The Aftermath of an ***

I gazed at the unconscious gypsy. Her eyes raced back and forth under their lids while her limbs spasmed every now and again. Good. This was why I was here.

For centuries my family hunted down gypsies. We believed that no one should be able to see their own future, let alone the ones of others.

I had long been enabled in the practice of Trapping Spells, which bound a gypsy's ability to foretell the future. This time though, I needed no such spell. When a gypsy sees ones future, there's a price to pay for those who wish to know their destiny. A piece of their soul. No soul, no future. Instead the gypsy is thrown back and forced to visit their most dreaded past moments.

I had no soul. After visiting hundreds of gypsies, all who needed payment for what I asked- one simple reading- I have no pieces left to give.

"Poor, sweet little Amie," I spoke gently, tucking a stray lock of dark hair behind the girl's ear. "You're stuck in a bit of a rut, aren't you?"

Kirby took my hand and smiled up at me. "C'mon. It's time to play." He lead me out of the tree house and towards the nearby cornfield. I did not like where this was going.

"Uh, Kirby? Let's do something different. We can play in the field later." But it did not matter what I said, for nothing can change the past.

Inside the cornfield I heard a chorus of a dozen children squealing and laughing. Kirby pushed me through the stocks of corn, deep into the field.

"You remember how to play, right?" Kirby said, stopping. "You close your eyes while I spin you around and when I stop, you stop. Then try to find your way to the middle of the field."

I gulped and he started to spin me. Round and round I went, hearing the constant shrieks of children.

When Kirby stopped me I opened my eyes to see that he was already out of sight. With a nervous pang in my gut I pushed forward, making my way to the center of the cornfield.

As I walked, I could heard the echo of demonic-sounding cackles around me. I started to pick my feet up faster. The sooner I got to the center, the sooner this would all be over.

I looked to my left and to my right. I saw blurred children running beside me through the stocks of corn, their faces twisted into grotesque smiles. The setting sun was an unnatural gold, as was the corn and this memory.

"Hey, look, guys!" a girl spoke tauntingly when I entered the clearing of what was the center of the maze. "It's Freak One and Freak Two!"

"Get her!" one shouted and they all ran at me and pulled me to the ground.

"Hey!" Kirby called. "Leave her alone!"

"Why don't you go back to the freak show you came from, dweeb?" an older boy spat as he pulled out a chunk of my hair.

"Stop it," Kirby said quietly, feeling helpless. He was never one to put up a fight or stand up to any bully. The kids overpowered me, punching me and tugging on my limbs. I cried out.

"I told you to stop," Kirby warned severely through clenched teeth. He glared at one of the kids in a way that made him look like he was trying to burn holes through flesh. Kirby's balled fists shook in rage.

I looked nervously between Kirby and the boy who was now laughing.

The child's head began to swell to an enormous size, and he screamed in bloodcurdling agony as scarlet liquid began to seep from his mucous membranes. The noises he uttered were silenced abruptly when his head suddenly exploded in a mass of blood and chunks of brain.

"Kirby," I gasped, filled with horror at the sight before me. "What did you do?"

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" he screamed at me, tears streaking down his face. The other children had run off, and Kirby was now frantically fumbling around with the dead kid's body. "Amie! Ya gotta help me! We have to bury him somewhere!"

I backed away slowly, shaking my head. "No, I can't," I whispered softly. My body felt like it was being sucked backwards, and before I knew it I was being pulled away from this horrid memory.

Whatever came next, I thought, couldn't be worse than that.