Chapter One: Witches Casting

Suddenly my solid dark brown finish door is shaking because someone is hitting it as hard as they can. I listen for a moment and realize it is Taylor, my eleven year old sister, banging on the door with her palms. That’s how she knocks; she says it hurts her hands to much to knock with her knuckles. I get out of bed, slip on a hoodie and go over to my door.

When I open it I realize she was hitting with her fists and kicking my door. I look at Taylor standing there, her blonde hair is tied up in a fresh pony-tale that she must’ve put in on her own because it is lower then usual and her pink streaks strike out everywhere along with the black tips lying against the back of her shirt. She is wearing jean capris and a bright hot pink t-shirt, she still isn’t even up to my shoulders so it’s only when I look down at her face that I realize that she has sweat beads running down her olive-pale forehead, her pony-tale is drenched and her face is paler then usual.

I bend down and look at her face, getting ready to hear that Ashleigh chased her around the house or something like that. But when I look into her eyes I see she is scared to death and she is so cold and shaking. I grab a hoodie that’s too big on her and hangs down to her knees as I slip it on her.  Right as I’m about to ask her what’s wrong she grabs my hand with her small, sweaty palm and pulls me downstairs. She looks across the living room while standing at the last step on the stairs; I start thinking “this must be a joke”. I look down at her as she looks me in the eyes and points out towards the kitchen.

Slowly I release Taylor’s hand when I see it, a man holding a bloody knife jumping out of the window by the door. Quickly I rush over to the kitchen, leaving Taylor at the steps. The kitchen door swings open and I see my mom, her blonde hair streaked with red as blood gushes from the gash in her olive-tan forehead. There is a huge gash in her stomach from what looks like a knife, it is bleeding everywhere. Quickening my run, I rush to her side with a cloth in my hand and tears in my eyes. I push on her wound trying to stop the blood from flowing out of the wound but every cloth I press on the wound just gets drenched with blood.

“It’s no use Phoebe.” My mom, Miranda says as sweetly to me as she always does.

“No mom!” I yell while tears start falling uncontrollably from my eyes, streaking my cheek.

My mom grabs me and hugs me “I love you,” she says weakly “I love you so much,” She looks me in the eyes kisses my fore head “You will need to help your sisters, and stay together but you have to leave right now!.”

“I love you mom. Leave why would I leave? Who did this?” I yell repeatedly as she closes her eyes while tears fall from mine.

The room falls silent, I sob, my forehead pressed to my knees with my bloody hands on my head. The blood tinting my brown hair and blonde streaks with red. My head aches, my heart hurts, my mind is running all over the place. I grab my moms hand and hold it in mine and sob into it. As tears fall from my eyes Ashleigh walks in. Quickly I jump up and wipe the tears from my face, as I walk towards Ashleigh she glances down at mom then at my hands and runs for the door. Surely she doesn’t think I did this, I think to myself.

“Ashleigh!” I run out of the kitchen and make my way to the living room, stumbling all over the place because I’m in such a shock.

Quieting my steps I walk into the den and see Ashleigh sitting on the couch with her head in a pillow. I walked up beside her and put my hand on her back. I look into her eyes as she lifts her head and jerks her arm at the sight of my presence.

“I didn’t do that, you know that right? I didn’t kill mom,” I yell at her not knowing why I’m raising my voice but I don’t stop “You can’t possibly think I did that! I found her in the kitchen bleeding and I put cloths on her and tried to keep her alive! But I couldn’t,” Tears well up at the corner of Ashleigh’s eyes. “We have to go! Mom told me we have to leave and never come back.” I lower my voice as Ashleigh rises from the couch and stands in front of me while frustration and pain crosses over her face.

“We have to get our things and leave right now!” I grab her hand and rush back to where I left Taylor but Taylor isn’t there anymore. I look back and forth, then I hear a slight squeak of the kitchen door. The door slams shut as Taylor goes into the kitchen.

“Mommy! Mommy!” I hear her scream as my heart falls at the thought of Taylor seeing our mom like that.

Quickly I rush into the kitchen with Ashleigh right behind me. I see Taylor holding mom’s hand and crying, I grab her other hand and pull her over to the door.

“No! I don’t want to leave mommy!” She screams as she punches and kicks me while tears fall from her eyes.

“We have to go Taylor!” I yell trying to pick her up and pull her out but she punches and kicks harder.

“Mommy!” Taylor screams as she breaks free and runs over to my mom’s side. But before she reaches her I grab her by the rib and pull her out of the room, she kicks and screams but I get her upstairs and in my room. Taylor just stays sitting there at my window sill with a pillow pushed on her face as she sobs. I walk over to her and pat her on the back to let her know I’m here. She immediately jumps up and hugs me and cries into my shoulder. I hug her as tight as I can and tell her.

“Everything’s going to be alright, ok?” I lift her face in my hands, leaving blood on her cheek.

“K,” She says while wiping the tears from her eyes and saying “But mom, is she? Is she dead?” She asks weakly with tears falling quickly from her eyes.

My mouth freezes, how am I supposed to tell my eleven year old sister that her mom is dead and gone forever? So I just nod with a frown upon my face. Taylor leans back on my shoulder and sobs into it while she hugs me tightly. Steadily I lift her up just like I used to do when she was younger. Slowly I place her under the covers on my bed and tell her to sleep. Quickly I finish packing my things and collecting some cash. I run over to Ashleigh’s room and open the door to see Ashleigh sitting on her bed hugging a teddy bear mom gave her and sobbing into it. Swiftly I walk over to her side grab the large black and pink suitcase from under her bed, that she hasn’t touched yet and start to pack all of her clothes and special items into it. I rush into the bathroom and grab everything we need and quickly pack it into a medium sized suitcase.

Slowing my pace I walk into my mom’s room and grab my things from her washroom, I sit down on her bed, slowly passing my hand over the quilt that she had made for Taylor, just like the ones she made for my other sisters; it has a strange symbol stitched on it. The strange symbol is also  etched onto our silver necklaces that our grandma made for us when we were young. I grab the baby scrapbook of all of us and then I find a silver lined, gold laced book labeled sisters. I take them both and go into each of our rooms and pack our quilts and necklaces.

Quickly I gather all of our suitcases and stack them onto each other in the hall way. Speeding, I rush into Ashleigh’s room and get her into the hall way with her suitcases. Swiftly as I rush into Demi’s room I glance at the clock, its eleven thirty two. Surprisingly when I get into Demi’s room she has everything packed and ready to go. Rushing, she comes out of the washroom, dressed, hair brushed and she glances at me with make-up on her tan face. Her skinny but strong body is dressed in jean capris and a purple spaghetti strap shirt with a black half jacket around her chest and just above her rib. Under the make-up you can still see her puffy red eyes from crying. “She must know then right?” I think to myself.

“I have some bad news.” Demi says quietly as she walks towards me and hugs me.

“What?” I reply think what could be worse then this?

“I’m leaving.” She says as her face changes from normal to sad.

“What? Why? No, you can’t we need you!” I yell repeatedly, while thinking back to how I did the same to my mom and she still left.

“It’s just time buddy. And, what do you mean you need me?” She asks looking at me questioningly.

“Wait. You don’t know? You didn’t hear anything?” I ask and realize she has her iPod in her pocket. She must’ve had it on with her headphones blasting.

“I had my iPod plugged in. What happened?” She asks while holding my arms right beneath my shoulders and looking into my eyes.

Tears well up at the corner of my eyes “It’s mom,” I look her in the eyes, take a deep breath and quietly tell her, “Moms dead.” I can’t hold it in anymore, tears start falling from my eyes as Demi steps away from me and looks at me with and expressionless face.

“What? No! You shouldn’t joke about that Phoebe!” She looks at me angrily as Ashleigh and Taylor walk in with tears in there eyes and suitcases in there hands.

Demi falls back onto her bed as the truth hits her, tears drowned her eyes as she looks at us with pain and grief on her face. Quickly I remember how mom told me we have to leave. I glance down at Ashleigh and Taylor. Slowly I grip Taylor’s hand, at the same time Taylor grips Ashleigh’s.

“Mom told me that we have to leave!” I tell her as she gets up and grabs her things.

With tears in our eyes and pain in our hearts we hold each others hands and walk into the kitchen to see our mom lying there in a puddle of blood, motionless, breathless. Gently we hold each others hands and cry softly. When we open our eyes we see a bright light surround our mom and then her body, the blood, and the clothes are all gone.

“WH-What? What happened?” Barely being able to get out the words as I stare at the empty space where my mom was in disbelief.

“Maybe she turned into an angel.” Taylor says quietly and weakly but she said it heartfelt enough that we can’t help but grin a little. To think of our mom being an angel looking down at us and helping us along in life sounds so peaceful and happy.

Rushing we throw all our suitcases into the back of Demi’s black jeep while Demi gets the keys from her purse. Quickly I get into the black leather passenger seat while Taylor and Ashleigh slip into there seats in the back. Demi hops in the driver’s seat and looks at us, trying her hardest to keep herself together and smile at us.

“Where are we supposed to go?” I ask Demi.

Demi puts the key in the ignition and the engine roars. She pulls out of the driveway and says.

“Somewhere safe, somewhere like home, somewhere like—” She pauses, thinking for a moment and glances over at me and smiles. Quickly I figure out what she is thinking and I am wondering how we’ll explain this to her.

“How will we explain it to her?” I ask Demi.

“Tell her the truth, she’ll understand.” Demi replies while  turning into a back alley.

I stare into the clouds and think about my mom and start sobbing myself to sleep, after all the drive is over three hours long. I black out for about five minutes and awake screaming because I dreamt about mom’s death and dad leaving us.

“Woah! What’s wrong?” Demi asks while patting me on the back.

“Huh? Nothing just had a nightmare.” I say squeamishly.

“Okay.” She says while putting both hands back on the wheel.

Resting in the back is Taylor and Ashleigh. Ashleigh’s holding onto her teddy bear like there’s no tomorrow and Taylor has her grasp on her necklace with the strange symbol carved on it. Slowly Demi’s eyes flutter as she looks straight ahead and I realize the roads are completely flooded.

“That’s just great!” She yells, as Taylor and Ashleigh awaken quickly.

Demi grabs the wheel, tells us to hold on, switches the jeep to reverse and does a U-turn. Taylor and Ashleigh scream in the back as Demi pulls off of the road and drives through the muddy land. Quickly we get around the flooded area of the road and Demi pulls back onto it. Every time we pass people on the highway they glance at the jeep in disbelief because it is such a nice jeep and it has a thick layer of mud coating every piece of it.

Suddenly I notice that my hand is clenched around the bottom of my seat. Slowly I release my grip on the seat and adjust myself into my normal sitting position. Quickly I open my window and let some fresh air in, and Demi grabs my shoulder and shakes it. I turn around and she’s pointing to the back seats. Turning toward the back seats I glance at Taylor and Ashleigh who are huddled together and sleeping.

We pull into a small acreage, there’s long grass in the back, horses running around in the pasture. A truck is parked in the front. Demi pulls up beside the truck, gets her bags and gets out of the jeep. Nudging the back door open I awaken Taylor slowly, pick her up, get our bags and head inside.

We knock on the door once, twice, three times then ring the doorbell once, twice.

“Oh! My darlings!” She comes out smiling happily. Hugs us then looks at us with excitement that slowly changes to pain.

We slowly step inside her beautiful home and visit for a while without explaining the death at all, because we decided to leave that for tomorrow. Quickly we go upstairs and get ready for bed.

“Night grandma.” I say while she kisses my cheek and looks at me with pity as if she knows what happened today, but how could she.