Witch's Blood

Chapter 22

Art by Glitzdraws on Twitter

The days have been bearable. Mother doesn't visit me often. She only comes by to put words into my head, then one of my sisters comes by to feed me and provide me with medical books.

I've been trying to keep track of the days, but the days blend in together. If I sleep once I lose track of my time. Of course, I couldn't stay up all the time, so I tried sleeping after they gave me my second serving.

I ran out of things to do here. I resorted to counting the bricks in my room. I've been here for so long, yet Mother nor my sisters tell me anything about why Mother wanted me back. I remember her saying she looked forward to my future accomplishments. Only I have the key to what she wants. She says I'm useless, yet she needs me. Ironic. No matter what, I'm not doing what she says.

I hiss as I hold my head. My head's been feeling like it's about to split. I hate this feeling, but no one's helping me. I'm left to suffer here, as punishment for running away. So why was I punished the moment I didn't show any power? What did I do back then?

They give me two meals a day, so I marked lines in a book. I also had the problem of keeping food down. Mother was getting angry and started she make my sisters force food down my stomach to only throw it back up after a while. I threw up on them a few times only to result in slaps to the face. Something was going on with my body... I had a harder time moving around lately, craved weird things, and I started getting fatter instead of skinnier from the meals. My mensural cycle hasn't come yet, but maybe it's just because the days have been mixing together and just feels like it's been years...

Mother was angry and confused. I was getting fatter yet I wasn't eating even after she cut my meals to force me to eat. She called one of my sisters to check up on me, the one who had been giving me meals. This sister was Kamryana. She was the only one who was kind to me after my return.

Kamryana has short brown and spiky hair with a part of her hair lighter than the rest. She had three ear piercings on one of her ears and often wears dark makeup. Her dress is different. She said she gave it a twist of her style. She cut the sleeves off the dress and put fingerless gloves on.

She stumbled on her words and she checked on my condition as I lay in the rickety old bed. I was supposed to know about medicine and conditions, but I didn't know. Kamryana finally and slowly said, "She's... she's pregnant, mother..."

Pregnant? I didn't know what that was. Kamryana went to a human school to study medicine so maybe this is a newly found disease they discovered. Did one of my friends have this disease? I probably would've noticed... They looked fine to me... Everyone ate well and didn't throw up like I am. I need to research this as soon as I can.

Mother froze for a second. "How long?" she asked.

"About three months it seems from her stomach's size..."

Mother's face grew red and her magic went wild as she threw everything in the room. Her perfectly set bun was now in ruin as her hair floated around. All the work I had put into this room to make it more organized now was in vain. She protected Kamryana with a magic barrier and I was left to crawl around to avoid being hit. The wind inside was too strong and my eyes would subconsciously close. Books would hit my body. My stomach made it uncomfortable to lay on my knees but it protected the front of my body from books, I covered my head with my hands as Mother hollered over the crashing.

"You slept in someone's bed?! Is it that barbaric prince's child? You don't deserve to be happy after leaving your family to start another! I'll take that child straight from your womb and force you to eat it to teach you a lesson! Did you become a whore now? If you like sleeping with men so much, maybe I should sell you to a whore house!"