Chained By The Witch

Chapter One: 3 Months Earlier

The brook flows over my feet as I wade through the shallow waters. My best friend walks next to me, her dress floats behind her, the wind ruffles her hair and the trees sway gently beside us. I breathe in the summer air, the scent of flowers hanging thick and sickly sweet around us. The cattails brush against my legs and catch on my dress.

She laughed at something I said, what did I say? I can't remember anymore. Mary. Her name was Mary. I loved her, but it didn't last, soon she'd leave me. Ripped from my arms and most likely dead.

She was quiet and lived in a lonely cottage near the forest. Now I know why, thinking back it all makes sense, she was so unique, and she knew so much about nature, I just assumed it was because she lived within it, unlike me, who's lived in the city since early childhood.

I had moved to the countryside not long ago, and met Mary just a bit after that.

Mary sat down next to the bank and set out the food for our picnic, she grabbed an apple and took a bite, her gaze drifting to the clear August sky. A dragonfly landed on her head and more buzzed around her. I thought it was a coincidence then, but now it seems her abilities drew them in. She simply ignored them and continued to admire the sunny day. Eventually the dragonflies got bored and fluttered off. I flicked a few ants off of the picnic blanket.

"Aw scrat!" The ants had gotten into the basket and were carrying our food off to their nest. I heaved a sigh and pulled my knees to my chest. I looked over at Mary to see her still admiring the sky.

She turned to me, but her eyes were no longer calm and contempt. She searched my face for a minute, distracting herself from whatever it was she wanted to say. Then Mary looked off into the distance, just behind my ear.

"I- '' She started, stopping to take a deep breath, "I don't know how to tell you this, so I guess I'll just come out and say it. I-I'm a witch." It took me a second to process her words. They sunk in and clamped on.

"W-what?"

"I knew it was too soon! I can't let this get out, one day you'll understand, one day!" She said without even giving me a chance to process or respond. Her eyes began to glow and the grass started to sway. My vision faded.

When I came to, Mary was dragging me into a room hidden behind a wall. She sat me against the back wall so I was facing the door and attached heavy chains to my body. She sighed and used her magic to help lift the chains and lock them in place. Her cat, her familiar, sat beside her, offering support.

"I'm...I'm sorry, it shouldn't have come to this. But if my secret got out they'd kill both of us. I still have things to accomplish in this world, people to save, so I need to be free to continue my work. I'll be back later to get you. If something happens just wait for the spirit." I watched helplessly as she stumbled through the door shaking with sobs, the door disappearing behind her. But she never did come back.

That's the end, that's it. I'm still stuck in this room and she's still gone. Sometimes I think they figured out she was a witch and got her, other times I think she left me here to rot.

I screamed for days, cursing the spirit, it probably doesn't even exist! Mary left me, and I have to sit here and wait for the inevitable, if it hasn't happened already. I could be in hell right now for all I know!

"Argh! You useless spirit if you don't show your face then you'll never see mine again!" I scream slamming my head into the wall behind me. I do it over and over again but nothing ever happens.

My throat is raw from screaming so all I can do is let the tears fall like rain. I hear a knocking sound and quickly turn my head towards it, I groan as my neck throbs with pain. Forgot I was chained to a wall. But no one ever enters the room, the door remains closed and water continues to drip from the ceiling.

A small child-like voice calls from the darkness, "For someone who wants to escape you sure are rude to your saviour."

"Who are you? The spirit? You coward, show yourself!" I try to scream but half of it comes out hoarse and the other half only a mere whisper in the wind. The bodiless voice only laughs at me, it bounces off the walls and hurts my ears from its intensity.

"All this solitude and you're still as snappy as ever, huh? It's too late anyway, your friend is dead."

After all this time I thought that I had finally gotten over Mary being gone, but knowing now that she truly is dead brings a sharp pain to my heart. I ignore it and choose to keep the facade of bitterness, it's too late to do anything now and emotions alone couldn't bring her back.

"I figured as much. Now if you could take off these chains and explain why I'm not dead, that would be fantastic." It laughs at me again but I feel the weight of the chains lifting from my body. Then it stops.

"Wait. Do you even deserve my help?" I feel the chains slowly begin falling back into their place.

"No! Stop! Stop! Please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just get me out!" I call frantically. The voice laughs louder and louder, crazy, maniacal laughs! Then... it's gone? The chains disappear and it's silent again.

I stand on shaky legs and after falling a few times I notice the whisper of wind seeping through the cracks in the room, seeming to lead me to them. My head aches and my vision blurs but I persist and reach the wall. I push on it where the whooshing sound is loudest. Suddenly it falls open like a door and I fall through into the forest from whence I must've come.

I look around and spot a creek just ahead. I scramble towards it on all fours and scoop the clear water into my mouth. I feel the cold run down the back of my throat, slowly healing the pain from my cries.

I hear a noise behind me and turn quickly. A fuzzy creature lies before me in the grass, it has grey fur with glowing spots. Small horns sprout from it's head and it's eyes are a blank white color. It has the legs of a fawn and the ears of a rabbit, but the size of a cat. It's tail is shorter than a cat's but longer than a deer or a rabbit, so strange!

"Hello." It calls, wait, it can speak!?

"What-What are you!?!" I say, scrambling back towards my prison. But instead of hard wood and stone my hands meet with air and soft grass beneath it. I look back in bewilderment only to find Mary's cottage to be gone.

"The same spirit you cursed at for three months."

"Three months?! But surely I must be dead then? Why am I not dead!?" I wail, falling into the luscious grass.

"She put an immortality spell on you. You can't die."

"Do you mean Mary?" I say, false hope riddled throughout me.

"She's dead, remember?"

"How? How did she die?"

"I haven't the slightest idea, I was just called here. Remarkable, really, she should have been immortal too, it appears she'd given it to you to save your life."

"She saved me?! Why? She told me herself that she had to live! So why would she save me?"

"I do know one thing. She told me once that eventually she would find a suitable student to learn her craft and continue her work when she felt she could hide no longer. I'm assuming she found one, you." My mouth remains closed as my tongue rests. Me? She wanted to teach me?! 

Was I just a pawn in her game? A plan-B if she got caught? No, Mary wasn't like that! She would never do that to me! Would she?

"So what now?" I ask, determined to find the answer.