One she had always prayed for upon countless nights, sitting in a chapel upon the earth. She could meet an angel now. An angel!
She stumbled towards the bottom of the steps, kneeling before the presence of a heavenly figure. Tears streaked her face and stained the floor. She called out, “O Evelyn, hear my cry! Would you grace me with your presence?”
The voices died upon her voice, and the angel gazed her eyes upon the child.
An unholy shriek wailed from the creature’s mouth.
Blackened tears spilled from its void eyes, crawling desperately towards the child. Its mouth expanded, the abyss with unnatural sets of teeth greeting as a opening. Its screams drew louder and louder. Its body looming over the bowed Naomi who carried a smile upon her face.
Play stupid games and you get stupid prizes, a saying her earthen mother reminded her.
And Naomi was no more.
