The Witch of Willow Lake - 1

It was the eve before my birthday and Mary had been nothing short of astonishing. She’d helped me get a cleaning job in a small apothecary where she worked herself. It did not pay much, only seventeen cents an hour, but it was enough to give Mary a little something for the food and clothing she gave me.

Within just six days, Mary had helped make the small town of Silver Oak like a new home. It could never replace the home I’d come from, but I knew there were far worse places for me to start my new life and I was enjoying living with Mary.

I did what I could to help Mary. In the mornings, I would wake and make her breakfast as she readied herself for work. While she was at work, I would clean up around the house and do a small bit of gardening in her front yard. I would join her at the shop later in the afternoon, where I would resume my duties until a little after closing.

In the evenings, she would let me rest a little while she busied herself, making dinner for the two of us. Sometimes I would help and she would teach me to cook new things. Then after we ate, I cleaned up, doing the dishes before we would sit in front of the fireplace, talking, or reading together.

She would ask me all about my family, although I never told her who my family had really been. That was the first thing we were taught, never to say to people that we were warlocks. It was the one thing we had to keep a secret, in fear that an event much like the Salem witch trials happened again.

Most humans feared the unknown, and they feared the supernatural. Their minds filled with horror stories from a young age, so we could not tell. So, I was always careful to leave that part out as Mary questioned me, and was sure never to answer in ways that may cause her to suspect anything of the sort.

“So," Mary looked at me with her motherly like smile as she set down the book she had been reading, "what would you like to do for your birthday tomorrow? Sweet sixteen, we must do something special.”

“I’m perfectly okay with just staying here and reading this book.” I gave Mary a small smile, holding up the book she’d lent me to read. I had always loved reading, however we didn't have many books back home, but Mary had a whole collection and I was determined to read them all.

“Oh, nonsense." She scoffed as if I had said the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard, "Only once does a beautiful young lady like yourself turn sixteen."

"I don't think I'm that beautiful." I said shyly as my cheeks turned pink.

Mary gasped and looked at me with a scowl, similar to my mothers when she was scoulding me, "what nonsence, my dear! That beautiful flowing silver hair, which you keep so neat in a braid. Your eyes are magnificent. I’ve heard of people with eyes like yours, but never have I seen them before. With that said, I’ve never seen someone so young with silver hair either. You are certainly someone very special."

My eyes weren’t like other peoples. Everyone I had ever encountered had two eyes of the same color; however, mine was different. My left eye was a deep ocean blue with a darker rim around the iris, much like my fathers. And my right was more of a soft green, with a dark blue fleck in the iris. Green like my mothers.

“You’re certainly a unique beauty with your hair and eyes.” Mary continued,“I know that the young boy who visits the shop is very taken with you. Damon. He asked me to see if you’d be interested in meeting up with him one evening. He’s seventeen and a charming boy.”

My cheeks warmed as a blush crept over them once more. I couldn’t deny, I did quite fancy the young boy, he was handsome and well mannered with a smile that could light up a dark room. He had that kind of smile that told you he was well manners but he knew how to have fun, “Oh. He does seem very sweet.”

Damon had come into the shop while I was cleaning almost every day. He always stopped to say hello to me and offered me a hard candied sweet which he got from his father’s sweet shop on the other side of town.

“I’ll tell you now my love; you can’t go wrong with a boy like Damon." Mary's tone had a matter of fact chime to it as she spoke, "His family is one of the richest in town, although of course money is no matter. He’s always been such a well mannered, polite boy. Well educated and besides the odd, minor transgression, never puts a foot wrong. You should consider it."

I didn't know how to respond, I knew nothing of courting, or relationships beyond friends and family, so I simply smiled, "I shall."

Mary returned the smile, "But that’s for another day. I think tomorrow I shall borrow my friends car and I’ll take you to the next town over. They have a beautiful park where we can have a picnic, indulge ourselves in cake and relax a little. I took the day off and arranged for you to have the day off too.”

“That sounds perfect, thank you, Mary. But there’s just one thing.” My voice trailed off as pain gripped at my chest and stomach.

Mary’s smile faded, and her eyes saddened, “It will be the first you spend without Zachariah, right?”

I nodded my head slowly, my heart sinking into the pit of my stomach. “I miss him.”

“Oh, I can only imagine my love. We will make sure to honor him tomorrow while we celebrate, however, he wouldn't want you not to celebrate just because he is not here. Now, why don’t you head to bed? It’s getting a little late.”

I looked out the small window of the living room. The sky was dark, littered with brightly shining stars in the clear sky. The moon was full and glowing vividly. There was no sign of cars or movement outside beside the trees and bushes gently swaying in the night breeze.

I nodded, placing a paper bookmark in the novel before setting it on the small oak table in front of the couch. “Goodnight, Mary. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“Goodnight Hallie, and as I say every night, there is no need to thank me. I’m glad I can help, and you help me more than you feel you do. Sleep tight.”

I stood, leaving Mary with a light kiss on her pale cheek before I retired to my bedroom for the night. Tomorrow I would turn sixteen, and tomorrow my brother was supposed to turn sixteen. However, with my village and brother gone, my turning sixteen meant nothing more than precisely what it was.

***

Angry reds, oranges, and yellows blocked my view as I watched everything burn. The screams of my friends and family as they fought off the enemies and watched their homes burn. The young ones were running in a desperate plea to escape and preserve our bloodlines.

The face of a vampire growling at me snapped into view, his eyes red, dangerous, and hungry as his fangs glistened from the light of the fire. He lunged for me, ready to feast on his meal, I was defenseless with no powers.

I curled into a ball, not knowing what else to do, but with a flash, the vampire flew backward. Knocked by an invisible force as my brother stood tall in front of me.

His voice sounded one hundred miles away, although he was stood just a few feet beside me, “Hallie, remember I love you, always. Now please go.”

“I-I won’t leave you.”

“You need to go, please Hallie. Be safe, be free, live a normal life for me. I’m always with you, no matter how far apart we may be." His eyes locked with mine, however, his figure began to fade and his voice grew more distant, "I promise I will come for you one day. One day I will see you again. One day we will be united and free to live happily together, this is my vow to you, just hold on for me Hallie and stay alive. Now please, go.”

“I love you.” I sobbed, the tears washing over me like the harsh waves of an angry ocean in a storm as he faded into nothing.

***

I woke with a start, a bright red flash filling the room. It felt as if every single muscle in my small frame had tightened under heavy pressure, making it impossible to move for a split second before exploding. My entire body felt as if it had been engulfed in the flames from the dream and moving seemed impossible.

A loud bang, which cut off a high pitched scream startled me, and my head snapped towards the door, filling me with instant regret as the motion caused a sharp pain. However, what I saw, was far worse.

I didn't know how long I stared for, it must have been a minute or so at least as my eyes tried to make sense of what I was seeing and my brain was trying to decide whether I was still dreaming or if it were reality.

However, after a moment, the horrifying realization came, I was not dreaming, and I was seeing what I thought. Mary.

Mary was lying on the floor, unmoving, blood pouring from her head. My heart raced, my head pounded as if it was being hit with a hammer. I looked at my hands, bursts of small red lightning flickering between them.

Another moment passed as I stared at my hands in confusion, this wasn’t supposed to happen. This couldn’t be happening. I was dreaming, I had to be dreaming still, none of this could be real, that was the only explination. However, the awful black pit of dispear I felt in the bottom of my stomach told me I was just kidding myself.

“Mary, Mary, please.” I moved beside her, shaking her as the tears poured. But she was gone, no pulse from her heart as I pressed my fingers against her neck.

The nightmare, the force of pressure must have caused a burst of energy to emit from me. She must have been coming to check on me. She told me I whimpered and cried at night, which woke her up due to the walls being so thin and she would often get up to soothe me and ensure I was okay. The energy burst must have knocked her and caused her to hit her head.

I’d killed her. I’d killed the woman who’d taken me and treated me like her own this past week. I’d killed the woman who I was beginning to love in the town I was starting to make my home.

I looked at my hands, my clean hands which now were no longer clean despite their appearance. Hands that now had blood on them, the blood of a woman I had began to love. However as I continued to look, red static danced between my finger tips like dancers as a ballet.

I wasn’t supposed to gain powers, but I couldn’t deny it as more red lightning flickered and began to dance violently. I’d seen it happen to Zachariah on his tenth birthday, only we were expecting it. There was no burst of energy, just the lightning which he’d gained control of quickly.

I couldn’t stay here. No one was safe from me. I didn’t know how to control them as Zachariah, or the others did. I’d killed Mary.

Tears flowed freely from me as I threw my things into a small bag. I didn’t know what else to do other than run. I couldn’t be around people, and I couldn’t kill anyone else. I was scared, alone, grief-stricken, terrified, heart broken and horrified at what had just come to past. All my body was telling me to do was run.

“I’m s-so sorry.” I sobbed, looking at Mary’s lifeless body before I ran, escaping under the night sky into the forest.