“Gone to Grandma’s, didn’t want to wake you. Love you, Mum xxx”
Relieved she had escaped from the clutches of a family visit, she ran through the house screaming with glee. When she had finished, she headed to the living room and slumped into the armchair. As loneliness crept into Becky’s mind, she longed for someone to talk to. She began to think about Casey, they had been best friends since primary school. Casey had stopped a bully from hitting Becky and had ended up getting hit herself. Since then, they had become much closer; they had been through everything together. From the first boyfriend, to the first kiss then the first dose of heartbreak. Casey had also changed a lot since then, all through puberty, Casey had a different hair colour, she had already been through the primary colours and onto the secondary colours by the age of fifteen. Becky wished someone was there to talk to her, as she began to play with the crystal hanging in the middle of her collarbone, she heard a bang from the kitchen. She stood and headed to the kitchen, stopping at the door, she peered within inquisitively. Nothing seemed out of place, but as she scanned the room, she noticed the broom lying in the middle of the room. “Company’s coming,” she mumbled to herself. Her grandmother had always been superstitious; she often told Becky it was the family curse. At first it scare Becky and she was often teased about throwing salt over her left shoulder in a restaurant and saluting one magpie, but she had learned to live with it. Her whole family carried a tiger-eye pendent for protection, but as hers was upstairs, Becky began to nervously finger the crystal around her neck wishing again that Casey was there to talk to her. Two loud knocks brought Becky spinning round to face the front door. The hallway seemed like miles long, she cautiously crept along the hall and once at the door, she peered through the peephole. Casey stood on the porch looking around like she was lost. Becky stood for a minute in confusion; she jumped as two further knocks broke her train of thought. Putting the chain on the door, she slowly opened the door to a shocking question, “why am I here?”
Taken aback, Becky stuttered, “how do you mean? Didn’t you walk here?”
“No, I was sitting at home doing my science homework and suddenly I was just standing here. What did you do?”
“Me?” Shouted Becky through the gap, “How do you know YOU didn’t do something?”
“Well I didn’t have a weirdo witch for a sister!” Screamed Casey, causing an elderly couple walking past the house to stop dead in their tracks and stare at them. Becky undid the chain and yanked Casey inside the house. “You know they were just rumours, nothing was ever proved and you know that. All that hocus-pocus stuff is a load of crap, why would you even say that?” Casey stood in front of her, and for a second, Becky thought she saw a glimpse of remorse in Casey’s hazel eyes. Her blue hair framed her delicate jaw and as a muscle in her jaw jumped, she said, “how do I know it isn’t true. Prove it to me that you aren’t like Bethan, prove to me it wasn’t you that got me here.”
Becky stood for a second contemplating what was being asked of her, it had taken her months of therapy to get over what had happened to Bethan, she had been in hospital for a month before she was discharged. One day after school she had been attacked by a group of her friends who thought she was a witch. The doctor said she’d never seen such a bad break in the fibula. She shook her head, trying to make the memory fade. She opened her mouth, wiping the tears from her eyes and with a quivering voice she asked “how?”
As Casey thought, Becky went to the kitchen and splashed water of her face. She turned the tap off and when she turned round Casey stood in the doorway with a smile across her face, “make it snow.”
Becky began to laugh, “Do you know how stupid this is? How do you expect me to do it? Just point at the sky and say a stupid little riddle? This is beyond ridiculous!”
Casey left her post and opened the back door, she turned round and looked Becky straight in the eye, “that is exactly what you’ll do.” She then pointed to the garden and walked out, Becky followed. Stopping in the middle of the garden, Becky looked up and said, “You want a little poem? Fine you’ll get one, “EARTH AIR, ELEMENTS GO. FIRE WATER, BRING FORTH SNOW!” she turned to Casey, “I think I’ve proved my point.” As she finished her sentence a snowflake landed on Becky’s hand. She looked around in disbelief, as her eyes met Casey’s, a tear rolled down her cheek. “I was right! You freak! You’re just like Bethan! You wait until everyone finds out…” Becky wiped away her tears as she heard this, as she realised Casey wasn’t who she seemed, Casey stared in disbelief as Becky raised her arm and extended her index finger until it pointed at Casey. Taking a deep breath, Becky closed her eyes and murmured “Bitter in her disbelief, take her away, Casey leave.” Exhaling, she opened her eyes and Casey was gone. Wrapping her arms around herself, she entered the house, closing the door behind her. Shivering, Becky went to the living room and sat down. As she sat, the shock of the day’s events hit her like a slap in the face. Becky curled up in a ball and cried until her eyes stung and her throat was raw. Becky raised her head as the shrill of the phone echoed around the empty house. She extended her hand and picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?”
“Hello darling, are you okay? You sound upset?” Her mothers voice was reassuring and soothing. “No. I’m okay” Becky stared at the clock, “why aren’t you home yet? It’s getting kind of late.”
“The roads aren’t safe to drive on, we’re going to stay at Grandma’s, will you be ok on your own?” questioned her mother.
Becky bit her lip to restrain herself from telling her mother about the day’s events, course she didn’t want to be left alone! “Yeah, sure. Mum?”
“Yes?”
“Can I call Bethan?”
“Yeah sure, I have to go, Grandma’s raving on about the phone bill and her pension. Order pizza, love you.” Before she could respond, her mother was gone. She dialled Bethan’s number and waited for an answer. After five rings the machine picked up, an electronic message told Becky to leave a message, so she did. “Bethan, it’s me, Becky. I have something important to tell you…I can’t tell you like this though, call me a.s.a.p. Love you.” She hung up and stared at the vacant fireplace, she pointed and the fire roared, no spell involved. Overcome with exhaustion, Becky turned the lights off and locked the doors. And made her way to her bedroom, she went to the window and placed her elbows on the sill. As she cradled her head in her hands, she watched the ever-changing snowflakes land on the window. The woods opposite her house looked eerie bathed in the moonlight, the now snow covered tree’s swayed in the wind, chilling Becky to the bone. She had never liked those woods, she had never dared to go in them, she feared she would get lost and never return. She giggled at her stupidity and sighed. The troubled thoughts tumbled around her head, trying to grasp an explanation of what was happening to her. Her eyelids became heavy, so Becky trundled across her bedroom and tucked herself into bed. Forgetting she was still fully dressed, Becky fell into a deep sleep, forgetting the whole day’s gains and losses, tonight she only dreamt of Casey and Bethan, not witchcraft.
Becky sat upright and hit the alarm clock, the ringing continued. She soon realised it was the phone, groaning she picked up the phone, waiting for someone to talk; she rubbed her eyes and checked the time, nine-thirty. Who the hell is phoning me a half nine in the morning, Becky thought to herself. “Hello? Look, it’s really early and I’m tired, who is it?” still waiting for a response, she looked down at the now creased green dress, letting out a sigh of defeat, She stood up. “Everyone knows now, I always knew there was something wrong with you, now everyone knows what’s wrong with you.” Casey’s voice sent a shiver down Becky’s spine, as she opened her mouth to respond, she realised she was now listening to a dial tone. Not bothering to wash, she headed down stairs to the kitchen; the excitement of the previous day’s events had led her to forget to eat. She grabbed yoghurt and an apple and headed to the living room. Becky picked up the control and turned on the news, she had been a news junkie since the age of ten, and whenever the news was on she’d be glued to the television. She opened the yoghurt and scooped a spoonful, however, it never reached her mouth. Becky was now staring at herself on the news; she dropped the spoon, grabbed the control and turned the volume up.
“Rebecca Rivers, known as Becky to her friends, is suspected of witchcraft. Former friend, Casey Hallman, claims she was abducted by Rebecca, but then set free after Rebecca cast a spell. Rebecca Rivers, sister of Bethan Rivers, who was also accused of witchcraft attends the local high school where she is a straight A student. Here’s Sian Weathers who is on location outside the Rivers residence.” Becky stared at the television in disbelief, a bang on the window sent her cowering behind the sofa. She crawled up to the window and looked out; there were TV crews, journalists and locals sprawled across the lawn. Someone saw her and rushed to the window shouting at her, Becky jumped back. She lunged for the phone and punched in Bethan’s number, she answered this time. “Bethan! Why didn’t you call me! Yesterday, I did something and now I’m a witch and Casey found and she told everyone and there’s a mob outside the house! I don’t know what to do!”
There was a silence on the other end and after a few minutes, she finally talked, “I don’t know how you did it, but so am I Becky. The only way it could have happened to you is if you found the crystal. It’s about four centimetres long and it’s dark green.”
“Yeah that’s it, I’m sorry Bethan, I was only borrowing it for a while.”
“Forget it ok, what you need to do is get out of there. Run as fast as you can and go as far as you can go and don’t let them catch you. They caught me and you saw what happened. Go now! Where’s mum?”
Becky thought, and answered as fast as she could, “At gran’s house.”
There was a silence then, “you go, I’ll tell mum. Phone us when you find somewhere.” Once again, for the second time that day, she was listening to a dial tone. The snow had caused premature darkness, making it easier for Becky to go. She pulled on a heavy coat and a hat to cover her hair; she pulled the hat over her long, golden locks. She opened the back door and slipped out, keeping to the wall and in the shadows she sneaked past the crowd and was almost through the crowd when a familiar voice shouted “there she is!” Casey stood on the out skirts of the crowd pointing at her. A man grabbed Becky from behind, but She pulled free and ran as fast as she could to the woods. The crowd followed, shouts, barking and threats coming with them. Once in the woods, Becky shrugged off the coat and threw it. The barks came nearer, and Becky realised they had let the dogs go to bring her down, choking back tears she ran as fast as she could. As she stumbled, she glanced back. She let out a desperate sob as the dogs bit at her ankles. As a hut came into view, the shouts became louder, fuelling her desperate actions. She pushed herself harder than she ever had before, she grabbed the door handle and yanked and twisted until her fingers bled. Sighing with relief as the door swung open, she threw herself into the room and slammed the door behind her. As her eyes flew around the room, searching for something to barricade the door, a sudden bang sent her cowering. She looked up, the banging continued and each blow made her stomach recoil. Through the dusty windows, she could see the torches of fire, her predators were wielding. Becky covered her ears as the threats and shouts continued. She could only make out a few of the treats, people want to lynch me, she thought tears rolling down her cheeks. The door flew open, allowing her predators to enter her safe-haven. As the mob closed in, Becky backed up against the wall realising her time was through and she had to try she grabbed a piece of wood off of the floor and swung, not caring who she hit, she heard thuds as the wood made contact with her hunter’s skulls. Tears blocked her vision, but she did see the man who lunged forward, plunging a knife into her chest. The shouts continued as she realised she had been stabbed. As Becky slid down the wall, pulling the knife from her chest, she saw Casey standing in the doorway, and with her last breath, Becky promised herself she would make it count, so as she hit the floor she whispered her last spell, “I will die, or so it will seem. So be afraid Casey, I’ll be in your dreams.”
