Lightning Crashes
The Jersey Devil was born to a young woman by the name of Martha Leeds. Not much is known about Martha’s past, but we do know that she developed a secret relationship with a wealthy, and married, business man by the name of Obadiah Jones. Soon after their love affair began, she became pregnant with Jones’s baby. Obadiah’s wife, Katherine, found out about the affair and pregnancy when Martha’s belly grew too big to be kept secret in the small town of Tuckerton.
A furious Katherine stole a large sum of money from her husband and paid two local witches to put a curse on the unsuspecting Martha. The hex was supposed to abort the unborn child and hopefully do away with Martha in the process. But to the chagrin of the witches, the spells had no effect on Martha Leeds. As she drew closer to delivery, the witches decided to kidnap Martha, as they did not want to give the money back to Obadiah’s wife, and not have people think their magic was a sham.
So they brought the very pregnant woman to their home deep in the Pine Barrens.
The night the Devil was born was the nastiest and most sudden storms in New Jersey’s history. For three hours straight, black lightning erupted from massive, dark clouds and ignited fires across the whole state. When the black rain finally fell, it only gave the citizens a temporary relief. The water pounded the grounds, and elevated the rivers and lakes. The flooding drowned cities, towns, and many residents, throughout the state. The roaring winds carried the newborn child’s wail throughout the Garden State as local newspapers at the time had printed many eyewitness accounts that the wicked storm sounded like the bone-chilling cry of a sinister baby.
Martha had an extremely difficult childbirth and suffered severely. She died thirteen minutes after her son was born.
And the Son of Leeds stopped crying seconds later.
Gods vs. Monsters vs. NJ is a flash fiction series by Chris Blount. It magically tries to update itself on a weekly basis.
About the plot: https://write.as/doc-halo/gods-vs