The Witches Of Time

RUN MALENA, RUN!

'I will not be silenced sir'

Her eyes were bulging, trying to control her breathing, Malena's arms and legs had started to tremble.  As he grabbed her by the arm she winced in pain.  At that moment she knew he hadn't loved her, he had used her for as long as he needed some comfort.  She felt betrayed but she couldn't bring herself to hate him.  He glared at her now, his eyes so black and wild.  Gone was all the light, all the love, all that remained was darkness.  He moved closer to her, she struggled to free herself from him but he was too strong and he held on.

'You will not speak my name, do you hear me?' he hissed into her ear.

She could feel his breath on her neck, he grabbed both her arms and started to shake her to make her understand.  She felt him stumble as his foot hit the uneven ground, as he did so he lost his footing and the grip lesssened as he tried to stop himself from falling.  She fought to rid herself from him, it would be her only chance to get away from him.  Out of his grip she ran, she ran all the way to the woods waiting for her.  As she ran through the entrance she hoped he hadn't followed her, breathless she carried on until she came to an opening where the old hut stood.  The place of her childhood, she was finally home.

This place she remembered from her life as a child.  She would play here for hours until her father would come looking for her.  He would not come looking for her this day.  Too much time had passed, she had not seen him for far too long, but she needed him now.  Fighting for her breath, she sat on the old stone steps that led up to the river.

Malena sat for the longest time.  She still had on her maids' uniform.  Malena had been working as a maid at the big house since the fight with her parents, now she was truly alone.  With a child on the way, everything seemed so hopeless for one so young.  At just eighteen years of age she thought she knew what she was doing, where she was going. Oh how wrong she had been.  With a heavy heart she sat there for
what seemed like forever. 

Her head dropped down to her knees and there she finally sobbed.  Crying for her parents.  Her tears fell for them now, she wanted them, needed them.  How could she have ever found him charming, he was a brute of the worst kind.  What would her mother and father say about her predicament.  She wept and wept until there were no more tears to cry.  Just then she heard a noise, a twig breaking, as she looked up she saw the old witch who lived in the cottage behind her parents home. 

Malena rose from her seated position, she would run from the old witch, but Alarine spoke to her then.

'Don't go child, let me help you, if i can.  whatever it is, please, let us speak'.

As Malena turned around Alarine could instantly see she was with child.  Malena looked down to the growing mound.  Glancing up she looked into Alarine's kind face.  This woman she had known all her life, a friend, a lifelong friend of her parents.  Growing up, Alarine had been a constant in Malena's life.  Malena loved this woman, she was like her favourite aunt.

'Are you going to tell them?' asked Malena.

Malena waited for a response from the old witch.  Alarine cleared her throat as she went to Malena.'

'They are worried about you.  I should take you back this instant, and the man who is responsible for this, this person he..' Alarine was finding it difficult to call him something other than what he actually seemed to be.
'I trust he wants no part of it'

Alarine knew he didn't, why else would the child be in the middle of the woods, heartbroken and sobbing her heart out if he had wanted her or the unborn child.

'Please I beg of you, don't tell them' Malena paused.  'Not yet anyway, I will do anything you ask of me, please give me your word'  young eyes pleading with  old ones.  Her eyes puffy and stinging with all the tears she had cried.  Malena felt drained, her head ached, but not as much as her heart.  It had felt like someone had squeezed it into tiny little fragments.