Abandoned Witch (Shadow Claw Book 6)

by Sarah J. Stone

  If there were any sensible people, it was the police. But they could do nothing to help with the rumors going around about an innocent little girl who could be the potential killer of an overweight boy with health issues his parents could care less about developing because they fed him too much all the time. For all they knew, it could have been some poison or allergy present at the party that brought about Roy’s untimely death, but Roy’s condition was nothing they had seen like before. All they knew was that they could not blame a child for such an accident.

  There was the first hit…

  She’d only asked for a second helping, but Linda would not respond to her. She’d given her portion small and their daughter had not had her fill. She asked three times until her mother’s eyes lazily slid over to her, and went back to her food, deliberately ignoring her child. The next time she asked, she received a slap.

  “You don’t get second helpings in this house,” she hissed, “watch your weight.”

  The girl held her cheek where her mother’s hand had brazened itself onto. It stung. It stung so much that she could feel hot tears pool at her eye-lids, threatening to fall. But she was a strong girl. She couldn’t let them see her cry.

  So she looked away and got off her seat, dragging her plate to kitchen, washing it, and placing it on the stand to dry. And she took her leave for the night. But sleep would not come to her. She replayed the moment in her mind over and over, trying to wrap her head around the fact that her mother hit her.

  Why would she hit her? What did she do wrong? She didn’t understand. She was so polite, and said please. She even said thank you for the small portion and even complimented the vegetables. So why would mommy hit her?

  And why didn’t daddy say anything? Did they hate her? Was she unloved by them, too? The very thought made her cry a river. The floodgates opened and her wails were muffled by the pillows. She didn’t want mommy and daddy to hate her. They were the only ones who loved her anymore. She couldn’t bear the thought of being alone.

  She cried her heart out that night. She couldn’t stop the tears, and her heart was an anxious mess trying to convince herself that they didn’t hate her and that it was just a hard time for them. Mommy and daddy didn’t hate her. They would never leave her. Parents don’t abandon their children.

  They don’t.

  But with each passing day from then on, it seemed as if the very sight of their child sickened Linda and Kyle. It got worse as time went on, and soon they needed no reason or excuse to hit her. They hit her whenever they felt like it. Barging into her room and letting their hands fly whenever rage consumed them. And she would scream and beg for mercy until her voice became hoarse, back was red and blue, and her face dry from losing so much nutrition.

  They hated her for making their lives miserable. They hated her so much.

  “The doctor was right,” Linda murmured darkly to Kyle, “She knew I should’ve aborted her when I had the chance. I should have listened to her.”

  “She’s a curse,” he agreed, “she should have died at birth.”

  “She was no miracle.”

  And they had a silent agreement that night that would change their lives forever and would finally bring them the peace they had been looking for.

  The next morning, when the girl came back from school, no one would open the door. She was afraid of ringing the bell too much incase her parents did open the door, and they would drag her in and purge their annoyance out on her. So she backed away and sat on the porch, waiting for a little while before ringing the bell again.

  They didn’t answer. No one opened the door. She had no choice but to try and get in from the windows, but they were locked, too. So was the back door, and the basement. There was no way in.

  She was getting cold and hungry. And very scared. She didn’t understand what to do and where to go. The neighbors hated her, her cousins hated her, too. Her parents wouldn’t answer. What could she do?

  So, she sat at the porch and cried. She cried so loud and so much that a neighbor came out and approached her carefully.

  She heard their footsteps and looked at them. “What do you want?” she snapped, “Why are you here? Didn’t I kill your friend’s son? Do you want to die, too?”

  For a moment, she saw a flash of guilt in their face before it hardened, “They’ve moved away. They left this morning with everything they owned. I suppose they forgot you.”

  That made her cry even harder and she buried her face into her knees. A few moments passed with nothing but her tears and wails until they suggested she stay with them until her parents could be contacted to take her with them.

  “N-no,” she stammered, “They hate me and they’re gone. Let them. I don’t need them.”

  The girl’s words confused her, and she tried to convince her to come home and at least eat. But she wouldn’t have it and got up, walking down the porch. They thought she had agreed to come with them but she shot off like a bullet down the street, far away from them, and everyone else.

  She ran. That’s all she knew. She ran and ran until her chest burned, her heart ached, and her legs cried in pain. It didn’t matter to her. Nothing mattered to her except the fact that she had been left behind for reasons she would never know, and never understands. They hated her without proof. They all gave up on her with no reason. She would never know anything. She was not worth anything.

  She cried and cried, and the darkness settling well around her heart unleashed its pain with every step she took, charring the ground where she set her foot and leaving a meter’s radius of damage. But she couldn’t stop feeling the pain, and soon it overwhelmed her and made her fall in the middle of the street, wailing and screaming. And her tears plunged themselves into the ground, making it hiss and bubble. The road cracked where her tears met them, and the darkness the spread from where she sat destroyed and set smoking whatever was in her proximity. Trash cans’ bases started to melt, pavements cracked and gave way like putty, and the grass curled up and blackened, their tips catching fire.

  So much hurt. There was so much pain and hurt in her little body that she could not contain. Just like the love she could not contain back then and had to give out. Pain was the same. The anger was the same. The fear was the same. She needed an outlet. She had to let it out. She knew how to inflict it now.

  She banged her fists onto the road and screamed, making the darkness take into the air and seep into everyone’s breaths. People coughed in their homes, slowly, but then violently. The air entered their systems, slowly charring them away inside. And the pain made them scream. Dogs howled and children screamed clutching their throats, grandparents choked on their breaths, and middle-aged people fell as they twitched and spat out blood. People fell out of their houses, running around trying to make sense as their deaths loomed over them.

  The sight made the girl’s breath catch into her throat. She couldn’t understand what was happening. And whatever it was, why wasn’t it happening to her?

  A person stumbled toward them, coughing with abandon. Their skin was charring and their face had already blackened halfway, peeling off and crumbling. She almost screamed at the sight, but her voice was caught in her throat by fear. The person reached out toward her but she shot up on her feet and moved away into the woods, climbing as fast as she could onto a tree that seems okay.

  She looked over the town. It was absolute chaos and she couldn’t understand what had happened. But she saw the damage and it scared her. It was as if someone invisible was setting fires inside things and people. And she was the only one left to reach.

  The fear of getting caught ripped into her, making her climb down and run into the forest where she could hide. She wasn’t crying anymore. She wasn’t angry. Just scared. Very, very scared.

  Her legs started to cramp for real and she had to stop, falling face first into a pile of dead leaves.

  “Ow…” she whispered and turned her face to keep from breathing in the dirt
and insects under her nose. It smelled of wet mud and decay, woodsy and musky. She exhaled it deeply, and inhaled just as much, trying to get some of the air in her system. It felt safe in here. She knew she’d be okay here.

  That was until she opened her eyes and saw herself in a mirror.

  Her voice ripped through the trees at the sight of herself and she pushed herself on her feet once again and ran. But she couldn’t forget what she’d seen. Her pale skin stamped with intricate silver lines, glowing. Her eyes, absolutely white and glowing against the darkness. She looked at her hands as she ran and they were snaking with the same markings, throwing light into the dark forest. She couldn’t understand anything that was happening.

  And what you don’t understand, you fear.

  ****

  She woke up on a pile of leaves, covered in more leaves. She looked up against the breaking sunlight and realized she had ended up under a tree, her body placed neatly in a circle of its overgrown roots. She blinked and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, becoming aware that she was not alone. Little squirrels lined the branches, noses and tails twitching. A few cats mewled as they sensed her awake and walked over to her casually, hopping onto the overgrown roots and rubbing their faces against her shoulder, some settling themselves onto her lap. Birds flew by and in front of her, blinking and chirping, carrying berries in their beaks and claws. Their behavior confused the girl greatly, but she held out her hand to receive their gifts. They dropped the berries into her hand and more came to do the same, flying away almost instantly into nests made in the same tree.

  There was something about this tree that really calmed her and rejuvenated her. And she unconsciously made the decision to mark it as her own to take shelter in. She didn’t know what this tree was called, but its trunk was wide, branches thick, and canopy full. It seemed perfect to her.

  She plopped the sweet berries into her mouth, the sides of her jaw sizzling from hunger and mouth filling with water, her stomach demanding more food. More animals came into view and she didn’t understand where they appeared from. Deer, rabbits, dogs. But they brought her more berries until she felt she had enough.

  And when she felt she had the energy, she started to cry again out of grief for her losses and the horror she had seen. Some animals scurried away from her, but the cats only closed in on her, trying to console her, licking her face and rubbing their faces wherever they could. Sobs racked her body, but they made no attempts to move away from her.

  For the first time in a long while, she felt cared for. And she was scared that they would soon turn on her, but she accepted their kindness for now. God knew how much she needed it.

  Chapter 3

  The week passed by on berries and water from streams, but her body begged that it wasn’t enough to satisfy her hunger and keep her going. The girl has no option but to return to the town. And steal.

  She’d never stolen before, but she had an idea on how to do so. She wondered how she’d get into a store without being noticed in her tattered clothes, but she figured she’d have to steal some of those, too. And toiletries. Soap. Shampoo. She made a mental list of the things she needed as she made her way out of the woods. But as soon as she stepped past the trees, she tripped right back into them.

  There was yellow tape everywhere. The place had been quarantined and being investigated. It was a charred mess still. Patches of the road had blackened and crumbled away, and so had the houses. White outlines of bodies were traced onto the ground, and blood and flesh still rotted about there. It smelled putrid and toxic. There was an officer inspecting the place with a tear gas mask on.

  She decided to take to the trees. They were close together and she could jump from one onto the next easily. She had to make sure she didn’t make too much noise and garner his attention. Carefully, she climbed onto the nearest one and stayed well behind the leaves and on high branches. And she moved carefully, moving from one branch to the other, and from one tree to the other. One was particularly far and she had to make a jump which shook the tree and rustled the leaves rather noticeably. The officer turned around as she quickly hid herself behind the trunk on a branch stretching out toward the back and peeked from behind it. The officer started walking toward the trees, and inspected within the woods as he came close. He didn’t even look up into the trees. Just past the trunks. And from out of nowhere, a bird sped by with a cat on its tail. The officer shook his head at the sight and turned around to leave. Once far enough, she carefully made her way again and had soon left the officer well behind her. But she kept to the trees, just in case, and stayed very quiet.

  She realized that only a small portion of the town had been quarantined and very much of it was still left alive and buzzing. She targeted a small mart. It was early morning and no one was around to shop. She sneaked in from the back and through the storage, coming across packed stocks that she could take from easily. Some boxes were open and spilling with clothes, canned food, and other necessities she could take with her.

  She picked up a back pack and carefully tore off the plastic, opening the zippers and quietly working around to stuff things into it. She also got hold of a switchblade and knives to protect herself with. Tape, band-aids and gauze, and everything else besides food she felt important. She was taught first aid at school so she knew what she needed.

  All was going well until she heard someone talking right at the door, turning the knob around. She panicked and dived straight to the back of the storage behind a few boxes. The man seemed to be talking with someone on the phone, guffawing as he shifted through a few boxes to pick some of them and take them away.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah, the bet’s been on for quite a while, but I know I’m winning,” he chuckled, “Hah! TWO HUNDRED IF THEY FIND HER DEAD!”

  Something told her that he was most likely talking about her.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” he scoffed, “If she can lose her shit over harmless teasing, then she’d be no better with being abandoned like that. Probably why they dumped her here and left.”

  She felt hurt as she heard this. But hurt was an understatement. She felt rage for talking about her this way when she did nothing to him.

  Maybe she could give him a reason this time…

  If one thing she had learned was that she really was responsible for the damage. She felt guilt, but the rage she had for the people who had deserted her the way they did overtook the sorrow and convinced her that they deserved it.

  And he was the same. He deserved the same treatment.

  He was guffawing as he came back inside to pick up more stuff, but she was already standing in plain sight for him to see. She stared at him with no emotions on her face to spare.

  He froze in his path and stared at her, bewildered to see a ragged, dusty girl in tattered clothes standing in the middle of his storage as if she was a ghost that popped out of nowhere.

  “Hold on, Mike,” he whispered urgently, “I’ll call you back. I have someone robbing me so get here with the police.”

  He hung up and reached out for the broom right by him.

  “Who are you?” he demanded pointing the end of the broom at her, “What do you want?”

  She said nothing and allowed the turmoil to build up in her by simply looking at his face. The hatred she felt for that man at the moment was unbelievable. How dare he bet on her life instead of trying to help? This world held sympathy for no one. Not even children.

  Such people deserved to die.

  The darkness shot out of her chest like a bullet and right into his, engulfing his heart and squeezing the soul out of him. The man froze, eyes wide in shock and knuckles white around his broom as his life was sucked away from within his own body. It left all his limbs cold as not only did it take away his life, but all the energy from within him, too. He turned blue in front of the girl’s eyes, but she felt no remorse and no guilt.

  The darkness rushed toward here and straight into her heart. It brought her contentment w
ith its fill and she packed the last of supplies she wanted and headed out the back. She almost ran into the police as their cars screeched to a halt from the front and back of the store, she made it past them by stooping low and passing from under their doors on the passenger side, taking off down the street as fast as she could, not looking back.

  She did not fear her powers anymore, but she understood the importance of having to learn to control them to prevent accidents. She did not understand how they worked except for driving them with feelings, and there was none like her to guide her.

  Am I the only one who can do this? I really am all alone.

  It disheartened her, but it also brought about an excitement because this was something that distinguished her from everyone else. It gave her an advantage over normal people, and if she could learn to use her powers then no one would dare hurt her. Ever.

  ****

  She sat under her tree lost in thoughts. Something very weird was happening to her, and she didn’t understand how to think of it. She was forgetting things. And she was forgetting them fast.

  She’d forgotten her name. Literally. She racked her brain hard trying to find out what it was, but she had deliberately forgotten it. Not only her name, she had forgotten the names of all the other people in her life. And with the coming days came more forgetfulness. She forgot faces, she forgot people, she forgot places.

  She was forgetting everyone. Her friends, family, neighbors. All she saw were a few glimpses of it all, heard a few whispers before they disappeared forever. As if they were simply dreams. Or nightmares, more like.