This tale has now been recorded. Let me read it to you at Madame Yum’s Insta TV @madameyum

Thanks Christen for posting this faded glory themed pic to #LuxvilleTales. Here is your story.

A CAGED HEART.

Betty stood silently in the Arena, alone in the white noise of the history which drew her in.

She stood before them. The crowd jeering. The sound swung around her like a ferocious whirling wind of sand. The stands were a blur of open mouths screaming for her crushing. They judged.

The sword appeared from the sand, cold and hard, and cut out her heart in one fast motion. Her breath filled the space, sharp. She fell to the ground, beside her heart, in the sand. She gathered her heart, and put it back in place. The precious beating exposed. She drew her hands around it, a cage to protect it.

They grabbed for her again and again. So many attacks to bring her to heel. To bring her to their way of thinking, their way of seeing. She was bewildered. What about her needed to change to make them feel better?

She stood again and again. She fought for her place to stand and to see. The cage around her heart shook. She opened it. Her bare heart for all to see. Its beating, its power, its glow white hot. She fixed them with her stare and they blinked hard in the glow. They shrunk from the light.

Is this what they were afraid of? Her heart needing to shine?

Betty smiled to herself. Any day you get to stand alone in the Colosseum is a good day. It wasn’t always that way.

LUXVILLE TALES with TALE BY Erin McCuskey and IMAGE BY Christen (follow her @twirlingbetty)

Please Note: The #LuxvilleTales are generated from reader contributed images. Post me an image themed ‘faded glory’ and I will write you a short tale. My most fave pic taker will be gifted the ‘Luxville Dolls’ book, due February 2016. Tag it #Luxville & #LuxvilleTales and tag me too! Love Madame Yum