Caged in Darkness, Page 2

2: Escape

  Second Entry: My Escape

  The kind woman, who unknowingly aided in my escape, dropped me off outside of the town Meadow Falls. She tried to convince me that I was far too young to be on my own, but seemed a bit relieved to have me off of her hands.

  I stared down the stone road that led into town. I could see lights in the distance, but I had no idea what waited for me at the end of this path. As I walked, the sky blanketed over into a dark indigo mist, while the breeze became swift; it was pulling me towards the town. If the town were a black hole, I was the helpless star being sucked into oblivion. It was an oblivion I craved.

  These were people who had stood against the wrongness that my parents represented. For me, this town represented an entire lifetime or a swift death. I could not go back. I could not be the frightened child chained to a cage of solitude. I needed freedom. I needed a home. Most of all, I need to know what safety felt like.

  I came to the edge of the town. It was dark, except for the lamp posts guarding the road and a few lights that had yet to be extinguished. It was a secluded town that was much smaller than I expected. It was nestled within thick woods, housed a handful of residences, and an equal number of shops. The shops were not the sort that was expected in a small town, but instead had signs that said “Herbs and More” or “The Art of Divination.”

  In the center of the town was an enormous circle. The circle embraced the wildlife and yet seemed to remain apart from it all. Stone boulders, large enough for an adult to sit on, rested at five points on the outside edge of the circle. Dark black stones acted as a conduit between the boulders. My knowledge of performing rituals was limited, but I knew more than most about watching them. The stone boulders would act as the five points of the pentacle, which was a five pointed star within a circle. The circle is a crucial tool for a witch, because it acts as a spiritual protection when witches are at their most vulnerable.

  In the middle of the casting circle was an altar. My parents’ had an altar, though it was very different from this one. My parents’ altar was dark like their souls. They kept a bowl filled with the blood of the innocents they had sacrificed, an athame to use as their sacrificial tool, and a dark black rose that bloomed eternal. These items were placed on a small table covered with a black cloth. The cloth served a separate purpose; to hide a compartment. In that tiny chamber, where they kept their grimoire and other assorted items they deemed important.

  The altar that this town kept was the polar opposite of my parents’ altar. This altar was as large as a coffee table, but stood much higher. It didn’t make me feel as though spiders were crawling across my skin. This altar didn’t make me feel as though evil whispers surrounded me.

  The town altar was covered by an ivory cloth. On the cloth stood a slightly tarnished copper goblet with a bright sapphire stone imbedded in its spine. The athame was unmarred silver; the divination bowl was made of wood and did not have any contents that I could see. Still, it was dark and I knew I would see much more when the sun chased away the demons that were tracking and burrowing their way into my soul.

  Where did I go from here? I didn’t know who I was looking for or even if they would help me. It was obvious by the dispelled lights that most of the houses were not an option. Past the stores lay three houses with lights still on. The first house was a one story ranch styled home in a sky blue shade with a stone porch. The second house was two stories, and had a light on in one of the upper windows. This suggested to me that the person was about to sleep. The third house was much bigger than the others in the tiny town. It looked as though it were the grandfather of houses; towering over the others and insisting on their obedience, while at the same time it seemed to tilt towards them to offer comfort. This house was one of protection. It spoke to me as it lurked in the corner, beckoning for me to approach.

  I inched towards the grandfather house at a snail's pace. My own emotions were bombarding me, smothering me in their intensity. Why would these people help someone they didn’t even know? Why would they risk their lives against two powerful dark witches?

  I was almost to the door when I began to inch backwards. I wasn’t looking where I stepped and my ankle caught on something near the path, but hidden within the grass. I heard more than felt the crack, and it evicted a strangled cry of alarm. I tried to use my hand to cover my mouth, but the tears began streaming down my face leaving dirt tracks that carved out forking paths. When the pain tore through my ankle, I fell to the ground. I attempted to stand, but each time I put pressure on my right foot, lightning streaked through my nerves and up to my knee.

  As I focused on trying to stand, the porch light came on. The glow shoved away the shadows to reveal a small garden, and the sprinkler that caused my accident. An elderly woman stepped out the door and onto the porch. She hobbled down the stairs and over to where I was cowering. Upon seeing my tear stricken face, and the way I was holding my ankle, she immediately swept into action.

  “Ash, get down here!” She shouted through the open doorway. In a matter of minutes, a boy came stumbling through the doorway with a groggy expression on his face and came to a halt.

  “Whoa, what happened here?” His brows furrowed in confusion, as he peered around the woman’s broad backside.

  “Well, don’t just stand there! The girl is hurt. Help me get her inside.” As the woman said this she pushed upwards from the ground in a pained movement and gently pushed Ash towards me.

  When his arms cradled me against his body, I ceased breathing. My vision turned black, and I began to struggle. I couldn’t concentrate on my surroundings or the rumbling from his chest. I could only see the evil that had invaded my body. I could see it sweeping over my hands to grow against his chest; it climbing towards his face to settle in his eyes and frame them with black. I didn’t want to taint him. I didn’t want to allow my parents darkness to touch anyone else. What had I been thinking? I began to whimper. I knew that what I was seeing was a hallucination, because my parents’ evil overcame all of my senses and this was merely a vision. It was a product of my damaged mind.

  “Quit squirming. You’re making this harder than it needs to be, just calm down a minute.” I stopped struggling. His voice was smooth and melodic, like a song from his soul; it washed down my panic to blanket my hysteria. I calmed.

  He carried me into the house and into a room to place me on a dusty blue couch in the center of a family room. The sofa was hard beneath my small frame, but it was better than the prison I had been kept in for the past nine years. Ash took a small square pillow from a chair nearby and knelt beside the sofa. His hand gently pushed away the fabric of my tattered pants to reveal my swollen ankle. The swelling looked ghastly next to my thin legs. As he did this, Ash’s eyes did not leave mine. He kept my stare; reassuring me that he meant me no harm. He then grasped my foot and slowly lifted it to place the pillow beneath my ankle. I winced in pain at the movement, but began to relax in his company.

  The stout woman had disappeared when Ash brought me to set on the couch, which gave me a moment to examine him. He was slightly older than me. His frame was still small; he hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet. He wore a pair of dark green plaid pajama pants with a white undershirt, and a pair of fuzzy gray slippers. His hair was dark brown with hints of auburn, and was tossed in a million directions. I figured that he must have been sleeping when he was called to help me. His face was beautiful. His features were sharp with high cheekbones, sea foam green eyes and an amused smile. He had perfectly even white teeth.

  Wait, why was he smiling? I looked up into his eyes and saw laughter shining in them. He had been silently standing there, while I visually inspected him. I was mortified. I didn’t know much about interacting with others, but I knew enough to know that it was considered rude to stare.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve never seen a boy before.” My voice was hoarse, which furthered my embarrassment.

  His eyebrows crinkled and his mouth altered into a worried frown. “How is
it that you have never seen a…?”

  “Here we go!” The boy didn’t get to finish his sentence, because the woman had pushed her way back into the room. She was holding assorted items from which I could only recognize a few.

  Now that I saw the woman in the light, she wasn’t as old as she had appeared outside. She was hunched over, which must have been what made her seem older, but her face was youthful. She had the same green eyes as the boy, and red hair streaked with gray.

  “I’m going to want to know what you were doing stalking around my home in the middle of the night, but that can wait until you’re taken care of.” Her voice was high pitched with a bit of grain to it. She began to feel around my foot and ankle. Her fingers were deft and kind, but they still inflicted minor pains that caused me to flinch.

  What’s your name child?” She looked me directly in the eye; daring me to lie to her.

  “Savannah. Ummm… what’s yours?” I wasn’t sure if that was the appropriate response, but it was something I wanted to know. If I didn’t get a name soon, she was in danger of being given the unflattering nickname “The Hunchback.”

  “Hmmm… My name is Maye Emmons, and this here is my boy Ash.” She lowered her eyes back to my ankle and began to press the swollen area. She made a sound of confirmation, although I didn’t know what she was confirming. She then reached down to grab a bag filled with herbs. When she applied it to my ankle I knew why she had been gone so long; she must have been gathering items and soaking the herbal bag in hot water. The bag was scorching hot, but I didn’t complain. She then proceeded to wrap the ankle with gauze, and followed with a thick padding. She finally finished with a tan cloth bandage to hold it all together.

  “Now, you’re right as rain. You’ll need to take it easy on that foot for a few days, but after that it should be just fine.” She examined me in much the way that I had examined her son a short while ago.

  “Are you going to tell me why you were slinking around my house in the middle of the night, or do I need to assume you are a burglar?”

  “No! I mean, yes I was slinking around your home, but no I’m not a burglar.” I offered a meek smile.

  “Then what are you?” The voice came from the boy, Ash. He was still wearing that confused frown on his face, and I decided I didn’t like it.

  I sighed. I wasn’t sure how to explain. What if they made me leave?

  “My parents used to belong to your coven; Irena and Devon Cross. They’ve been hurting me, and killing people.” Maye drew a sharp intake of breath and with knowing eyes she smoothed my ratted hair away from my eyes.

  “Don’t you worry about this, darling. You’re safe here. I’ll take care of everything.”

  Maye nodded and smoothed back my hair to inspect my face. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she had a pained look on her face. She made a small sigh, and whispered, “I wish I had known; a child. They had a child.”

  Maye pinched the bridge of her nose and looked Ash in the eye. “I’m going to call a meeting with the others. I expect you to take care of this little bird. I don’t want to hear any nonsense about being tired either. If you hadn’t stayed out until well past curfew you would have had more rest.”

  Ash winced. “Sure. Does this mean you’re going to forget that I got home past curfew? I think I should earn some points for good behavior here.”

  Maye turned from the entryway to fix Ash with a stare that could kill, and left. Ash shrugged and turned to me “It doesn’t hurt to ask, right?” He then walked over to the corner of the room and lifted the lid of a woven chest. When he came back he was carrying two quilts. He tucked one around me, and curled up with the second in a nearby chair. When he said he would take care of me, I guess that meant he would stay with me the whole night. After several minutes of listening to his breathing quiet to a soothing rhythm, I fell asleep.