Andy Crow's Fantastical Summer

Farewell, Friend

Then his wandering eyes fell on a square frame of a family sitting atop the built-in storage of the bed's headboard. They were in front of the beach's sparkling aquamarine waters and golden sands. Halfway to where the shore met the jungle was a perfectly picturesque shipwreck.

The Elsie in the frame was much younger in years, smaller and chubbier than now. She was sitting on the shoulder of a young man with the same amber glowing eyes and slick shoulder-length hair. His lips were twisted in a wide toothy grin. Even in the photo, Andy could somewhat feel the playful and goofy character he shared with Elsie. Besides the two young Rainwaters were the elder Rainwaters themselves. The wife clung by her husband's arm, emanating a soft glow of youth that no one would mistake her as a middle-aged woman. Her eyes were black, however, that none of the siblings inherited. But if they were to share the same beautiful eyes with a parent, it was of Mister Rainwater's. Although Andy didn't last half a second staring at his photo. The man had a permanent scowl embedded on his face which had set Andy on the edge.

His mind traveled back to a week's time in the exact place of the evil witch's last sighting and demise. Andy stood frozen and disbelieving—even Chip and Hex were silent and unable to form words at how they witnessed the witch's end—when four men in blue and white silky hooded robes armed with wands barged in. To say they were shocked was an understatement. It seemed everyone's world stopped as they tried to process what was in front of them: two children (one holding a bloodied glass and the other unconscious, an oddly shaped metal box, a dog, a giant cat, the muddy remains of the witch and a broken staff. The only ones they recognized from the lot were the chief's daughter and her Familiar.

The stillness was only broken by a man who had dropped his wand and collapsed defeated beside the unconscious young girl. Andy looked away at the heartbreaking sight of the man as his identical amber eyes glazed with water. His arms quivered and his legs staggered a bit as he made way for the door with Elsie in his hands.

More men came and they searched the entire house at the chief's order. He wanted to follow, but he suspected that if he ever did a slight movement, he would crumble. And he was glad he stayed at least for a bit more time to learn that the village guards had found an old journal that explained the entire plan. And he heard every bit and piece of it from the nearby guards themselves.

The man who found the journal called some of his comrades and huddled together in a tight group. "So that's what happened to the remaining Keepers."

"What?" a man with square glasses asked, leaning closely to have a clear view of the page.

"They left one family member to live so that one of them can still execute the plan. The rest of them offered and sacrificed their souls for the ritual," the first man said with a grim expression.

Their body tensed as gasps and murmurs erupted among the group of five.

"And Theodore Keeper?" a third man, probably the oldest among them, with white hair and stubbles, asked. "The one whose soul's been infused with the wooden staff?"

The first man flicked through the pages in a hurry, hands shaking. "Apparently, he's a lost soul. Here, look." He handed the journal to one of the men and they all squeezed into one another to have a closer look. "He died three years prior to the execution of the plan. And when his soul wandered near Fairton Hill, he reunited with his niece. They had been working together since then. Greta's already past her years actually. So she resorted to evil sorcery and planted her heart into another host." And they all looked at the mannequin, now only a broken empty vessel.

"What about the bodies they took?" the fourth man asked.

"Yes, about that. Other guards already searched the grounds," the fifth man said. He held his hand out so everyone could have a clear look at the tiny folded cloth on his palm. He unfolded it and the content made every fiber in their body shake. "Here's an undissolved bone we found in the cauldron. I can assume she cooks her victims whole."