Witch (2 page)

Sam

He paced around the room wondering when she would come
home. It had been a bad idea to let her go. He had been giving her space. He
hated space.

Roland entered the room silently, as always.

He cleared his throat, “Tea?”

Sam nodded, “Thank you Roland.” He took the tiny bone
china cup and drank. He felt a twinge at the taste, his mother had made him
drink it before too. It apparently helped calm the nerves but nothing would
dull the pain he was in.

“You look as though you could use a walk perhaps.”

He looked up at the old man and laughed, “I’m going to
kill her is what’s going to happen. Has she called?”

Roland shook his head, “Not in the last twenty-eight
minutes since you last asked. Why don’t you just go to her?”

He sighed and dropped in to the over sized chaise, “I
can’t. God I told her I trusted her. What a mistake. Aimee has her. She’s going
to get her killed.”

Roland laughed, “I don’t think I can imagine anything
strong enough to kill Miss Hanna. Beyond you.” His eyes glinted with knowledge
making Sam blush.

“You flatter me Roland.”

Roland shook his head leaving the room silently, “I think
not.”

Sam stood again, continuing to pace. He looked at the cell
phone on the bureau and tapped his fingers against his legs. He grabbed the
phone and flashed from the room.

He walked across the floor of Lydia’s house, looking for
someone, anyone.

He walked until he found Lucas sitting on the couch,
staring at the wall across from him in the largest of sitting rooms. He sat
alone. He had been doing that since Ben had died.

“Hey man.”

Lucas didn’t even flinch, as he spoke without tearing his
gaze from its spot, “Hey Sam. What’s up?”

“Oh, not much.” He slumped in to the chair across from
Lucas. Lucas never met his gaze.

“You waiting for them to get back?”

Sam sighed and grinned, “Did Ari go too?”

He nodded.

Sam felt a sickening pain fill his stomach as he thought
about Ben, the room felt empty without him.

“Why didn’t you go?”

An expression crept across Lucas’s face but it was gone
when he spoke, “Not allowed. Lorri said no retaliation on this one. We’re
dealing with something out of our league.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah I got the whole ‘no because you’ll want
to defend Hanna’.”

Lucas’s lip lifted ever so slightly, almost into a grin,
“Everyone wants to help Hanna.”

Sam threw a pillow at him, “Whatever. Asshole. Speaking of
which how’s Dorian?”

Lucas shook his head, “Worse I think. He actually went to
some vampire hideout in Brazil and killed everyone.” His sad eyes blinked away
from the wall and looked at Sam, “Innocents and all.”

Sam whistled, “Wow. Daniel and the tards have no idea how
pissed off they have made him. Wanna go hunt his dad?”

Sam’s eyes brightened, “Aleks’s?”

He nodded, “Lorri said no to Alaska, but not to Viking
werewolf death.”

“Yeah. I’ll go. Any clue on where to start?”

Sam shook his head, “No, but I know where Aleks last lost
the trail. It was in Virginia. Jonesville, Virginia.”

Lucas stood and put his hand out, “Take us to Jonesville.”

Sam pulled his phone out and Googled Jonesville. When the
picture on the map came up he flashed them to a dirt road in the middle of
nowhere. Tumbleweeds rolled across the dusty road, as a wind picked up making
waves in the hay field next to them.

Lucas looked around, “Where the hell are we?”

Sam shrugged and looked at his phone, “I’d say in hell, I
don’t have any bars.”

Lucas growled, “Is that a Bison farm?”

“Look dude, focus. We are in Hillbilly County, someone is
going to shoot your hairy ass if you chase livestock.”

“It’s hard to resist.”

Sam rolled his eyes, “Okay well maybe we can stop for a
Bison burger somewhere. I’m not eating it raw on the side of the road.”

Lucas stripped his pants and shirt off and passed it to
Sam. He phased instantly, sending shredded pieces of his white boxers
throughout the air.

Sam waved his hands in front of his face, “Luke. Gross.
Your underwear is everywhere.”

The huge dark wolf made a funny noise Sam could swear was
a snicker.

Lucas sniffed the ground and began running. Sam ran after
him, flashing to keep up.

Sam wondered how he had caught the scent so fast but soon
even he could smell it. It wasn’t the wolf he smelled but Aleks. He ran as fast
as his legs would allow as they walked their dead friend’s footsteps. His chest
ached thinking about the scent they chased.

Ophelia

She woke tired. She was a typical teenager. She liked to
sleep till noon and stay up until two in the morning.

The difference that morning was a combination of two things.
The lingering hope that her parents had managed to believe she hadn’t actually
broken the windows and that everyone at school had forgotten she had broken the
windows. She had fallen asleep praying no one would care or remember what she
had done.

She wasn’t even out of the sheets when her door was thrown
open and her sister walked in, “I need you to be nice to Jake today. I told him
you like him and he almost lost his mind. He was pumped. Don’t emo on me okay
homie? Be the girl I know you are.”

Ophelia buried her face in her pillow, “Oh my god why do
you have to exist?”

“You've wished for Jake to like you since we were five and
six. Today is your lucky day and he’s going to Lance’s party. So are you by the
way.”

Terror filled her, "I can't go to school."

"You have to. If you skip you're going to look
guilty."

She looked at her reflection and shook her head, "No.
I can't do it and I'm not going to that party with you and the plastics."

"Ride or walk?"

She sighed, "I'll walk. I need to get lost on the way
and end up in New York City with a different name and a cool mustache."

Abbey laughed, "Such a loser drama queen." She
grabbed her arm, "Come on we'll ride together."

 
At school she
looked around at everyone from the sidewalk in front of the building.
Everything looked the way it did everyday. Nothing looked different. She waited
for the stares and the pointing to start.

She glared at her sister and waited for it to hit. She
couldn’t believe Abbey had dragged her to school. She was strong for such a skinny
thing.

Ophelia walked up the stairs of the school feeling
embarrassment and pain in each step. She shied away from making eye contact.
She would forever be the girl that gave Mr. Paulson a heart attack and nervous
breakdown.

“O wait for me.”

She frowned and looked back at Maria, mean girl Maria
Thompson, running toward her waving her hands. She looked around for Mack and
Noams but they were nowhere to be found. She was going to die alone and
humiliated.

She didn’t know what to do.

She almost turtle’d when Maria reached her, but she saw
something she hadn’t seen before. Maria smiled at her.

“O we’re having a party tonight, end of year party for all
seniors. It’s at Lance’s parents place. They have a pool so bring a suit.”

She stammered, “Uhhh what. N-n-no thanks.”

Maria laughed, “You have to come. You never come to
parties and school’s almost over. Please. Jake Mackay asked me to make sure you
come.”

O nodded, almost laughing, “Jake, Jake, Jake Mackay?” Her
sister hadn’t been messing with her. She raised an eyebrow at Maria.

Maria smacked her in the arm, “You’re being weird. See you
at lunch.”

"I’m being weird?’ She muttered and walked up the
stairs feeling more scared than she ever had. She felt vulnerable, as if she’d
showed up naked.

She couldn’t go to the party. It was a set up. Abbey
wasn’t a part of the evil plan. They were using her to get to Ophelia. She
nodded to herself as she walked. The plastic's hated her.

People smiled at her, people she didn’t know. Guys winked.
She felt her face start to sweat as she hurried to her locker. As she got the
door open she took a deep breath. Everyone was in on the plan.

“O can we talk for a second.”

She looked up at the ceiling, “Seriously?” She muttered.

She turned to face Jake. She was certain he was the hottest
quarterback in the history of football. He filled all of the space in front of
her. His shoulders were each double the size of her entire body. She trembled
watching him look her up and own. His grin frightened her. He ran his hand
through his dark blond hair. His chiseled features made him impossible to look
at. He almost glowed with perfection.

He was it all, tanned skin, winning smile, perfect dark
blue eyes and six foot two at least. She had seen him in swim class. She
blushed remembering what lie innocently beneath his black t-shirt and jeans.
His body looked carved and unreal.

“Hi.” She spoke abruptly, trying desperately to focus on
anything but the memory of him in swimming trunks. His abs with droplets of
water running down them.

“Pretty crazy what happened yesterday hey. No one really
remembers what happened exactly? They said it was like lightning hit the
window.”

She shrugged, desperate to not talk about it, “I don’t
know, maybe.”

“Paulson’s out for the last few weeks and probably won’t be
back next year. You rock. Marie said you might have a poltergeist from the
Ouija board. Like Paranormal Activity and shit.”

She nodded, “Oh.” She felt her breath freaking out like
she had asthma.

He licked his lips, “Can I pick you up at eight for the party
at Lance’s?”

She shook her head, “Oh uhm no thanks.” Her forehead was
sweating. She just wanted him to go away. She wiped her forehead with her
sleeve, “I’m not going.”

He put his hands on either side of her, backing her
completely against the locker, “You have to go.”

She nodded, hypnotized by his eyes, “I do.” Her words were
a whisper.

He nodded again, charming every inch of her, “I will pick
you up at eight.”

Her breathing had taken flight into the realm of
uncontrollable, “You will pick me up.”

He laughed and leaned into her. He feather kissed her
cheek. His plump lips pressed against her flushed, no doubt sweaty, cheek. She
closed her eyes. She couldn’t be certain, but she might have wet herself.

He pushed himself off the locker making a sound, a growl?
She turned back to her locker, desperate to hold on to her emotions. She
gripped the metal of the door for a microsecond and took long soothing breaths.

She closed her locker and walked to the bathroom as
quickly as she could.

“Uh hooker was that Jake kissing you on the cheek?”

She turned to see Mackenzie and Naomi following her in to
the bathroom. They wore matching long sleeve white t-shirts with a dark face
smeared on them.

She scowled at them both and walked in to the bathroom,
“Where the hell have you two been? God Maria tried to kill me with kindness and
everyone thinks I’m totally awesome for almost killing Paulson and Jake just
kissed me and I think I'm being haunted by Emily Roses or her ghostly demons.”

Mack sighed, “You weren’t answering the phone or texts
last night, what do you expect from us?”

She blushed, "Throwing rocks at my window?"

She looked in the mirror at herself, her pale skin was
flushed making her face crimson. Her dark hair was matted with perspiration.
She pulled an elastic from her pocket and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
The curly hair looked tame as she dragged the moisture back and across the top
of her head to smooth the frizzies. She looked at her face again. She had
always thought herself pretty, not beautiful but pretty. She had a flaw. A
major one. One she actually liked about herself, her eyes were different
colors. The right was a dark, almost black blue and the other was light blue.

Mack pointed to her dark eye, “O it looks angrier today.”

"It's my nervous eye."

Noams laughed, "Dude seriously though, we called like
eighty times."

She smiled at her best friends in the mirror, “I was
hiding last night. My mom and dad are coming to meet with the principal.
Everyone thinks I smashed the windows.”

Noams and Mack both had black bobs with too much dark eye
makeup and dark lipstick. They had thin white faces and thin short bodies. The
only difference between them was Mack’s huge breasts, they made fun of her for
them. She was the stick with boobs. Everyone called them twins, even though
they weren't related. Not even a little. They'd done the genealogy charts.

“Tell us the truth O, what happened?”

She turned away from the mirror and shook her head, “I don’t
know. I kept hearing those plastic beotches saying shit about me, like I moved
the Ouija marker on purpose or that I was a crack head. Then they said I was
cutting myself and Abbey told everyone."

"Sluts. That Ripley is a whore. She let the French teacher-"

"-Okay gross. Dude come on."

Noams blushed under her white powdered face, "Sorry.
Continue."

Ophelia snickered, "Anyway then I got hot and sweaty
and then I yelled at them and the windows all broke and this wind blew through
the classroom. The papers went everywhere. It was weird.”

They grinned and spoke simultaneously, “Wicked.”

She shook her head, “Not so wicked. The principal is
pissed.”

Noams grinned, “We can be like that movie The Craft.”

Ophelia sighed, “No. This is like a poltergeist from that
stupid game. I’m haunted.”

Noams shook her head, "Think of the revenge you could
get on Lacey and Ripley. Everyone would know the truth about them."

Ophelia rolled her eyes, "Everyone knows the truth.
Lacey got caught with her cousin at junior prom. Oh and remember last year when
they faked those crank calls and the police traced the harassing calls back to
Lacey's house. That was epic. And of course everyone knows the story about the
French teacher and Ripley." She shivered.

"So gross."

"So gross."

Ophelia smirked, "Anyway today has been weirder than
yesterday. Everyone is smiling at me and pretending I did an awesome thing.
People I don’t know. Like I rock for no reason."

Noams looked at herself in the mirror and adjusted her
bangs, "You do rock. We've been telling you this for years. You're just
stupid."

Ophelia stuck her tongue out.

“Okay well hokey pocus see you at lunch then and movie
night?”

She sighed, “Got invited to Lance’s by Jake. That’s why he
was kissing me. He asked me out.”

Their screams filled the small bathroom with echoes.

“You have to go.”

“Oh my god, get laid for all three of us. Can you tape
it?”

She laughed, “So disgusting.”

“Okay, we'll see you at lunch unless Jakey wants to show
you his snakey in the handi washroom like all the other slutty seniors.”

"Bring Lysol, I heard that's where the French teacher
and Ripley have, uhm well you know."

She rolled her eyes at them as they left the bathroom,
"You guys are sick."

She turned and washed her face with cool water, to try to
calm her nerves. She looked up at her reflection, as the water beads dripped
from her face. Her thick lashes held water droplets, making her light blue eye
look sharp and outlined.

Suddenly in the background she saw others. They looked
like her. They floated without color in the mirror around her. She tried to
focus her eyes on the water droplets. She tried to ignore the fact six other
girls were in the mirror with her.

She didn’t dry her face. She ran.

She ran from the bathroom and down the hall. She ran to the
front doors and then all the way home. She was losing her mind. She was
dreaming. Her body was really in her bed, the day hadn’t really happened. It
was a dream.

She wheezed, running in her front door.

‘Don’t be scared of us.’

The voice was outside of her head. She screamed and ran up
the stairs to her room. She slammed the door and dove into her bed. She pulled
the covers up and kicked her shoes off the side of the bed. She lay there
shaking.

She closed her eyes.

She fell asleep curled in a ball.