by Jack, Grade 6
My eyes opened from a dreamless sleep, a mind prison worse than anything you could ever imagine. I was underwater struggling to breathe, the water stinging my eyes. As I floated to the top, I noticed that I was surrounded by a huge lake. It was the most awful type of water: fresh and clean. I felt new and powerful like a newborn child feeling the light on their skin for the very first time. There were woods surrounding the water and everything felt oddly familiar. Deja vu crawled all over me like a million spiders.
Something wrong happened in this place, someone wronged me here.
Wronging me deserves a punishment.
This shall be my mission.
I step out slowly, my legs enduring pain like death. Plump leeches cover my pale skinny arms.
I scrape them off with the rough skin of trees and place a stick in each of their ventral nerve cords just so they would feel more pain. In my mind, a stolen feast is punishable by death. “Oopsies,” I said to myself, noticing I got blood on my soaking wet dress. I squeezed the leech carcasses so I could color my hair, a pure instinct: it is always more delightful when you bathe in the blood of your “subjects.” Then the fun was over, done, the pleasure of taking a life only lasts for so long. After all, I did still have a mission.
My journey in the woods began. I walked through the thick grass getting my feet coated in mud and sticks. The trees hovered over me, I knew they were whispering. If only I had listened closely to their words. I saw a pest, a squirrel. A wretched little nuisance. How do they thrive knowing they have no purpose in this place they call home? Useless things deserve to burn. All the power in my body moved from my forehead to the very tips of my fingers. I felt a surge of energy and before I could even blink the squirrel was on fire. I wasn’t stupid enough to be surprised. The world had blessed me, a small headstart to my mission. Although, I did wonder what else I could do.
I decided since I have this perk I might as well use it. I tried to reenact what had happened earlier. I saw a small calf nearby, I thought about a snack or an animal hide to keep me warm through my journey. I got close to the calf and simply said “Sleep.” It did as it was told. Still feeling powerful I watched how the grass and saplings would sleep as well when I slowly walked away.
Sleeping was no longer a thing I should fear,
because Death herself was my slave.
I was inconceivable.
I was the everlasting.
I was the chill up your spine when you feel that you're not alone.
I was extraordinary.
I was walking for what seemed like hours, and I was bored. Then, I saw it. A coven. Their High Priestess, tall and fair, and her witches kneeling before her. But… But there was another. A man, not one like me or them, but a mortal. Mortals are idiotic, desrtroying what gave them life. I thought I might give them a hand with their feast, in other words, take it for myself. I walked into the middle of the circle. The witches stared at me, their high priestess holding up her hand as a threat. I simply laughed remembering that I was Death and I simply couldn’t have been defied.
I stood over the man looking at his young features. I whispered in his ear: “ I am going to free you.”
He thanked me. “ Changed my mind.” I joked, for his departing would mean nothing at all.
He fell onto the floor like a helpless child. He raised his arms up as if he was trying to cling to something, trying to save himself from doom. I giggled, wondering why humans even try to have hope. I watched how the man would slow down. I felt his life force slowly ceasing to exist… It was amazing. Then he stopped, Isn’t that fascinating? He just stopped. I smiled as I watched white worms slowly eat their way out of his bright blue eyes. They were the final reminder of his death. “Maggots,” I said with the widest grin you would ever see.
His body decayed in minutes. The witches watched in horror as I watched in awe. After a short while he was a skeleton, then a spine, then he was nothing. I laughed again admiring my power. Just then in all of that greatness she attacked. Their High Priestess had frozen my feet to the ground and my hands to my back. “SLEEP!” I screamed watching a couple of witches fall to the ground. I felt my whole body get hot, and all I could see was flames. I got so hot the ice that held me had melted. I felt all the power in my body move from my forehead to the very tips of my fingers. I felt a surge of energy and before I could even blink, one random witch was on fire.
Although, this time instead of feeling pleasure, I felt like I had lost something. Just then… Then I had done something more amazing than anything I’ve ever done. I remembered.
She was blonde and tall. Her name; Felony. She was the kindest person in the whole world. We shared a home. A mother. We were sisters.
Now she was gone. My feet were caught in a bear trap. Then, my body must have weighed three-hundred pounds, six-hundred, one-thousand. I fell down on the floor sobbing. I cried for what seemed like years. The witches stared at me still in a circle. What is this feeling? I thought. Like a flash of lightning came my answer. “Guilt.” I said aloud.
I screamed till it felt like my eyes would pop out. I looked around wondering where the witches went. Then I noticed the fire. The forest was aflame and I had killed them all.
I screamed again. Was this what I wanted? To go right back to where I started? Alone. Should I accept this and move on? I need answers. I simply wanted them back, but a queen of death cannot grant life. I fell on the floor. I didn’t have enough strength to shed a single tear, so the forest did it for me. Oh, how it rained, you would think the sky would run out. Slowly but surely the fire became smoke.
I layed there feeling the cool water on my skin. Neither sad nor happy but content. I heard the crunching of sticks and stood up to see what it was. As I stood I saw the High Priestess from before. She looked like she could stare right through me. She pursed her lips like she had something to say but said nothing. We stood staring at each other in silence waiting for the other to say something. She didn’t look too old, maybe fifty or so. Her dress was a dark deep blue and seemed to match her perfectly. Her jaw structure stuck her in an almost loving half smile. Her eyes were colored an intriguing blue that made you want to cry and roll into a never ending ball of despair and jump up in the air, screaming crazily with joy.
She was the one to break the silence.“ You always came back ten times as powerful but never like this.” She said in a sad voice.
“ I don’t understand.” I said with confusion.
“ Place your hand in mine and close your eyes.” She said quickly. I hesitated, remembering that we have only been talking for a few seconds. She stared at me waiting patiently. I did as I was told and the second I closed my eyes I saw colors. They were beautiful like nothing my simple mind could ever comprehend. The colors became shapes and the shapes became pictures.
“ It was a cold October night when you were born.” She started.
“ Everyone was scared. The witches in the coven hosted a party for your parents a few moons before and they told the future of their children. The prophecy was:
One will be a loving maid
One will live in the dark of nightshade
One will die from the hands of the other
More and more that one will smother
In the fear that Felony would die, your Mother threw you into the sea. She said you should drown in your evil. I thought it wasn’t necessary to kill you just yet. So, I took you in. I told you that I was your mother and your father was dead. I taught you all about witches and spells and you became a powerful witch yourself. When you turned thirteen I thought it was time to tell you the truth. You got so mad you burned our small cottage to the ground. You were trying to choke me. I knew it was time to put you tt..to sss..sleep.” She started to tear up.
“Why did you stop?” I asked.
“I'm so sorry.” She started again. “I just wanted you to stop. You took out a knife and put some slits on my leg, but I wasn’t going down too easily. I disarmed you with telekinesis and stabbed you again and again and again. It felt odd, to kill someone who you loved. I didn’t notice I made a mistake till I saw a hand come from the ground. I clasped the knife so hard I must have cut my circulation. You came from the ground and asked who I was. I had a chance to start again but I failed, I failed twenty-four times to be exact. I thought it was impossible to save you. I had a plan to put you to sleep for fifteen years. I needed time, just a little. I knew you would come back and I wasn’t ready for this.”
I wasn’t exactly mad but I wasn’t happy. I didn’t know how to make it right. Until, it came to me.
“ Give me the witch’s bodies.” I said quickly.
“ Ummmmmm.” She hesitated. “ Okay.”
We laid them out in a circle and I sat in the middle. I felt their life forces still slightly there. I thought if I gave up my power to revive myself I could wake them up. I tried to give it up. I tried to transfer my power into their bodies. I was waiting for something, I didn’t know what or how. I was so confused. I was about to give up when I heard it. A single breath, ever so quiet but not non-existent. I heard another, slow and rhythmic. It was like their lungs were singing. I smiled. I wondered what changed in me. I remembered the man. I realized he had taught me something. From the ways he tried to cling to the air. The way he smiled when I told him he was going to be saved. He taught me how to hope.
I heard a moan. With a weak smile I stood, looking at my former subjects. The smile quickly turned into a deep frown. They could never forgive me. If a stolen feast is punishable by death then what does this say about me, who took lives. I waited for the high priestess to look away and ran into her shed. I searched through her things, wrenches, screwdrivers, saws. I finally found a shovel. I started to dig a hole. The High Priestess gave me an odd look. “What are you doing?” She asked.
I started to tear up. I slowly stepped into my hole. I closed my eyes as the dirt covered me by itself. Once again I was content.
My breath started to slow and I felt something poke me. A root. It pierced through my thin layers of skin. They kept on popping up until I was enveloped in them. I was soaked in the odd feeling of confusion. I couldn’t feel my legs, then my hands, then my torso. They felt like they were disappearing. It took me an hour to understand.
I shook my branches and stretched out my roots. I stood there looking over the confused witches, the cute cottage, the high priestess. I smiled. I held onto my pink flowers that have not yet opened to show their true beauty and smiled. Through the hard nights, I smiled. When my flowers fell and a blanket of proud white covered me, I smiled. When the amount of witches started to lessen, I smiled. When the skies were grey, when death was in the air, when a scream was heard, I smiled. Still today, I smile.