Tamay was sulking by the water’s edge when the old woman approached her.


    “Why so sad, my pretty girl?” the woman asked.


    “I’m going to have a baby brother,” Tamay muttered.


    “Don’t you want a brother?”


    Tamay shook her head. “I don’t.” Then she added, “I wish he would just disappear.”


    The old woman laughed, a strange, raspy sound that made Tamay’s skin crawl.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    “Then we must get rid of him for you.”


    Something about the way the woman said it made Tamay uneasy. She was ugly, and she smelled awful, like damp earth and something rotting.


    Tamay knew she had made a mistake. Without another word, she turned and ran.


    But as she fled, the woman’s laughter followed her, echoing in the trees.


    The baby was born the next day. And that night, the Red Hag came.


    The Red Hag was a foul spirit, known to prey on newborns and their mothers, slipping into homes under the cover of darkness. It was said she fed on their lungs, leaving nothing but silence and grief in her wake.


    She came for Tamay’s family, just as the old woman had promised. The Red Hag devoured both the baby and the mother.


    Tamay’s father wept for days.


    And Tamay never spoke again.