The Witch of Wyward Place

They were right behind me. It seems more have joined the initial five, the yells coming from all directions.

I clutched the thick book to my chest as I ran.

As I ran, I saw a cave ahead of me and before I could stop myself I had lunged for it, crawling to the darkest corner. It wasn’t till the shouts got closer that I realized I was totally and utterly … Trapped.

But the voices and the light just ran past, their feet pounding on the earth. I counted the feet I could see from my hiding place, there were 42. The whole town was in on the witch hunt.

The silence that soon followed was worse than the shouts of hatred. All I could hear was the sound of my ragged breathing and the erratic beats of my frantic heart. I strained my ears, but heard not a mouse.

I pulled myself out of the cave and ran back towards my house.

It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I didn’t really get that deep into the forest.

I paused at my back door, hoping it was empty.

The door creaked as I slowly pulled it open, stepping inside. It was dark, all the candles had burnt down to nothing.

I need to get away from this place, go somewhere where witch trials are unheard of. I pulled out a straw bag from under the pathetic bed, and threw some essentials into its depths.

My attention was diverted when I saw that someone was standing just in the shadows by the front door.

My heart stopped.

“Hello?” I whispered.

“So it is true.” I heard a choked sob erupt from the figure in the corner. “You are a witch!” the person spat.

“Elizabeth? Is that you?” I asked, squinting into the darkness.

“Don’t say my name as if we are friends!” she hissed.

Her words stung me. “But we are friends.” I said in a soft voice.

“No, I was friends with a person! I could never be friends with a demon like you!” she cried out angrily.

“You saw me this morning! How could you say that?” I asked, holding back the tears.

She shook her head exasperatedly. “You had me under a spell, to blind me of your wicked heart, and you soulless form!” she shouted as she ran to the door.

I caught her arm, I have to try to make her understand.

Her eyes filled with fear at my touch, but quickly filled with hatred as she slapped me hard in the face.

My head hit the floor with enough force to make me see spots. I heard Elizabeth scream as loud as she could, my heart raced. I tried to get up and run from the impending danger. But before I made any real progress something hard was thrown into my back, forcing me back down.

I groaned in pain as I heard the thump of feet on the cobbled street outside.

The room was soon overfilled people. Elizabeth disappeared in the mess, but I felt my body being pulled up by many strong arms.

This is it. I’m done for.

The men pulled me along the rough streets, my feet dragging painfully across the stones. I tried to fight, I tried to get free, but it was useless.

My best friend had given me up, the same best friend I was trying to help when I got caught.

The streets lined with the bloodthirsty villagers, all glaring at me, waiting for my gruesome death.

I was thrown into the back of a horse drawn carriage. It was more like a cage, bars surrounded me. I tried to jump back out the door before it was closed, but I was too late.

The police men locked the padlock and grinned evilly at me through the bars.

Why can’t they understand? We don’t worship the devil, we just want to help!

So what if my god isn’t your god?

I wrapped my black cloak around my cold and frail body as tears fell down my face. I felt the carriage move down the road, towards the field where the burnings took place.

The townspeople all followed the carriage, staring at me through the iron bars.

I hope it doesn’t hurt too bad.

The carriage lurched to a stop, and I could see the villagers move to make a path way from me to what was most likely a stake.

The same police officer unlocked the cage and tried to drag me out. I kicked him with all I had, but he caught my foot and dragged me out.

“Have mercy! Please!” I shouted, but I knew it was hopeless.

I was dragged through the crowd, all the women were cowardly standing behind their men.
The men reached out and touched my hair, stroked my face or even groped me as I was pushed and pulled up to my death.

The policeman pulled me up the mound of wood and into the hands of two more policemen. I tried to loosen their grip, tried scaring them with threats in Latin, but nothing worked. My back was thrown against a wooden pole in the centre of the mound of wood, and my hands pulled behind me.

The rope was thick and scratched me as I was tied to the stake. That was when I stopped struggling. I knew I lost.

As the magistrate stepped out of the crowd, I cackled loudly and maniacally. “You all think this will end with the lick of flame and smell of death!?!” I snarled at the crowd who all fell silent with fear.

“You pathetic people! The moment something is different, or something isn’t supported by your beliefs you burn it down and crush it into the dirt!” I yelled, my voice ringing through the field.

“I hope you’re all happy when you smell my burnt flesh and you hear the sounds of my screams!” I snarl at the people in front of me.

The Magistrate nodded to a policeman who climbed up to me and smacked me across the face.

“Venetia Parris, you have been found guilty of the dark art, witchcraft. For this betrayal against God, you will be burnt at the stake until dead. Condemning you to live out eternity in the pits of hell, with whom you so vehemently worship!”

“Do it!” he ordered the man next to me.

I laughed at him as he backed away fearfully.

The policeman handed the Magistrate the first torch, he bent down and lit the kindling beneath me.

The rest of the town’s people cheered and threw their own torches onto the mound I was on.
I felt the heat engulf me as I choked on the deadly gases.

The flame licked my feet and quickly caught onto my dress. I shouted out in pain and anguish as I was slowly eaten alive by the flame.

The last thing I saw was my Book of Shadows cast into the flame by my feet, my life’s work along with it.