Many of the villages in the weeks to follow were still upset and when news broke of her apparent suicide, the home of the great sea captain was left abandoned and now deemed as haunted. Ivan had enough and shut the place down for the time being.
All the while the new girl Svetlana was a late arrival to the school year; having been busy with fall harvest she got to school two months late. The other girls did not take to her tardiness whatsoever, in fact, she made a good pin cushion for teasing even more so now on such lateness and poor appearance.
It was apparent even more so close up daily that she worked in manure and dirt and on a farm. For she smelled pretty bad and never came to class with any nice clothes either. The kids saw this and the ridicule began.
In fact, she would come to school sometimes smelling of such animal stench or the sweat of a hard day's work. In time she got the nickname Sweat Lana.
The girls and maybe a few tag-a-long boys would call out a rhyme when they saw her and it went like this.
“Sweat Lana Sweat Lana working in the barn, Sweat Lana Sweat Lana with her stinky under arms.”
Why did these girls have to be so mean? Tears formed in her eyes.
Somedays, the black-haired teen would think ... someday, I’ll conjure up a spell and make these awful kids pay.
In truth, she was a pretty girl, though she hardly took care of her appearance. Her parents never made her clean up all too much, or supply up to date clothing, so the teasing would continue throughout the rest of the year right up until the special school dance. Sadly Svetlana just could not make any friends.
Many of the school children were practicing at the theater as well. She hardly had time for any extra activities, so again she just didn’t fit in or mix well with the locales.
She also knew in her heart that the dance would never be something for her; no boy would ever ask her, let alone like her.
The most popular teen girl on Teevas Isle was Katarina, the daughter of the wealthy Bariskanov family. She had the brightest of blonde hair, high cheekbones and cat-like green eyes. She also was Svetlana’s biggest tormentor and coordinator of the spring dance.
Her boyfriend who Svetlana knew from a few classes, or shall we say, would see at school, was a rather dashing young man named Oleg. He had the thickest of brown hair and a rugged square jaw-line; not to mention he was the village’s most gifted athlete when it came to wrestling. Svetlana could only dream that one day someone like him would love her and come into her life.
Much to the young farmer girl’s dismay, Oleg or even anyone one else never truly noticed her, and who could blame them.
However, that would all change at the dance.
Chapter Four
With all the recent tragedies on the Isle, to her surprise, Svetlana’s mom had made a dress for her daughter and would let her have the day before the dance. Svetlana’s mum helped Svetlana get ready and when all cleaned up and wearing the prettiest of a pink gown, well, she looked very lovely.
Svetlana objected, “But mom, I can’t go.” Her mother hissed at her, “Oh yes you can, and you will. Look how beautiful you are. I did not go to all this trouble to see you stay home.”
So the following night when she arrived, all eyes were on her. Who was this pretty girl at the dance?
Oleg’s heart nearly jumped from his chest when he spotted her. In truth, he never really liked the loud girls in school. He always appreciated those that were quieter; more reserved and more humble. In Svetlana, he saw that, but now, he recognized her and spoke out loud not even realizing he was doing such. “Wow, she’s beautiful. I always saw it; it just needed to come out.”
It was then he got a slap in the face from Katarina, as all the other girls about realized too that it was Sweat Lana before them. Katarina dragged her Oleg away with the other couples to dance while waving off the pretty dark-haired girl left standing all alone.
“She’s still a filthy little pig,” she announced, as her crew all laughed and agreed.
But later when the chance arrived, Oleg made his way over to say hello.
Svetlana was just standing there when he approached, “Hi, I know you ... you’re the girl from the farm to the West. I see you in class, wow, I have to say you look simply amazing, is it Lana, like your name?” Svetlana kind of tilted her head down sort of shy but did offer the boy a slight smile.
Oleg went on. “Lana, that’s a pretty name,” he added.
Svetlana finally looked up at him and said, “Thank you, but its Svetlana, thank you so much.”
By then a crowd of teens gathered about the two of them bent on breaking their conversation up. The guys about pulled Oleg away and the girls all circled about Svetlana.
Natasha, a black-haired bully was first to ridicule her. “Who do you think you are Sweat Lana?”
Then others followed with hurtful sayings. One announced, “I bet she stole that dress!”
One even called her a witch, spotting an odd sachet made of various sewn old fabric by her side. “Look, she has a purse with spell components, you’d better watch out; she’s a weaver of wickedness.”
Then Katarina got the entire dance attendees to start in on the awful rhyme.
“Sweat Lana Sweat Lana working in the barn, Sweat Lana Sweat Lana with her stinky under arms.”
It was all the young girl could take, as she burst out in tears, running home with horrible sadness.
As Monday came about, Svetlana kept her head low at school and spoke to no one. On her way walking back home, Oleg suddenly appeared walking next to her.
The others would probably make fun of him, he most likely would be ridiculed for approaching her, but Oleg didn't care.
He bumped right into her, “Well hi, funny meeting you here. It looks like I’m going the same way you are, would you mind me walking with you?”
In the days to follow, it just so happened that this was an ongoing thing. They said very few words but he often appeared to walk with her after school.
Oleg even began saying hi to her in the school whenever he spotted her in the hallway; be it when hardly anyone was about. He was still weak when it came to letting the others know how he felt. But, he was trying at least.
Svetlana knew it was always when they seemed to be apart from watching eyes, but it was at least something and she wondered why he was giving her his attention, yet she did like it.
One day in a class they shared, she knew the answer to a question no one else knew, and with her new found small amount of confidence called it out before all the other mean so-called smart girls in the room. Oleg made sure to compliment her the next time he spotted her alone in the hallway. “Hey, Lana, great job in history class today, you rocked it!”
It was all different for her to have such attention, so she began trying to take care of herself more and more as to encourage this. Now her parents even began to wonder why she was combing her hair more often, bathing more often, and trying to wear cleaner outfits. They just could not afford much but Svetlana was still trying to make the best of everything she could muster up.
Mother and father watched her closely wondering if puberty had finally arose.
Oleg began to realize that Katarina was driving him nuts as of late. For him, more and more he didn't care how much money a family had, or how rich her clothing was; for him, it was more about the spirit, it was what a girl had on the inside that was best. Yet in Katarina, man she was hot, he just wished she would give in and have sex with him. But it never would happen unless he married her.
So he could not help himself; he wanted to get to know Lana even more.
The very next day, he grabbed her outside while she was walking home again, and privately took her to a secluded area in the woods to talk with her.
“Don’t be afraid, its better we move off the road and have a chance to talk, come on, take my hand.” She was nervous yet found herself reaching out to him.
Oleg smiled broadly, “Listen I don't care what everyone else thinks. I thi
nk you're great!”
Lana turned two shades of pink and kind of froze up just standing there listening to the handsome boy beside a big old tree. He did most of the talking, and at one point leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. It caught her off guard; never had she been kissed. She quickly made up an excuse to leave and ran off thereafter.
However, this trend continued several times over the next few weeks. The couple would meet by the same big tree, and though the conversation was brief, they were forming a bond. Oleg did not try to kiss Svetlana again just yet.
The other girls began to notice at school Sweat Lana’s sudden new look and confidence.
She didn’t smell bad and even though her clothing was still bland and poor quality, she was different.
They gathered together contemplating what was going on. None could come to an answer.
Not until one of them spotted Oleg catching up to Svetlana way down the roadside. It was Natasha and she watched closely as the couple left the main road and crept off to a secluded wooded area.
It was the very next day, Katarina and her team of bad girls caught up to Svetlana in the school’s gym dressing room.
“You think you can hide stuff from us,” one of them said spitting in her face? Katarina was there grinning at such an action and Natasha came up to her and announced, sweaty Sweat Lana has an admirer guys.
Then the girls all teased, “Sweat Lana Sweat Lana working in the barn, Sweat Lana Sweat Lana with her stinky under arms.”
Svetlana tried to run from their little circle but they shoved her about not letting her break free.
Katarina then confronted her. “I see you eyeing Oleg, who you think you are; you’re just a dirty cow, like the ones you stroke all day at your silly farm.” The girls about, now all laughed it up.
“You shovel manure for a living ... do you think a boy like Oleg from a nice family with a girlfriend like me would ever really care about you?”
Svetlana swallowed deeply, not sure what to say, she just wanted to get away from the teasing girls yet another girl, this time a brown-haired lass named Anna spelled it out in a different nature.
“He doesn't like you, you silly little goose, he just wants to screw you, he wants to tell everybody he had the village virgin. You don't mean anything to him, I mean look what he's got, she added pointing to Katarina; look at my friend, she gorgeous, rich and just perfect. He’s playing you stupid.”
This really upset Svetlana, she again tried to break through the circle but the girls all locked arms and kept her from escaping. She blurted out, “I hate you all, leave me alone.”
Again they sang out, “Sweat Lana Sweat Lana working in the barn, Sweat Lana Sweat Lana with her stinky under arms.”
Eventually, when she dropped again to the floor weeping, they broke away leaving her to herself.
Chapter Five
All the while Ivan Polanski and his new bride Anastasia had their first of several soon to arrive children. He was unaware of such teenage issues at the village school.
It was after such an embarrassing encounter for Svetlana, that she would make trips the next several days to the far northwest just to get away. On a dark and chilly evening, she came upon an old cemetery. There were a few gravestones scattered about behind a wrought iron fence. She looked down over the hill and also spotted what looked to be a beaten up care takers shack.
The ocean was close, not far behind the old cabin and she walked about just thinking. Eventually, she made her way back to the graveyard and sat inside not knowing where her life was heading. By candlelight, she read her little druid-like spell book and hoped one day she could make the hard to decipher pages come to life, she just wanted to be someone people respected.
She figured this was the end of Oleg; the others were making sure that their love could never be.
IT WAS FOUR DAYS LATER when yet again; he approached her walking home from school. “Hey you, what’s up ... I haven’t seen you lately out here; sorry I have been staying after to do some extra work, how have you been?”
Svetlana then went off on him. “You don't really like me, why are you doing this, why are you following me and why are you trying to talk to me, face it ... you don't really care about me?”
Oleg was like, “WOW, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?”
The dark-haired girl turned and walked away from him.
Oleg chased her, “Whoa, slow down Lana, why in the world would you say that. I do like you. I think you're pretty darn cool, you're smart, and you're very beautiful. Don't let anyone else tell you anything different.”
That's when a strange idea hit Svetlana.
She spun about with a serious look towards Oleg. “Okay if you really truly care about me like you say, I give you a challenge to prove as such. To the northwest, there is an old cemetery to the right of the care takers cabin down a small hill. I will be there this Friday night; come to me with a red rose and it will prove your love for me is real.”
Oleg was a little taken back by the offer, but he saw no reason why he could not perform such a task. He raised his hands high in the air and replied, “If that's what it will take to make you know that I care for you, I'll be there with a red rose in hand.”
Peeking around the corner of another tree off the roadside was the Katarina’s dark haired-friend Natasha, she was listening to the conversation between the couple and snickering as to their silly idea. She went off to report what she heard and undoubtedly she and her friends would have an alternative plan to what was going to happen; oh yes they would.
The next evening a Thursday, Svetlana made way to the cemetery it was her place of solace lately, like usual, she snuck out unknown to her parents and here she would ponder and hope tomorrow evening Oleg would show up with her red rose.
Little did she know that something was watching her in the cemetery; it was a creature that had escaped Gravestone Manor, a haunt of some sort. It had been summoned by Gravestones wife and a vile, retched thing it was.
For it itself, was the murderer of the Sea Captain's children. Its calling was from this very graveyard and it now yearned to return to where it had come from; a place known as the shadow world.
It could take the life of this girl at any moment, but it sensed through her ramblings that perhaps she could be of use; perhaps this human could help him find a way home. Maybe just maybe she could open the portal to where he had been called from.
He let her live for the time being; now watching her leave the area.
It was on Svetlana’s horseback ride home that upon the road a wagon with a single rider appeared. He was a big man with a scruffy beard and a large barrel chest. He slowed down coming up to her and waved hello. Suddenly beside him was a small monkey holding a lantern as he shined its light upon the young woman.
The wagon kind of blocked her way now and she came to a halt.
The big man called out, “What are you doing out this evening riding alone on the roadside, perhaps we may give you a ride. I was thinking of turning back and heading to town anyway. It’s getting late you know.”
She looked over to see the man and his monkey asking, “May I ask what you two are doing yourselves?”
The big fellow laughed a bit, “I'm so happy you asked, well my name is Hagar, he then pointed to his little friend, this is my buddy Cheechee, and we’re wine merchants traveling all about the realm.” Cheechee then went to the wagons back and appeared with a long dark red liquid wine bottle.
Hagar asked, “Could I interest you in some wine, in fact, my dear girl wherever you may be going the offer still stands for a ride, and I'll even give you a free bottle of this excellent Rothschild wine.”
The young girl was a little nervous at first, but the man seemed jolly enough and his pet monkey had a smile a mile wide. The monkey passed her over a bottle shaking his head up and down nonstop. “Cheechee, he said, Cheechee,” he said again and again.
Svetlana looked over the bottle, asking, “Is this some kind of good brand or some
thing?”
“Oh ho ho ho, chuckled Hagar, I’d say it is the finest in all the land and then beyond my dear.”
Svetlana then thought to herself, it would be perfect when her red rose came from Oleg to actually have a bottle of wine ready for the two of them, yet she had never even drank before. Friday just might be the night of her dreams.
And on that, the duo of merchant riders gave the teen a somewhat escorted ride home.
Her horse was added to the other and they spun about at the next clearing and went on back down the road toward the villa. Soon enough, they dropped her off close to her farm. She waved goodbye as they rode away disappearing in the fog down the road.
She thought to herself, “What a strange meetup, yet a very nice man and his monkey.”
Chapter Six
Friday could not come soon enough and Oleg was already down the road at the local flower shop grabbing the coveted red rose. He was all smiles!
Moments later, just as he left, a familiar friend of his girlfriend slipped in and bought a rose herself.
Afternoon started to turn in to evening, as Oleg had borrowed one of the family horses and was now on his way. He rode swift and down the road ready to head northwest, when he saw his blond girlfriend Katarina along the roadside calling out to him, oddly lying down from what appeared to be a fall of her own horse.
“Oleg I've fallen badly, she called out, and I think I have broken my leg, oh dear help me.”
The young man certainly had a dilemma as to what he saw, yet he was not one to turn away from a female in need, especially an injured one. He rode his horse over quickly jumped off and helped the young lady make it back to her home.
All the way, Katarina praised his effort, thanking him over and over. He was going to be late, but he did what he had to do, and would then drop her off and head to Lana as fast as possible.
All the while the blonde brats plan was working.
The Black Rose Witch Page 2
