by Keith Trimm
“My mother is my business, you two fucking whores are in a league of your own.”
Cindy replied, “Think of your mother when I kiss her, think about your mother hiding out from your father for the sweet sex from another. Think about how that affected your home, your childhood.”
Bob began to shake. He grit his teeth and tried to walk away, but the visions of his past came up like vomit from his stomach. He had no choice but to remember the fights, the cheating, and the past. “Do you want me to beat the shit out of you? Is that your goal?”
“You are a little boy, you can’t do anything to change this, nothing.”
“Oh, things have changed a lot in the last thirty years honey, don’t play that psycho bullshit on me! I know who you are, I know what you're doing and it isn’t going to work. If you want an ass kicking, that’s fine, bring it on. I have no issue beating the shit of of a woman who deserves it, and right now, you’re pushing it.”
“We’re waiting little boy,” Anne said.
Then it hit Bob, why were they baiting him into a fight? What were they trying to do? He stood still and though for a reason why they would want him to harm them, he had nothing. But he knew that if he did what they wanted, it would end badly for him. So he decided not to fall for a trap. “Go fuck yourselves, again,” he said and walked back to the cabin.
Chapter 27
Under the Spell
It was midafternoon when Bob woke in the cabin, the sun was shining through the window and the smell of cooking meat filled the air. He sat up and immediately felt the pain in his neck, but he needed to see what was going on. He got out of bed and walked to the door, from there he opened it and saw Anne cooking. It didn’t seem like anything was different than any other day, she often cooked outside over a fire and usually her meals were very good. The only issue Bob had was that he was still there and didn’t know when he fell asleep or how he got in the bed.
Anne heard the door open and looked up to Bob standing in the doorway. She was dressed like usual and acted like nothing had ever happened. “Good afternoon,” she said.
“What’s going on?” Bob asked. “Where is everybody?”
“Cindy’s doing laundry, the children are gathering firewood from the forest.”
Bob looked at the meat Anne was cooking. “Where did you get that?” he asked.
“Aaron caught some beaver this morning,” Anne replied. “I bet you're hungry.”
Bob stepped down the stairs and walked over to Anne. “You’re awfully chipper for what happened last night.”
“That was last night, today is a new day.”
“That doesn’t change what happened to Laura.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“What? Were you high on mushrooms last night or something?” Bob asked.
Anne ignored the question and poked at the meat hanging from the spit.
“No, seriously, were you on drugs last night?”
“Part of my Witchcraft uses herbs,” Anne replied.
“So you got high and cruelly tortured an innocent woman to death because you were using “herbs?”
“No, I burned her because she was a Witch.”
“So are you, that’s what you told me.”
“I know, that doesn’t mean I can’t burn another Witch.”
“Why? What did she do to you?” Bob asked.
“It’s not what she did, but what she could do. I didn’t need another Witch trying to take over.”
“Why do you assume she would have?” Bob asked.
“I know women, I know how we think, it would have been only a matter of time,” Anne replied.
“She said she did it with her friends, like a club, she wasn’t really a Witch. She did it to have friends. Lots of kids do stupid things to fit in.”
“That may be so, but what’s done is done,” Anne replied. “Don’t try to play the innocent, you killed my husband.”
“You are not comparing what I did to what you did are you? Your husband was going to kill my friends, I was trying to save lives.”
“So was I,” Anne replied.
“No, you were trying to save your own hide, you didn’t want someone else taking your power!”
“How do you think she would take my power? By asking? No, she would have had to kill me, I was only defending my own life,” Anne replied.
Bob looked over to where Anne had been burned to the stake, her body was gone and all that was left was ashes. “What did you do with her body? Is she in the woods?”
Anne hesitated.
“Hello? I’m talking to you.” Then Bob looked at the meat hanging from the spit. It looked way too large to be from a beaver. “Is that?”
Anne picked of a piece of meat from the spit and put it in her mouth. She chewed it and closed her eyes. “The best way to absorb a Witches power is to consume the Witch,” she said with a smile.
The thought of Laura cooking over an open fire wretched what little was left in Bob’s stomach. He hadn’t eaten for so long that he only could muster dry heaves. “Why did you say that was beaver?”
“I thought about serving some to you, but I knew you’d figure it out soon enough.”
“What about your husband? Did you eat him too?” Bob asked.
“No, he’s bones in the woods,” she replied.
“What about the baby?”
“Also in the woods,” Anne replied.
“How do I know? You seem to have a real problem telling the truth.”
“I’ll make this simple for you ok? If you don’t catch it, clean it and cook it, don’t eat it,” Anne said with a smile.
“That won’t be a problem, I’m leaving as soon as I can.”
“Where will you go? The nearest road is miles away, and you don’t know how to get there, unless you want to go back the way you came. From what you said, those people are almost as bad as we are. Didn’t you say they ate people as well?” Anne asked.
“Yeah, what’s the odds of two cannibalistic groups living so close together in the middle of Colorado?”
“I’m not a cannibal, I only eat Witches, for the most part, I eat what we get from the woods.” Anne said.
“Splitting hairs are we?” Bob asked.
“If you need to know, this is the first Witch I’ve ever eaten.”
“Why do I not believe you?” Bob asked.
“You are the first people we’ve seen since I was a child. I can’t remember them, all I know is that they stayed for a short while and went on their way.”
“Then how did you learn about eating Witches in the first place?” Bob asked.
“From my mother, she handed down all of her know how to me. We spent many nights reading from her book of Witchcraft at the fireplace.”
Bob took a deep breath and got a nose full of smoke. He coughed and rubbed his neck. “What about Cindy? How did you get her to go against me?”
“I used a spell,” Anne replied.
“And?”
“Nothing else, spells are powerful, they work well on some, not so well on others. Cindy was putty in my hands.”
“You used hypnotism,” Bob said.
“What is that?”
“Mind control.”
“I suppose you could say that,” Anne said.
“You hypnotized her without knowing what you were doing. Those wear off quickly, I wonder if she’s back to normal.”
“Go see for yourself, she’s doing the washing at the lake.”
Bob walked behind the Cabin where Cindy was kneeling down scrubbing a skirt against some rocks. She was again dressed in her Puritan style smock this time with a head bonnet. The closer he got to her, the less he thought he was going to get anywhere with her. She heard his footsteps and sat up. “Good afternoon,” she said.
“Good afternoon to you,” Bob replied. “How are you today?”
“Fine, why do you ask?”
“Well, for one thing, last night you stabbed me in the neck and left me for a sixty year ol
d Witch.”
“Oh that, yeah, sorry about that,” Cindy said.
“Seriously? Or are you yanking my chain?”
“I don’t know what came over me, last night was pretty fucked up.”
“No kidding, do you remember what happened?” Bob asked.
“Yes, why do you ask?” Cindy asked.
“You do realize you burned Laura at the stake right?”
“Yes,”
“And how does that make you feel?” Bob asked trying to summon his inner therapist.
Cindy shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t really care.
“What does that mean?” Bob asked.
“She deserved it, she was a Witch.”
Bob quickly realized that not much had changed in the last eight hours and that Cindy was still on some sort of drugs, a curse or just fucked up in general. “How did I get in bed last night?”
“I put you there, after you fell asleep.”
“Fell asleep?” Bob asked.
“Anne put a sleep spell on you.”
Bob shook his head in disbelief. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Then you went to bed on your own.”
Bob was confused and neither answer made any sense. “You know, I don’t have a clue how I ended up in that bed, and I probably won’t ever know. But here I am and I need to get the fuck out of here. I was going to ask you to go with me, hoping you were back to normal, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”
“You can’t leave,” Cindy said flat.
“Who’s going to stop me?” Bob asked.
“Anne put a curse on you, you can never leave.”
“Bullshit!” Bob yelled. “Nobody, not even some self-declared Witch is going to stop me from getting out of this fucked up carnival.”
“I have nothing to do with it, she cast the spell.”
“I’ll be gone by this evening, I just need to gather some supplies. I might not be Davy Crockett, but I can walk through the woods and find a fucking road.”
“Do what you want,” Cindy said.
“I don’t need your permission,” Bob replied pissed. “I don’t know what she did to you, but you have really turned into a fucking bitch. I thought we had something.”
“We still do.”
“How? You and Queen Witch are a couple.”
“She is my master, not my lover.”
“Could have fooled me. You know what? I think I’m gonna head out right now, no time better than the present.”
“Suit yourself?” Cindy replied and went on with her washing.
Bob turned and walked away heading towards the woods, he had plenty of daylight left in the day and had a general idea where the road was based where the house was he escaped from. He hadn’t eaten in a day and was semi dehydrated, but a quick drink from the well would fix that. He turned back to the house and headed for the well all while keeping an eye on Cindy who was busy scrubbing dirty clothes.
After a long cool drink, he wiped his mouth and took off again towards the woods, until he saw someone standing next to Cindy he vaguely recognized. It looked like Mark, the photographer that sold him out so long ago. What the fuck was Mark doing out here in the middle of nowhere, the last he knew he was taking pictures of kids at the mall. He had no love for Mark, for Mark had helped his captives escape and put him on the run.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Bob asked walking over to where Cindy and Mark were by the lake.
“I’m checking up on an old friend,” Mark said.
“Who would that be?” Bob asked.
“You of course, it’s been months.”
“How did you get out here? How did you find me?” Bob asked.
“I heard that you were out here.”
“From who?” Bob asked.
Mark had no answer.
“Who told you I was out here!?” Bob yelled.
“How have you been?” Mark asked. It was like he was someone else, vacant and robotic.
“Really shitty, now what the fuck are you doing out here?”
Mark stood and didn’t reply. He had sort of a blank expression.
“Am I having hallucinations?” Bob asked. “You can’t be fucking real.”
“I thought maybe we could visit, talk about old times,” Mark said.
“Old times? Who are you? Really?” Bob asked. “If you were really Mark, you wouldn’t be asking me about how I left you for dead.”
Mark continued to stare at Bob, no reply.
Bob walked over to Mark and lifted up his shirt looking for bullet wounds, he saw none. “Where are the bullet holes?” Bob asked.
“Let’s go back to the cabin, I have much to tell you,” Mark said.
“No, the first thing you’re going to do is tell me why you don’t have bullet holes in your chest.”
Mark raised his hands as to say, “I got nothing.” Then it occurred to Bob what was really going on. He looked to Cindy who was now standing next to Mark. “Spell huh? Good one.”
“What do you mean?” Cindy asked.
“You’re trying to keep me here so you conjure up Mark to entertain me and distract me to keep me here. He isn’t real. He should be full of bullet holes, you seem to have forgotten that,” Bob said.
Cindy replied, “I didn’t cast the spell, Anne did.”
“Either way, you fucked it up, you need to do your research better next time,” Bob said. “Now that I figured out your scam, what happens to him?”
Mark spoke up, “I’m not to be gotten rid of, I’m here, for real.”
“I don’t know exactly who you are, but I know you’re not Mark, you may be here to keep me from leaving, but that doesn’t mean I can’t give it a try.
Anne came around the cabin and walked over to the group. She stopped when she saw a man she didn’t recognize standing with Cindy and Bob. “Who are you?” she asked.
“Don’t play dumb, you conjured up Mark here to keep me from leaving,” Bob said.
“I did cast a spell, but I didn’t conjure anyone,” Anne replied with a lie. “The spell manifests itself however it pleases.”
“You make it sound like this spell is human. That’s why this guy looks like Mark, but talks like a door knob. He doesn’t know anything about Mark.”
“Who is Mark?” Anne asked.
“A guy I used to hang with, no so much anymore.” Bob replied. “I have an idea, let’s see if you really are who you say you are. If you’re Mark, tell me what happened to your wife?”
Mark stood silent.
“Do you remember your wife?” Bob asked.
“Let’s not bring up the past,” Mark said.
“You don’t want to bring up the past because you don’t know the past. You’re hoping I play along like some fucking idiot. Now move, I have places I need to be.” Bob tried to walk around Mark, but Mark moved in his path. “Get the fuck away from me before I bust you up again!” Bob yelled.
Mark didn’t move.
Bob stood eye to eye with Mark playing a game of chicken. Not knowing exactly who this was he was dealing with, Bob was a bit nervous about tempting his fate. But time was wasting and he knew he had to leave, so he pushed Mark and tried to shove him aside. Mark moved with the pressure, but bounced right back. “Get the fuck away from me!” Bob yelled.
Mark stood firm and said nothing.
“Fine,” Bob said and took a swing at Mark. The punch connected to his right jaw and Mark fell to the ground. Bob then took a step towards Anne and yelled, “Take this spell off!”
Anne smiled and replied, “So you believe in Witches now?”
Bob eyed the unburned stake in the distance behind Anne. “I think I know how to fix this.”
Anne turned her head to look at the stake and back to Bob. “You plan to burn me?”
“The thought crossed my mind.”
“How are you going to do that? No one is going to help you, and I’m not going willingly.”
“You can’t keep me here!”
Bob snapped.
Anne turned to walk away, but before she turned from Bob completely, she said, “Try to stop me.”
Infuriated, Bob ran to Anne and grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around and put his hands around her neck. In an instant, Cindy and Mark jumped Bob and took him to the ground. Anne was free.
“Take him to the cabin, tie him to the porch,” Anne said walking away.
Bound to the staircase with rope,, Bob watched as the man who looked like Mark sat down in the grass across from him. He didn’t know why he was sitting there, he wasn’t sure this was really a man. Bob spoke up, “Who are you? Really?”
“My name is the wind,” the man said.
“The wind?” Bob asked. “Literally? First name, “The” last name “Wind?”
“No, metaphorically, like in ever changing.”
“For the sake of conversation, can you come up with a name I can use? And don’t say Mark, I hate that fucker.”
“Call me Jack,” Jack said.
“Ok Jack, what do you say you untie me and let me go?” Bob asked.
“No, I was brought here to keep you from leaving.”
“By the queen Witch over there?”
“Yes,” Jack replied
“Where did she dig you up? “Jack asked.
“I was stolen from my mother, she removed me to use for her needs.”
“What?” Bob asked. “You’re a little old to be stolen from your mother.”
“I was not yet born when I was taken,”
It took a moment, but then it hit Bob like a brick in the head. “You’re the baby we found under the blanket and tossed in the woods?”
“Yes,” Jack replied.
“Have you met your mother?”
“No, not yet.”
“Holy shit, this is crazy!”
“Tell me about it, my soul was hijacked before I was born,” Jack said.
“Is there any way you can let me go? Do you have a price?”
“I do have a price,” Jack replied.
“How much?”
“Free me from my bonds and I will let you go.”
“I was trying but you stopped me,” Bob said.
“She is not the one who holds my bonds, it is another.”
