Dangerous Slumber

Megan sat in her room thinking about what Rick had told her, but it wasn’t possible... she was just your average, boring fifteen-year-old and most definitely not a witch. There was, however, no logical explanation as to how she had gone to sleep in her bed and woken up somewhere completely different. With a sigh, she grabbed her journal from under the bed and turned to a new page.

‘I don’t know what happened and despite how implausible Rick’s answer may seem, who knows what is truly possible. Humankind is constantly learning and evolving, so maybe I’m just different... unique in a way that many would believe impossible.

Perhaps everyone has these special abilities within them and it takes a certain characteristic to pull them from their dormant state, all I know for sure is that I’m not one to dismiss an answer because it’s crazy. I can say with full confidence that Rick would never lie to me... I hope anyway.’

She soon placed the journal on her bedside cabinet and pulled out her laptop, staring at the screen as she started it up. Unsure of what she was actually looking for, she settled on reading up on the history of Little Barlon and quickly realized that, apart from the small amount that she’d learned in school, she didn’t know much about the past of the place she was born.

It had never really been something that she needed to know, nor had she imagined that it would hold anything interesting or relevant to her life. She browsed through several sites, but found that a majority of what she read on one site would contradict something she’d read on another and nothing was clear. How was she supposed to know what stories were true and which were purely myth?

Getting nowhere on the internet, she decided that looking through the town's public historical records would probably be her best course of action and reluctantly planned to spend her weekend at the library. It was half five when she checked her clock Saturday morning and despite being tired, she couldn’t sleep afraid of what would happen if she closed her eyes.

The decision was quickly made to get up and get ready to head out, despite the fact that she could be spending her weekend hanging with her friends instead. Seven o’clock soon arrived and knowing that the library would be opening its doors in half an hour's time, she left; making a stop at the local coffee shop for a much-needed caffeine kick.

Entering the library, Megan observed the old librarian that stood behind the front desk as she approached and frowned when the lady failed to acknowledge her presence. The lady merely continued with whatever task she had been undertaking and Megan shifted impatiently from one foot to the other, before clearing her throat to gain the lady’s attention.

“May I assist you with something?” she asked after a few moments of silence, setting aside the labels she had been flicking through and fixing Megan with a semi-annoyed look.

“I hope so,” Megan replied with a forced smile, “I would like to see all of the public historical records that you hold for the town dating back as far as you have them.”

“If you would take a seat over there, I’ll see what I can do for you,” the lady instructed, pointing towards an empty table and disappearing into the stacks. It felt like hours, but, finally, the lady reappeared balancing three dust-covered boxes and dropped them on the table in front of where Megan was sat, “These files are not to be taken out of the building, if you wish to take anything home you can use the photocopying machine.”

“Thank you,” Megan stated, although the lady had already walked away and returned to the task that Megan had stopped her completing.

Megan stared at the thick layer of undisturbed dust covering the lid of each box, which suggested that they hadn’t been opened in a long time and felt her heart sink. The chance of her finding any answers if the boxes hadn’t been touched was slim, but she removed the lid of the first box anyway and coughed as a thick flurry of dust hit the back of her throat.

The box contained mostly old photographs with descriptions scribbled on the back, including names, dates and where the picture was taken. None of them seemed to hold any significance to the questions she had, until she picked up the next photo and froze as she took in the familiar face of her mom... if her mom was born in 1910 that is.

Although in black and white, Megan was positive that the woman staring back was her mom and even recognized the horrible necklace hanging around the smiling woman’s neck. It was strange, but Megan still had two other boxes to search through and put the picture aside to photocopy. The pendant on the necklace was unique, hung on a petite gold chain and despite finding it ugly, it drew Megan’s attention back to it. She couldn’t quite grasp what it was that she found so intriguing, but she did know that it had held some sort of meaning to her mom and that she had never seen her without it.

Perhaps Rick would be able to give her some more information, or Dan, her history teacher. The rest of the items in the box offered no further help, so Megan put everything back and reached for the next one. This box didn’t contain a lot and certainly held nothing that could be seen as useful, which meant that all of Megan’s hope landed on the only box left.

The first few pieces of paper that she found inside were worn and unreadable due to age, but things got a little more interesting as she looked at the group of women in the next photo. Six women sat in a semi-circle on the floor, all looking up at the woman who resembled her mother and Megan quickly turned the photo over to read the description that had been scribbled on the back. 1910, the ladies of the Supreme Coven led by Mildred Evans.’

Unclear of the accurate definition of a coven, she retrieved a dictionary from the shelf behind her and found that a coven was a group of witches who gathered regularly... there was that word again. Witch. This find gave her two fresh leads, one was Mildred Evan’s obvious connection to her mom’s side of the family and the other was the Supreme Coven that Mildred was a part of.

It was then that Megan looked a bit closer and noticed that the women were all wearing the exact same necklace, which opened a whole new series of questions. Who was Mildred Evans? What was the Supreme Coven all about? Was her mom a member and if so, did her dad know anything about it?

She would never know the answer to the final question, but it was one that entered her mind as she continued looking through the box and stayed with her as she headed home with photocopies of the pictures.