Caged in Darkness (2 page)

The woman had kind eyes, but she was
overwhelming me. Her questions were stringing together and I
couldn’t process them. My hands lifted to cover my eyes from the
blinding sun. My parents rarely allowed bright lights within our
home, and the sun was like needles in my corneas. I swung my feet
over to sit on the edge of the trunk and considered what to
say.

“I needed to escape them. My parents are...”
I paused, swallowed, and began again. “I need to get to my other
family. I didn’t know what else to do.” I paused, while I waited
for her to say she was going to call my parents, but she had a
knowing look in her eyes.

She sighed. “What’s your name?”

I wasn’t sure if I should give her my real
name, but decided she couldn’t do much with a first name.
“Savannah.”

I knew what she saw when she looked at me. I
was nothing like my name. Savannah sounds exotic, beautiful and
special. I was a nine year old child, who looked closer to seven
years old. I had long ratted hair that hung in clumps down to my
hips. It was impossible for her to tell the color of my hair with
the grime that coated it. I wasn’t even sure I knew what color it
was. I knew that the woman saw a child, who looked closer to a
skeleton with a layer of skin. My eyes were bruised, lips cracked,
and my cheeks were sunken. The only redeemable trait, that made me
look more than a pile of rags, was my liquid silver eyes ringed
with violet.

In that moment, with this kind woman framed
by the sun’s rays, I felt that my life could someday be different.
That it was possible for a malnourished waif to turn into someone
completely ordinary.

2: Escape

Second Entry: My Escape

The kind woman, who unknowingly aided in my
escape, dropped me off outside of the town Meadow Falls. She tried
to convince me that I was far too young to be on my own, but seemed
a bit relieved to have me off of her hands.

I stared down the stone road that led into
town. I could see lights in the distance, but I had no idea what
waited for me at the end of this path. As I walked, the sky
blanketed over into a dark indigo mist, while the breeze became
swift; it was pulling me towards the town. If the town were a black
hole, I was the helpless star being sucked into oblivion. It was an
oblivion I craved.

These were people who had stood against the
wrongness that my parents represented. For me, this town
represented an entire lifetime or a swift death. I could not go
back. I could not be the frightened child chained to a cage of
solitude. I needed freedom. I needed a home. Most of all, I need to
know what safety felt like.

I came to the edge of the town. It was dark,
except for the lamp posts guarding the road and a few lights that
had yet to be extinguished. It was a secluded town that was much
smaller than I expected. It was nestled within thick woods, housed
a handful of residences, and an equal number of shops. The shops
were not the sort that was expected in a small town, but instead
had signs that said “Herbs and More” or “The Art of
Divination.”

In the center of the town was an enormous
circle. The circle embraced the wildlife and yet seemed to remain
apart from it all. Stone boulders, large enough for an adult to sit
on, rested at five points on the outside edge of the circle. Dark
black stones acted as a conduit between the boulders. My knowledge
of performing rituals was limited, but I knew more than most about
watching them. The stone boulders would act as the five points of
the pentacle, which was a five pointed star within a circle. The
circle is a crucial tool for a witch, because it acts as a
spiritual protection when witches are at their most vulnerable.

In the middle of the casting circle was an
altar. My parents’ had an altar, though it was very different from
this one. My parents’ altar was dark like their souls. They kept a
bowl filled with the blood of the innocents they had sacrificed, an
athame to use as their sacrificial tool, and a dark black rose that
bloomed eternal. These items were placed on a small table covered
with a black cloth. The cloth served a separate purpose; to hide a
compartment. In that tiny chamber, where they kept their grimoire
and other assorted items they deemed important.

The altar that this town kept was the polar
opposite of my parents’ altar. This altar was as large as a coffee
table, but stood much higher. It didn’t make me feel as though
spiders were crawling across my skin. This altar didn’t make me
feel as though evil whispers surrounded me.

The town altar was covered by an ivory
cloth. On the cloth stood a slightly tarnished copper goblet with a
bright sapphire stone imbedded in its spine. The athame was
unmarred silver; the divination bowl was made of wood and did not
have any contents that I could see. Still, it was dark and I knew I
would see much more when the sun chased away the demons that were
tracking and burrowing their way into my soul.

Where did I go from here? I didn’t know who
I was looking for or even if they would help me. It was obvious by
the dispelled lights that most of the houses were not an option.
Past the stores lay three houses with lights still on. The first
house was a one story ranch styled home in a sky blue shade with a
stone porch. The second house was two stories, and had a light on
in one of the upper windows. This suggested to me that the person
was about to sleep. The third house was much bigger than the others
in the tiny town. It looked as though it were the grandfather of
houses; towering over the others and insisting on their obedience,
while at the same time it seemed to tilt towards them to offer
comfort. This house was one of protection. It spoke to me as it
lurked in the corner, beckoning for me to approach.

I inched towards the grandfather house at a
snail's pace. My own emotions were bombarding me, smothering me in
their intensity. Why would these people help someone they didn’t
even know? Why would they risk their lives against two powerful
dark witches?

I was almost to the door when I began to
inch backwards. I wasn’t looking where I stepped and my ankle
caught on something near the path, but hidden within the grass. I
heard more than felt the crack, and it evicted a strangled cry of
alarm. I tried to use my hand to cover my mouth, but the tears
began streaming down my face leaving dirt tracks that carved out
forking paths. When the pain tore through my ankle, I fell to the
ground. I attempted to stand, but each time I put pressure on my
right foot, lightning streaked through my nerves and up to my
knee.

As I focused on trying to stand, the porch
light came on. The glow shoved away the shadows to reveal a small
garden, and the sprinkler that caused my accident. An elderly woman
stepped out the door and onto the porch. She hobbled down the
stairs and over to where I was cowering. Upon seeing my tear
stricken face, and the way I was holding my ankle, she immediately
swept into action.

“Ash, get down here!” She shouted through
the open doorway. In a matter of minutes, a boy came stumbling
through the doorway with a groggy expression on his face and came
to a halt.

“Whoa, what happened here?” His brows
furrowed in confusion, as he peered around the woman’s broad
backside.

“Well, don’t just stand there! The girl is
hurt. Help me get her inside.” As the woman said this she pushed
upwards from the ground in a pained movement and gently pushed Ash
towards me.

When his arms cradled me against his body, I
ceased breathing. My vision turned black, and I began to struggle.
I couldn’t concentrate on my surroundings or the rumbling from his
chest. I could only see the evil that had invaded my body. I could
see it sweeping over my hands to grow against his chest; it
climbing towards his face to settle in his eyes and frame them with
black. I didn’t want to taint him. I didn’t want to allow my
parents darkness to touch anyone else. What had I been thinking? I
began to whimper. I knew that what I was seeing was a
hallucination, because my parents’ evil overcame all of my senses
and this was merely a vision. It was a product of my damaged
mind.

“Quit squirming. You’re making this harder
than it needs to be, just calm down a minute.” I stopped
struggling. His voice was smooth and melodic, like a song from his
soul; it washed down my panic to blanket my hysteria. I calmed.

He carried me into the house and into a room
to place me on a dusty blue couch in the center of a family room.
The sofa was hard beneath my small frame, but it was better than
the prison I had been kept in for the past nine years. Ash took a
small square pillow from a chair nearby and knelt beside the sofa.
His hand gently pushed away the fabric of my tattered pants to
reveal my swollen ankle. The swelling looked ghastly next to my
thin legs. As he did this, Ash’s eyes did not leave mine. He kept
my stare; reassuring me that he meant me no harm. He then grasped
my foot and slowly lifted it to place the pillow beneath my ankle.
I winced in pain at the movement, but began to relax in his
company.

The stout woman had disappeared when Ash
brought me to set on the couch, which gave me a moment to examine
him. He was slightly older than me. His frame was still small; he
hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet. He wore a pair of dark green plaid
pajama pants with a white undershirt, and a pair of fuzzy gray
slippers. His hair was dark brown with hints of auburn, and was
tossed in a million directions. I figured that he must have been
sleeping when he was called to help me. His face was beautiful. His
features were sharp with high cheekbones, sea foam green eyes and
an amused smile. He had perfectly even white teeth.

Wait, why was he smiling? I looked up into
his eyes and saw laughter shining in them. He had been silently
standing there, while I visually inspected him. I was mortified. I
didn’t know much about interacting with others, but I knew enough
to know that it was considered rude to stare.

“I’m sorry. I’ve never seen a boy before.”
My voice was hoarse, which furthered my embarrassment.

His eyebrows crinkled and his mouth altered
into a worried frown. “How is it that you have never seen a…?”

“Here we go!” The boy didn’t get to finish
his sentence, because the woman had pushed her way back into the
room. She was holding assorted items from which I could only
recognize a few.

Now that I saw the woman in the light, she
wasn’t as old as she had appeared outside. She was hunched over,
which must have been what made her seem older, but her face was
youthful. She had the same green eyes as the boy, and red hair
streaked with gray.

“I’m going to want to know what you were
doing stalking around my home in the middle of the night, but that
can wait until you’re taken care of.” Her voice was high pitched
with a bit of grain to it. She began to feel around my foot and
ankle. Her fingers were deft and kind, but they still inflicted
minor pains that caused me to flinch.

What’s your name child?” She looked me
directly in the eye; daring me to lie to her.

“Savannah. Ummm… what’s yours?” I wasn’t
sure if that was the appropriate response, but it was something I
wanted to know. If I didn’t get a name soon, she was in danger of
being given the unflattering nickname “The Hunchback.”

“Hmmm… My name is Maye Emmons, and this here
is my boy Ash.” She lowered her eyes back to my ankle and began to
press the swollen area. She made a sound of confirmation, although
I didn’t know what she was confirming. She then reached down to
grab a bag filled with herbs. When she applied it to my ankle I
knew why she had been gone so long; she must have been gathering
items and soaking the herbal bag in hot water. The bag was
scorching hot, but I didn’t complain. She then proceeded to wrap
the ankle with gauze, and followed with a thick padding. She
finally finished with a tan cloth bandage to hold it all
together.

“Now, you’re right as rain. You’ll need to
take it easy on that foot for a few days, but after that it should
be just fine.” She examined me in much the way that I had examined
her son a short while ago.

“Are you going to tell me why you were
slinking around my house in the middle of the night, or do I need
to assume you are a burglar?”

“No! I mean, yes I was slinking around your
home, but no I’m not a burglar.” I offered a meek smile.

“Then what are you?” The voice came from the
boy, Ash. He was still wearing that confused frown on his face, and
I decided I didn’t like it.

I sighed. I wasn’t sure how to explain. What
if they made me leave?

“My parents used to belong to your coven;
Irena and Devon Cross. They’ve been hurting me, and killing
people.” Maye drew a sharp intake of breath and with knowing eyes
she smoothed my ratted hair away from my eyes.

“Don’t you worry about this, darling. You’re
safe here. I’ll take care of everything.”

Maye nodded and smoothed back my hair to
inspect my face. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she
had a pained look on her face. She made a small sigh, and
whispered, “I wish I had known; a child. They had a child.”

Maye pinched the bridge of her nose and
looked Ash in the eye. “I’m going to call a meeting with the
others. I expect you to take care of this little bird. I don’t want
to hear any nonsense about being tired either. If you hadn’t stayed
out until well past curfew you would have had more rest.”

Ash winced. “Sure. Does this mean you’re
going to forget that I got home past curfew? I think I should earn
some points for good behavior here.”

Maye turned from the entryway to fix Ash
with a stare that could kill, and left. Ash shrugged and turned to
me “It doesn’t hurt to ask, right?” He then walked over to the
corner of the room and lifted the lid of a woven chest. When he
came back he was carrying two quilts. He tucked one around me, and
curled up with the second in a nearby chair. When he said he would
take care of me, I guess that meant he would stay with me the whole
night. After several minutes of listening to his breathing quiet to
a soothing rhythm, I fell asleep.