My body quivered as I gripped the cotton dress I was wearing. The sound of feet tapped along the floor boards, back and forth.. back and forth. The humidity hit me making my skin crawl. I wanted to tear it off, it was all so uncomfortable wherever I was. My body felt weak and my mind was muddled. My stomach turned with nausea as my body rocked back and forth. I forced my eyes to open to see where I was.
The room was dim and covered in wood planks and I was laying in a room full of bunk beds. This had to be a ship. I had to be on a ship to the Americas just like Mother Ludham had promised. My back ached as I leaned forward in the cotton sheets and bed and my stomach continued to churn as the room began to rock heavily.
The sound of shuffling feet started again and my heart dropped at there realization that this person could be anyone. I could see the outline of a lady hunched over standing near some storage crates not far from my hammock. She whipped her head in my direction and it was like her golden eyes could almost glow in the dark. I stepped back and she slid forward pulling a leg behind her. I held back my horror as she revealed a face full of sores and rotten teeth. Her hair looked like it hadn't been washed in years and she reeked of everything rotten. I stepped back and she continued to follow me until I realized I was back into a corner.
"It's not me you should be scared of, it's her. She'll come, she always comes. Cursed, you're cursed just like me and just like them. You've sealed your fate and you'll end up just like me." The old hag said with a raspy cracking voice and then cackled pointing her finger at me still sliding her leg behind her coming toward me.
"No! stay away from me!" I spit out at the old hag as adrenaline filled me and she cackled a raspy laugh and then her eyes glowered at me. She took a step and I took a step until my body felt as if it was frozen. My legs wouldn't move and the hag was close enough to touch me pointing her finger at me until it landed on my chest. My body filled with heat and the world went black as I shook violently. I could hear the old hag laughing at me. I could hear her chanting a spell sending my body into more violent spasms. It felt as if every bone in my body was breaking as the enveloped me causing me to scream in pain.
"Please stop! Please.." I screamed and then my chest felt as if it would bust causing me to collapse on the floor. My body shook and the heat filled me until it felt like I was going to burst into flames. I screamed, but it seemed impossible. I might as well just let myself just die right here. Let the flames take me and then settle my debt with the witch with my death. Gripping my knees to my chest I prayed for release and as if my prayer was heard the pain finally released leaving me exhausted. My body shook from the aftershock as I realized the waves of pain and heat were truly over.
A hand grabbed my shoulder and I screamed pulling my knees into chest even deeper.
"Alice, are you alright? Alice!" A voice yelled at me and my eyes finally opened to see a man leaning over me. My vision was blurry, but through the veil I could see dark brown hair cut at his neck and a strong build. He was definitely a stranger making me shake once again.
"How do you know my name?" I forced the words out as my mind continued to muddle even more.
"Something is definitely wrong." He said putting his hand to my head. "Oh God, You are burning with fever." He picked me up as if he was cradling a baby and my head involuntarily fell into his chest. My body felt as if it would leave this world at any second and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"Stay with me!" he said patting my cheek and then as if I was being summoned home, the world went blank.
So many dreams, dreams of my mother cradling me as a child when I was safe and warm, before I became a pawn in their game of life. Dreams of me playing with my cousins in the fields of our estate. Dreams of me being happy and carefree. Then the nightmares came, nightmares of an old hag pulling me to hell with her. Dreams of being burned at the stake for witchcraft that I was innocent of and letting the fire take me. Dreams of the devil welcoming to what he called home. It was the fire continued to consume me in these dreams whether I was in hell or at the stake. I screamed innocence, but nobody cared. They all just laughed at my desperation and pain as the flames licked and seared my body.Never in a dream had I wished for death, but this time I did. Why wouldn't life show me mercy? It never would and it never has.
YOU ARE READING
Cursed and Sealed (ONC 2020)
Historical Fiction"I always come to collect what's mine, be sure of that." Mother Ludham's words rang in Alice' ears as she questioned if selling her soul to a witch was the best choice. It doesn't matter now, because it's too late. She is already on her way to the...
