Hexe Hunt

by Chyna Yue

  Everything is going well until, the headlights go out. Bane is driving blind.

  Wham, Rose is thrown out of her seat! Her head and knees hit the console, the beer in her lap spills all down her clothes.

  They are both shook up. Bane turns the switch a few times and the headlights comeback on, they've hit a tree! The worst of the damage seems to be on Rose's side. His front end is ruined.

  "Are you hurt Rose, are you okay?" Bane shouts.

  She's a little bruised, but nothing bad. She tells him that she is okay.

  Bane puts the truck in reverse, and backs away from the tree. The truck is running fine despite the cosmetic damage, and the missing mirror. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asks one more time.

  Rose shakes her head and replies, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

  He looks over the damage and sighs, "I am, but I don't think my poor truck is gonna make it."

  The sun has set, and the full moon is high in the sky. Rose opens the screen door, and makes her way onto the screened in porch. She can see the lights on from under the door. After taking her key from her back pocket, she unlocks the door and pushes it open.

  An old man with bushy gray hair is sitting in an old recliner. He's watching a football game on a color TV, with rabbit ears. "Hey Pop Pop, who's winning? Rose asks. Pop Pop raises his bushy eyebrows and replies, "Nobody so far." "Where's MeeMaw at?" she wonders. Pop Pop points in the direction of the kitchen. Rose makes her way back into the kitchen.

  Upon entering, she inhales the wonderful smell of food frying. Two cast iron skillets are going on the stove, Catfish and Okra. MeeMaw is standing on a plastic milk crate, cutting out homemade biscuits from a pile of dough. MeeMaw turns around and says, "Oh hey there darling."

  Rose gives her MeeMaw a kiss on the cheek, and tells her "You got everything smelling real good" MeeMaw laughs, "Years of practice." She says, while stepping onto the shiny olive green lament. Meemaw sniffs Rose's shirt, before cutting her eyes and saying,"Smell beer on you." She grabs her tray of biscuits and tosses them into the oven. Rose quickly thinks of something to say, "Bane spilled his beer on me earlier, I wasn't drinking.

  Her MeeMaw doesn’t seem convinced, as she grabs a strainer from the drainer, and uses it to flip the fish and okra. The grease cracks and pops! She tells Rose to, "Set the table for dinner."

  Rose grabs some plates and cups from the cabinets, and places them around the small mustard yellow Formica dinner table. Then she opens the olive green refrigerator, and grabs a metal ice tray. She pulls the handle, and the ice pops out. She fills the glasses with ice and Sweet Tea, from a bright orange pitcher. MeeMaw uses the strainer to scoop up the fish and okra, and then puts them in a brown paper bag. The brown bag helps soak up the grease. MeeMaw looks to Rose and says, "Go tell your Pop Pop to get worshed up for supper, and a new shirt wouldn’t hurt you."

  Rose enters the living room. Pop Pop is reading over a letter. She recognizes the envelope; it's the ones they give to prisoners. His brow furrows as he goes over each line.

  She interrupts him, "Pop Pop, supper's almost ready, time to worsh up" He lifts up his eyes and replies with a heavy tone, "alright", he stands to his feet and hand Rose the envelope. "There's a letter in here for you too." he says, before exiting in to the kitchen.

  Rose stares at the envelope with distain. "Why does he keep sending these? I don't care about him. The only thing he ever gave me was a bad name. "You're nothing, they say, just the daughter of a murderer and thief" she thinks to herself, as she takes the folded sheet of paper out.

  Carefully and slowly, she unfolds the letter. The sloppy handwriting has been written in pencil. She reads over it, it's nothing new.

  He tells her about some old man that died, and about the horrible food. Then he goes on to tell Rose about, "How he had given his soul to the Lord, and was looking forward to Heaven."

  The preacher told him," Because of his pass sins, he had cursed Rose, and that she was more susceptible to demonic possession." Rose can't help but roll her eyes. Demons had nothing to do with the shit she was going through. Rose crumples up the letter, and throws it away.

  Rose enters the kitchen. She grabs the bottle of dish soap. She pours some into her hand, and then she turns on the hot water. She's lathering up her hands when suddenly, the water turns to blood. It pours all over her hands, and splashes into the sink. Rose screams and jumps back. "What is it?!" her MeeMaw and Pop Pop shout!

  Rose has to catch her breath. She looks down at her hands, nothings there. The water in the sink is clear again. "It's nothing, I thought I saw a bug." she stammers. Her Pop Pop lets out a huge laugh while slapping his knee, "A little ol bug's got you that worked up." Rose nervously laughs, "Yeah, silly ol me." They sit down at the table and eat their supper.

  After supper, Rose heads upstairs, and gets ready for bed. After putting on her PJ's, she lies down on her fluffy bed, and looks up at her ceiling, its covered with her drawings, and a poster of Mick Jagger. An owl is posted outside of her window, hooting away. Rose listens to him as she drifts of to sleep. Her dreams are strange that night, more like a nightmare.

  Rose is standing in front of the old house in the woods. She watches herself enter. Once inside, everything is dark, except for a soft dim glow coming from the other room. Rose makes her way towards the glow. A younger woman with long flowing dark hair is sitting on the floor. In front of her is a candle, and a pentagram drawn in salt. She's rocking back and forth, chanting something.

  The woman doesn’t seem to notice Rose, as she inches closer, trying to hear. The woman just continues rock back and forth, still chanting. Rose is now face to face with her. The strange whispers start to become clearer, "Please Mother Goddess protect my baby, Please Mother Goddess Protect my baby.", she repeats over and over again.

  Rose jumps, when she hears the screen door swing open, and then spins around to see who's there. She can't make out anything in the darkness. All of a sudden Rose feels someone clawing at her arm. She turns back to the woman. Panic fills her wide eyes, as she opens her mouth and shouts, "Rose, you have to run! They're here to kill us!"

  Rose bolts up from her bed. She is covered in sweat and blood, from her period. Her sheets and PJ's are ruined. "Damn it!" Rose mumbles to herself, "Messed up my favorite PJ's!"

  Rose looks out her window. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. "It was just a dream Rose." she says to herself, pulling back her blood soaked sheets. That's when she notices something strange. A large scratch is running down here arm, just where Emerald left it. Rose rubs her finger over it a couple of times, to make sure it's all for real.

  Bang…Bang…Bang; Rose's thoughts are interrupted by her MeeMaw knocking on the door. "You gonna sleep all day, it's almost 12 o'clock!" she shouts. "I'm up." She hollers back. Rose rolls out of bed, the hardwood floor is cold against her feet.

  The cool breeze from the window blows across the room. "Oh I love Fall." Rose thinks to herself before, looking too her open window. "I didn’t leave that open.", she whispers.

  She tips toes over to the old wooden dresser, and pulls out a black long sleeve shirt and jeans.

  Everyone always told her that black mad her hair pop. She likes the colour black, its sophisticated and always in style. Black might be her favorite colour, or grey, no maybe red. Rose had such a hard time choosing anything; she didn’t even have a favorite colure. Rose exits her room and goes to the bathroom.

  MeeMaw is standing on the blue milk crate by the sink, washing dishes. Rose is dressed for the day, when she enters the kitchen. She opens the fridge, and pulls out a package of bologna and a slice of cheese, wrapped in plastic. She sits down at the kitchen table, and grabs the loaf of white bread. Rose makes a sandwich, and bites in to it.

  "You working tonight?" MeeMaw inquires.

  Rose waits till she has swallowed her food to reply," Not till tomorrow, I'm gonna hea
d over to the library today."

  Rose looks at her hands; the ring finger on her left hand has turned purple, from the wreck earlier. Her MeeMaw is still talking, and she is pulled from her thoughts.

  "Alright then, don't be out to late." MeeMaw insist. After finishing her sandwich, Rose stands and pushes in her chair.

  She giver her MeeMaw a kiss on the cheek, "See ya later" she says, on her way out the door.

  Outside the autumn air feels wonderful, as it blows the dead leaves around. Rose unlocks her old beat up black truck. The door hinges squeak as she open the door. She throws her brown leather purse in the seat next to her. The tan torn leather seats feel cold today. It wasn’t the fanciest thing in the world, but her Pop Pop had gotten a good deal on it. In another lifetime it was a farm truck, now it had retired and just made trips to the library and Johnny's. It had a few primer spots mixed into the black, to cover the rusty spots.

  Rose didn't mind, she liked the little old truck, it had character. Although, she kept telling herself that she was gonna get some oil for those hinges. She always kept forgetting to pick it up, while she was in town. With a flick of the key the engine roars to life.

  The local Library wasn’t really local; it was located all the way over in Maeville(which was about 20 miles away.). Rose pulls up next to a small brick building, and shuts off her engine.

  She gets out, and makes her way up the small marble steps, and through the red front door.

  The library is vacant and silent when she enters. Rose looks around, before making her way to the religion section, the 200's.

  She runs her fingers down the spines, until she finds something. Rose pulls out an old book titled The Witches & the Devil. She opens the cover, and looks over the checkout slip glued inside. Emerald Tiller (1958) is the only name written down.

  She continues to flip through the book, before stopping at a picture of a pentagram. Her eyes land on the next page, and she reads the passage, "The Pentagram is sacred to witches. They believe that it can do harm to their enemies, or protect them from evil." Rose checks around one more time, before shoving the book into her large brown leather purse.

  Out of nowhere, "Can I help you with something?" says Eleanor Trei. Rose turns around, to face the tall slender blond girl. She's always dressed in the best kinds of clothes, a crisp white blouse, and black skirt, with kitten heels. Her hair is put up in a severe bun, and her face is sharp and angular. She intimidates Rose, in an odd way, maybe it was her beauty. Eleanor's father was a farmer here in town.

  Rose quickly grabs a random book from the shelf and stammers; "My MeeMaw wanted me to pick her up a book, for her bible studies" she smiles innocently.

  Eleanor seems somewhat indifferent, "Alright, let's get you checked out then."

  Rose follows Eleanor to the librarian's desk. She stamps Rose's book, then opens up a drawer full of library files. "You know you still owe us 10c, don't you", Eleanor chides.

  "Oh right." Rose reaches into her back pocket and pulls out 2 nickels. Eleanor stamps the card, and hands the book over to Rose.

  Once outside, Rose breathes a sigh of relief. She makes her way to the truck and gets inside. The sun has warmed up her leather seats. She throws her purse in the seat next to her, and then opens the glove box.

  A large ball of twine is hiding her package of Winston Lights 100's. She opens up the empty pack, and pulls out a pre-rolled joint. She starts the truck, and turns on the radio dial. Jimi Hendrix's-All Along the Watchtower is just coming on. "Hell yeah!" thinks to herself, "My favorite Jimi song!

  She waits to light the joint, until she's out of town and on the Highway. Smoke is filling up the truck, as Rose continues to puff on her joint. She cracks the glass a little, to let some of the smoke out.

  The Rolling Stones- Paint it Black comes on. Rose is leaned back enjoying life, singing at the top of her lungs. The road seems to be all hers until, a black panther jumps out in front of the truck.

  Rose swerves to miss it, but ends up in a ditch. Luckily, she's not hurt. Rose looks back at the road; nothings there. Smoke is rising up from the floor board. She picks up the joint she dropped, and puts it out in the ashtray underneath the radio. "Maybe, I've had enough for right now", she thinks. She puts the truck in reverse. It takes a little bit of work but, she eventually gets herself unstuck.

  A large group of people are gathered around something on Main Street, as Rose enters town. She parks her truck in front of a gas station, and walks inside.

  The gas station is very small, just a few isles of snacks and drinks. The cash register is located at the back of the store. Rose grabs a pack of mint gum, and makes her way towards the back. The cigarettes are stacked up on the wall, behind the cash register.

  "Hello, Mr. Overton", Rose calls out. He was one of Pop Pop's good friends.

  He looks up from counting a pile of change, and replies, "What can I get for you today?"

  Rose leans against the counter, "Winstons please, and a book of matches."

  Mr. Overton grabs a pack of cigarettes from the wall, and a book of matches from a glass jar. He rings up the items and says, "That's gonna be $.90" Rose pulls out some crumpled ones from her back pocket.

  Mr. Overton smoothes out the dollar bill, before putting them into the register. "What's going on over here?" Rose points in the direction of Main Street.

  "Oh, just some preacher man coming through town with a soapbox, guess it gives people something different to look at." he says, as he hands Rose her change.

  The headline on the newspaper catches her eye, it says, "Kathy Spindle Missing". She picks up the paper and starts to read the article, "Kathy Spindle went missing a week ago on, Wednesday October 24, 1973. She was last seen in Maeville." Rose buys the paper and exits.

  A tall older gentleman with snow white hair, and a slender build is standing in a parking lot. He's addressing a group of town's people from a soapbox. Rose joins the crowd to investigate. She remains in the back however, preferring, to go unnoticed.

  The Preacher Man's face is red with furry, the more worked up he gets. He doesn’t have a megaphone or microphone, he doesn’t really need it. His voice booms over the crowd as he shouts," I'm here today because God has led me to this place!" He said, Reverend Glass, you got some work to do! You got some souls that need saving, today! You got some people that don't want to come to the church house, so you got to bring the church house to them, somebody say Amen!"

  "Amen!" the crowd shouts back. He raises his leather bound bible high above his head and shouts, "I'm here bringing the truth, and I don't care if it offends you!" He takes a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow, "God sent me here on a mission. You can look through any of the history books, and see that it is filled to the brim with witches and daemons. You might be saying, Reverend, that sort of thing doesn’t go on in my town."

  "I'm here to tell you that you're wrong! The devil and his army of whores are always amongst us, and we must stay vigilant against them all the time!" The Preacher Man takes a dramatic pause before continuing, "They are among us, always, and we must kill them!"

  He opens his book to a page, it's marked with a gold metal bookmark, with a cross hanging from it. He recites the passage, "Leviticus 19:31-Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God, Exodus 22:18-You shall not allow a sorceress to live! He shouts.

  A quiet has fallen over the crowd, as he looks over their faces and goes on, "Leviticus 20:27-"'A man or woman who is a medium or spirits among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads!"

  The people in the crowd are getting worked up. Rose knows that no good can come from this mass conformity. They're like sheep, all of them competing to see who can "BAH" the loudest.

  Reverend Glass goes on, "We will find those that don't share our beliefs, and we shall smite them from this
earth. We'll find the sinners and the whores, the non-believers, fags, the commies, and the witches! We shall make this world clean again with his blood, because he is the lamb, and he is pure as snow. We will find the black sheep amongst us, and we will sacrifice them before God! "

  The crowd erupts into huge cheers. The Reverend wipes his brow; he wears a smug look of satisfaction. The crowd is being whipped up into chaos. An uneasy feeling causes Rose's stomach to jerk.

  "This little black sheep needs to get out of here." Rose quietly thinks to herself. She gets in her truck, hoping to go unnoticed. However it was not, Cynthia Slate watches Rose's every move. She starts up her truck, and lights a cigarette. Rose pulls the gear stick into drive, but is unable to leave.

  The quiet gathering has turned into a riot. They're all tearing down Halloween decorations from the stores fronts, people's yards, and porches. Two little boys are smashing pumpkins onto the ground, others are using baseball bats. Almost as quickly as the chaos started, it's finished. Rose's cigarette is hanging loosely from her lips. Her mouth is slightly open in disbelief, "What the hell is going on?" She asks herself. Very quickly, she pushes on the gas and leaves the insanity behind her, hopefully.

  Once again, Rose is on the highway. The radio is playing The Beatles- Paperback Writer. Rose is lost in her thoughts, and forgets the cigarette between her fingers. The long ash falls to the floor. She is jerked out of her trance, when the cherry burns her fingertips. "Ouch!" she cries, as she throws the butt out the window. She sticks her fingers in her mouth for a second. The radio is starting to cut in and out, as Rose turns down an old dirt road.

  The sun is hanging lower in the sky, when Rose stops on the road in the woods. The radio is playing nothing but static, when she gets frustrated and turns off the dial. She parks the truck a little bit off the road. Before getting out, she grabs a flashlight from behind the seat, and the ball of twine from the glove box. She puts all of these things her leather purse, before setting off into the woods. She ties the string around a tree, and uses at her guide.