Queen of Rosewood Forest (On Hold)

Chapter 2

I wake up to someone knocking on the door. I walk over to the closet and grab a robe that covers my bruises and then go answer the door. I open the door to Cameron's sister clearly freaked out by something.

"Hi, Julie," I start to say but grow quiet as she starts to ramble.

I try to understand what she is saying but she's going so fast that I can't even begin to decode her ramblings. She grabs my arm, thankfully she missed the bruises, and drags me all the way down the street and then let's go and starts to run towards the square. I follow her all the way there and what I see makes me do a double take.

Cameron is sitting on the bench by the clock tower with his mother and a small crowd has gathered around them. As I get closer, I see that where his leg was amputated a wooden leg had replaced the one he lost. It seemed to be a living part of his body, yet it looked like it came from the forest. What got me the most was the huge smile on his face.

"What in the world?" I ask and Julie nods beaming.

"Can you believe it?" She asks excitedly.

"No," I shake my head, "I can't and yet there he is."

"I know, right?" She asks as she grabs me again and pulls me over to him. "Look Cam."

"Hey Evette," he smiles as his eyes land on me.

"Hey," I whisper still in shock. "Wow."

"I know right?" He chuckles. "I just woke up feeling way better. Doc can't explain it, no one can. It's like magic or something."

"Clearly whatever Doc did, worked," I say looking at him in disbelief. "Any idea what he did?"

"Nope," Cameron shook his head. "No clue."

Someone else came by to start talking to him so I slip away to head home to quickly change then go to the shop and get some work done. As I work, my long sleeves get in the way so I push them up and continue working.

The door opens and Julie walks in, "Cam wants to see you, come on," she grabs my hand and pulls me out of the shop.

"What for?" I ask confused as she leads us to the group.

"He has some questions for you," she says as we approach Cameron, his mom, and the doctor.

"Hey Evette," Cameron looks at me confused, "were you the last one to visit me?"

"I don't know," I answer honestly. "Maybe?"

"You were," the doctor nods, "and now he is better. What did you do?"

"What are you talking about?" I ask confused. "You think I did something?"

"I do."

Everyone turned to see John standing there shaking with fury. "John," I whisper as fear filled me, making my stomach curl. "What are you saying?"

"You are a witch," He glares at me.

"What?" I ask shocked as everyone gasps.

"You visited HIM," he seethes as he points to Cameron, "and now he is all better. I teach you a lesson about not listening to me and now all your punishments have healed not even a full day later?" he points to my arms, making me gasp when I notice all my bruises are gone. "If that doesn't say witch, I don't know what does. You are a witch, Evette."

"No," I shake my head. "I run a flower shop, I gave him flowers, that's it," I plead.

"And now he's no longer fighting for his life," John glares. "You are no longer my wife, Evette. I refuse to be married to a witch." He stomps off in a huff back to the house.

"Witch," goes through the group like an echo of John's words. "Witch."

"Evette," the judge says as he approaches me and whispers to me. "Since you healed him, I'll spare you your life. Leave the village before sunup and don't come back." He straightens his back and speaks to the crowd that has gathered around us. "Evette's trial will be held tomorrow at dawn here in the square. She will be held in her flower shop until further notice. All towns folk are required to attend unless sick or elderly." Everyone disperses leaving me standing alone too stunned to speak.

An officer walks up to me a few minutes later and escorts me back to the shop. He takes my key and locks the doors so I can't get out. I look through the window and he is guarding the front of the shop. I slump myself against the door and begin to cry. I know I haven't done anything wrong, but somehow Cameron was healed, and my bruises are gone. It sounds like something out of my father's old stories. I stand up and walk to the back of the store where I keep the records and some of my father's old things hoping for some answers.

I start frantically opening the drawers to the desk as I search for the book that he left me. I find it amongst the blueprints from when the store was built, and I pick it up. My father used to tell me stories about a village in the woods where people could control fire and move water with a wave of their hand. When I got older, he wrote all of his stories down in a journal and gifted it to me. It was the last thing I got from him, and I couldn't bring myself to open it until now. I start flipping through the pages hoping to find answers. For years I thought they were just fairytales to spur my imagination, but as I read through the book, they start to seem more like a memory than just childhood fairytales.