A Witchy Mess

Amelia’s PoV

I cried out in pain as I tried to jerk my foot out of the line of fire. Even though I was pulling with all of my strength it wouldn’t move at all, it seemed as if there was some kind of barrier in the way. I pulled my upper body up to try to grab my foot and pull it out of the fire but I hit something that felt like a wall.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I repeated this mantra in my head over and over and I kept trying to pull my foot out of the flames. “Chase!” I screamed trying to get his attention, maybe he could pull me back into the circle.

“Chase!” I yelled at him again once it was apparent he wasn’t paying any attention to me, he seemed to be locked in some kind of trance with his eyes glazed over and his face slack. "Chase! Chase, help me!" I cried out again in desperation, “Chase, please! Help me!" I screamed as pain shot up my leg and I renewed my struggles to get out of the circle.

“Amelia!” I heard come from the inside of the circle. My eyes jerked open from where they had closed in pain. I looked into the circle and Chase was running towards me with an alarmed look on his face. Yes, that’s it Chase! Come get me out of here!

Chase finally reached me and he bent down to where I was. "Amelia, it will be okay. I promise." he said in a soothing voice but there were tears pouring down his face. He reached for my foot but his hand stopped as if there was a wall in the way.

Oh no, he can’t get through the barrier either. I let a sob escape my lips as I realized I may be stuck here. I didn’t want to die here. I wished someone were here to help us, we needed someone who could get through the barrier.

I was just about to lay my head on the ground and give up when I saw a large, black shape appear behind Chase. My eyes widened and my face took on an expression of fear as the creature started running towards me and Chase.

“Chase, watch out!” I yelled as the large creature kept getting closer to both of us. I screamed and clenched my eyes shut as the flames grew stronger and the creature closed in on us. My body was tensed expecting to be torn apart any moment and I sat there waiting for something to happen.

A confused look came across my face as I realized that (1) I wasn’t dead and (2) I couldn’t feel heat flaming up my leg anymore. I opened my eyes hesitantly and I saw that all of the flames had gone out. I tried to move my foot and found that I could however when I tried to move it was so painful that I didn’t try to drag it anywhere.

I blinked in the sudden darkness and wondered what had happened. “Chase,” I whispered trying to find him. I saw a dark shape to the side of me move and I screamed. “Amelia. Amelia! Calm down, it’s just me.” I sighed in relief as I head Chase’s voice.

“Are you okay?” he asked me reaching out trying to find my hand. I took his hand saying “Yeah. You?”

“Fine. What happened to that creature? It was coming straight for us.” Chase pulled himself up to me and put his arms around me.
“I don’t know, maybe it just disappeared,” just as I was saying this I heard a dark chuckle come from somewhere in the darkness. “Oh my god. Please tell me that was you Chase,” I whispered this knowing full well that whatever made that sound wasn’t Chase but I could still hope.

Before Chase could reply I heard the dark voice growl “No little girl I am not your little witch friend.” I let out a whimper and scooted closer to Chase despite the pain shooting up my leg. I tried to look up at Chase to see what he thought we should do but what I could see of his face told me that he didn’t know what to do either.

Uncomfortable with the silence I whispered to the creature “W-what do y-you want from us?” I tried to conceal the fear in my voice but I failed horribly. “Well I haven’t been free in such a long time and it has been so long since I have had anything to eat…” the creature trailed off then letting me fill in the blanks in my head.

Just as I was putting together the horror of what the creature meant I heard him-I was assuming it was a him by the voice since I couldn’t see it-start to approach Chase and I with slow steps, a hunter who knows he has his prey.

When I thought the creature was about to leap at us I heard Chase beside me yell out.” Contego!” All of a sudden a circular barrier of white light surrounded Chase and I. The next moment I screamed as the creature crashed against the barrier unable to stop himself in mid-leap.

The creature hissed in pain as the parts of his body that had hit barrier hissed and steamed as if they were burning. “You little witch! How dare you take away my prey!” the creature growled pushing against the wall trying to get through despite the fact that the barrier kept burning his skin.

Despite the light coming from the barrier I still couldn’t figure what the creature was or even what he really looked like. The barrier distorted the image of the creature so much he still looked like a black blur. Lost in my thoughts I didn’t notice as the creature started to walk away.

“You may have a respite today but I will have you children, one way or another,” with these chilling words the creature disappeared into the night without a trace.

I snuggled closer to Chase as I started to come down from my adrenaline high. “Chase, I whispered on the verge of tears,” What was that thing? How did you make that shield thingy? What did he mean he was going to come for us?” The last question came out in a strangled whispered as I started to shiver.

Chase was silent for a moment before he whispered quietly, “I don’t know, Mel. I really don’t know.” Chase didn’t sound much better than I did. Trying to think of what to do now I realized pain was starting to flood back into my leg as I became more aware of my surroundings.

I whimpered in pain, my leg was hurting a whole lot. “What’s wrong?” Chase whispered to me sitting up straighter so that he could look into my face. “My leg hurts a lot Chase. I think it’s burnt pretty bad,” I paused for a moment “Chase? I’m scared”

“Shhhh, it’s okay Mel. First let’s get a good look at it before we assume anything.”

“But we can’t see anything Chase! How are we supposed to look at it?” I yelled this into his face. I realized then that I wasn’t really mad at him I was just freaking out a bit. I was so scared and I didn’t know what to do and I was taking it out of Chase.

“I’m sorry Chase.” He looked at he and I could see in the faint outline of his face that he was smiling, “That’s okay Mel. Now let’s get a look at this foot.”

At his words the shield disappeared and we were left there completely in the dark. All of a sudden I heard Chase whisper “lux” and a bright ball of light appeared in his hands. I gasped in amazement and looked up at Chase’s face, he looked proud of himself for being able to make the ball of light appear.

I was about to ask him how he had done it when he brought the light down to my foot to examine it. My words were stopped in disgust as I saw my foot. The shoe had completely melted off in some parts and barely holding on in others. The sock was completely gone and my foot was a bright red with blisters forming and some of the flesh looking like it was about to flake.

I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head and I was pretty sure that I was about to faint but I kept it together as I heard Chase whisper “Sanare” I watched with wide eyes as the wound began to heal, the skin knitting back together and the blisters disappearing.

After what probably wasn’t even a minute my foot looked completely normal and there was no pain coming from it at all. Again I was about to ask Chase how he had done it when all of a sudden he sagged against me.

Surprised I caught him as he passed out. I lifted him up, this was not easy Chase is by no means light, and started to drag him towards the house. Once I got both of us into the house and up to Chase’s room I collapsed into bed with Chase barely taking the time to take both of our shoes off.

I slept soundly that night leaving behind the thoughts of monsters and magic while I dreamed of peace.