Season of the Witch

The air was thick with tension and magic. October held her side, willing her body to heal itself. It wasn't working as fast as she had wanted it to. She tried to calm her erratic breathing, but it hurt to do anything. Just sitting there hurt. She split her bottom lip from the pain of her side. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. None of this was supposed to happen at all.

The young teen racked her mind to remember why this had happened. Nothing sprung to mind. Her family acted normal enough to keep hunters at bay. They never killed anyone - well, she and her older brother hadn't. She couldn't stand the thought of killing someone. October held her breath when she saw a movement beside her.

She expected to see someone, anyone. She saw nothing other than flames enveloping her home at a distance. Her green eyes glossed over, tears were stinging her eyes. The hunters must have caught them and burned them in the home. They must have thought she wasn't important.

A sound to her left caused her to jump and then wince from the pain. A pair of hazel eyes stared at her through the brush. She squinted her eyes, trying to make out who it was. It had to be James, her brother. October felt the hot tears run down her face. The shape moved closer to her, squatting before brushing her black hair from her face. Closing her eyes, she felt at peace… for a moment. Muffled screams were coming from the burning home. October let out a strangled cry. This wasn't fair.

"We have to go, Toby," James' voice was low. "Can you walk?"

"Don't you think I tried? Everything hurts," She whimpered, eyes opening. "It's not healing right, James. I can feel it."

He cursed under his breath before moving to help the young girl. October had even more trouble breathing when finally on her feet. All she wanted to do was sleep. Yeah. Sleep sounded good in her book. Black dots filled her vision. In the back of her mind, she knew this wasn't good, that she shouldn't sleep. If she slept, she might not wake up.

October remembered reading somewhere that if she felt tired and didn’t want to sleep to hold her breath for a few seconds before breathing. It would raise your heart rate and help you stay up. Or something like that. It was better than nothing.

"Come on, Toby," James sounded far away. "We're almost to the car. Stay with me, please. You're all I have left."

She tried to shake her head, but everything felt weird. Her whole body felt numb. James had to be holding her up with all his strength because she couldn't do it on her own. The cold feel of the leather felt great on October's burning skin. Her eyes rolled back and she felt like she was going to die at any moment. But she couldn't do that. James needed her.

"Dammit," She heard him start the car. "Fucking dammit. Come on, baby girl. You can't fucking die on me. Not tonight."

October was choking on her blood as she tried to breathe. She spit out a big amount of blood. She felt tears fall from her eyes again. Why wasn't she healing right? By now she should be half way done with healing. But the wound felt as fresh as ever. Applying pressure wasn't quite working the way it should have and she was running out of ideas.

"Fina-fucking-ly," James muttered to himself mostly. "Okay, we're in the clear. The hospital comes up in a minute or so. Do you think you got this?"

"Uh-huh."

Her head lolled to the side and her eyes shut. October barely remembered how James was yelling at her, how bright the lights of the hospital was, or how much pain she was in. She tried forgetting that night. But it was hard to, considering her mother's warm face wouldn't greet her in the morning. Or her father's scent of old cologne and cigars will only be on his old leather jacket, not in the air. She wanted to forget, but all she could do was remember.