The Virginia Witch

    Being a writer has its perks, like helping the police to solve a murder. It is not a good thing when you are a writer with an ability to talk to ghosts. From what Jenna heard, from a spirit no less, that it was her destiny to help the Tazewell County Sheriff with their case.
    It was an unusually hot day in October, even for Virginia standards. Jenna sat on the porch swing, enjoying her husband, Troy’s day off. Their children were riding bikes up and down the long driveway. The baby of the family, a one year old, was content on torturing the dogs on the porch. It was such a peaceful Saturday, but that soon ended.
    “The cops are here,” Justin said as he rode up to the porch.
    “It’s the cops,” Jessika said catching up to her brother.
    Jenna looked down the driveway and saw the cruiser, slowly driving up.
    “What did you do?” She asked her fourteen-year-old daughter.
    “Nothing, duh mom,” was Jessika’s loving answer.
    Jenna’s innocent nine year old, Justin said, “I didn’t do nothing.”
    She smiled and looked up at the man who stepped out of the car. Troy waited beside her.
    “Are you Jenna Smith?”
    “Ahh mom, it was you,” Jessika said laughing.
    “It was not,” Jenna said to her.
    Justin asked, “what did you do, mom?”
    “Nothing.” Jenna looked at the sheriff and said, “yeah, I’m Jenna, what’s up?”
    “I am Sheriff Lewis and this is Sheriff Johnson and we were told that ya could help us,” the tall and skinny man said.
    Jenna asked him, “help with what?”
    The two sheriffs looked at each other and the short, pudgy driver, Johnson reached into the vehicle. He pulled out a book. “Do you know what this is?”
    Jenna took the book from him and looked at the cover. It was all black except for a white pentacle; it looked to be very old. She opened it up and there was no cover page or content page. It was full of writing and symbols that Jenna had seen before. She flipped through the book and saw descriptions, names and spells. Towards the end, Jenna noticed pages torn out of the book. She shut it and handed it back to Sheriff Johnson, with a quick glance at Troy. He looked confused, but Jenna knew he would be. “Why me, how did you find me?”
    “We found out that you’re a writer and this is what you know through research,” Lewis said.
    “Who said?” Jenna asked.
    “The librarian in Richlands,” Johnson said.
    “Ohh,” Jenna glanced at Troy again, he was laughing and so was her daughter. She had done some research about the occult and being new to the area Jenna did not know where anything was, so she had to ask. Her husband and daughter had been jokingly calling Jenna a devil worshipper since that day.
    “Well, do you know what it is?” Lewis asked.
    “Yeah, it’s a grimoire, or another name would be the Book of Shadows, whichever you prefer,” Jenna told them.
    “What does that mean?” Johnson asked.
    “It means that it’s a diary of a witch.”
    “What!” Johnson said.
    “Witches, here in Bandy,” Lewis said.
    Jenna told them, “witches are everywhere.”
    “Yeah, there’s one right here,” Troy said as he put his arm around her.
    Jenna gave him a dirty look, shook off his arm and said to him, “shut up.”
    “Listen, we got us a dead lady and it has to do with this stuff and we don’t know nothing about it, will ya help us?” Lewis asked.
    Jenna looked at Troy, he just shrugged his shoulders, a big help he was going to be. “Ok, tell me what you know and I’ll see what I can do.”
    “May we come in?” Lewis asked.   
    Troy and Jenna backed up to let them unto the porch, and they walked into the house.
    “I think it would be a good idea if your children weren’t here,” Johnson said.
    She looked towards the door, Jenna’s daughter with the baby in her arms and her other son stood by the door waiting expectantly. “Get out and go play, take Joey with you.”
    “Mom, I wanna hear,” Jessika said.
    “Me too,” Justin said.
    “I’ll tell you later,” Jenna whispered to them as she pushed them out the door and shut it. She walked to where Troy was and sat down next to him.
    “We found a body last night,” Lewis said as he held a folder in his hand that Jenna had not seen earlier. “We found the book next to her.” He began to hand her the folder and stopped, he said, “these are pretty graphic, are you sure you can handle it?”
    “Yeah, I can handle it, I already saw a man with his head blown away,” Jenna told him.
    “Oh, really?” Lewis asked.
    She nodded.
    “I suppose you can handle this, then.” Lewis handed her the folder.
    Jenna opened the file, Troy and her looked at the pictures, they were not graphic at all Jenna thought. It was a photo of a woman in a black robe with symbols she could not make out and the corpse was tied to a pole.
    “What were they gonna do, burn her at the stake?” Troy asked.
    “We don’t know anything, we just got a phone call saying there was a dead body and we went there and saw this,” Johnson said.   
    Lewis asked, “so is she a witch?”
    “Well, it appears that she is but I really can’t tell you by this picture. I would need to go and see her house on the inside,” Jenna told them.
    The two sheriffs looked at each other and stood up. “Ok, let’s go,” Johnson said.
    Jenna asked Jessika to baby-sit the boys for her, then Troy and her left with the sheriffs.
    To Jenna’s dismay, she did not live far from them. They stepped out of the car and looked around. She lived in a nice blue trailer; flowers were growing everywhere. The sheriff took them to the back and saw the pole still standing, without the body of course. She was in the morgue now.
    “Did she live alone?” Jenna asked.
    Lewis said, “yes.”
    “Shall we go in,” Johnson said as he led them to the front door.
    Jenna walked into the trailer and saw instantly that she was a witch. She had all sorts of books about witchcraft and candles of all colors.
    “Maybe they will let you take some books for your research,” Troy said to her.
    Jenna elbowed him and began to walk through the dead woman’s house. She began to feel strange and could not shake it. It was if someone was telling her to do something. Jenna decided to ignore the feeling. They stopped at the end of the hallway, a black door with symbols written in silver, blocked their way. Jenna opened the door. “My guess, I’d say she was definitely a witch.”
    The room was painted black with more silver symbols on the walls, ceiling and floor. The only light was the candles that filled the room. A large pentacle was drawn on the floor with more silver paint and an altar sat towards the back of the room.   
    Suddenly the radio went off and everyone jumped, they laughed when it was realized what had happened.
    “Lewis here.”
    A man said, “we have another body, found just like before. Ya’ll need to get to Moonlight holler, ya know where I mean.”
    “Yeah, we are on the way,” Lewis said and looked at Jenna. “So will you help, this is way too much for us to understand.”
    She looked at Troy and he nodded, Jenna turned back toward Lewis and said to him, “yeah, I can help, at least try to help.”
    “Great, let’s go,” Johnson said.
    Troy asked him, “go where?”
    “Moonlight holler, I should warn you that the body will still be there,” Lewis said.
    “What!” Troy said.
    Jenna laughed, pulled him to the car and they drove away. Again, it was not far from the other murdered woman. Other police cars were already on the scene and even a state boy, who walked up to Jenna and Troy.
    “Who are you, this is a crime scene and you better leave now.”
    Lewis stepped between the State Trooper and Jenna, he told the other officer, “they are experts who are helping us, so step aside so we can get to work.”
    The State Trooper walked away without another word.
    Jenna looked around and saw a pretty, brown little house; flowers surrounded it.   
    “What’s with all the flowers?” Troy asked.
    “Remember what I said, witches love nature.” Jenna told him and grabbed his hand. They walked together to the back of the house, preparing their selves to see a dead body. Jenna and Troy turned the corner and saw her, she had long blonde hair and wore a black robe with symbols, and she was tied to a pole. “What was the cause of death?”
    “We don’t know, we have to wait for the autopsy report,” Johnson said.
    “Well, isn’t there a noticeable wound mark that might be the cause of death,” Jenna asked.
    “No, not a single mark on either woman, perfectly flawless skin,” a man said as he walked up. “My name is Dr. Doug Bandy, the coroner.”
    Troy and Jenna shook his hand, she asked, “what do you think killed them?”
    “Not a clue, my dear, not a clue,” Dr, Bandy told her. “I’m off to the hospital; you better get your pictures cause they will be taking her down soon; nice meeting you two, goodbye.”
    “Bye,” they both said after him.
    Jenna watched Dr. Bandy walk away and turned toward the body again. That was when she saw her; Jenna tensed and quickly looked away.
    “Yeah, I know it is difficult to see a dead body, it even bothers me sometimes,” Lewis said to her.
    Jenna could not help it, she rolled her eyes and looked at Troy, Jenna whispered, “this was a mistake, I shouldn’t have agreed to this, the curse has reawakened.”
    “Why, do you see her?” Troy asked.
    “Yep, she’s here,” she told him.   
    Troy said to Jenna, “talk to her.”
    “I can’t, not with Roscoe and Enos standing right there,” she told him.
    “Want me to get rid of them?” Troy asked.
    Jenna thought for a moment, she really did not want to deal with ghosts again. Jenna blocked it for so long and now it was back. She had to admit though that she was curious. “Yeah, get rid of them.”
    Troy said to the sheriff’s, “let’s check out the house and give her a minute.”
    “Yeah, I’ll be there,” Jenna said and watched them walk off. She turned back to the body and sure enough, she was still standing there. “Well, here goes nothing.”
    Jenna walked up to her and just stared, she did not really know what to say. Does she say, “hi, how are ya”, well that would be stupid. Jenna was sure the woman was not doing well at all. Jenna had seen ghosts all her life but was too scared to have a conversation with them. The only thing she would say was to leave her alone. Now here she was about to make conversation with a spirit, Jenna did not feel at ease about it. At least she was not deformed.
    “You did come, Jenna.”
    Jenna was not expecting that, and she asked, “you know me, how?”
    “We knew you since you came to Virginia, we have been watching you,” she said.
    Jenna could not believe what she had heard. “Why, why me?”
    “You are one of us,” she said.
    “I ain’t a witch, sure I have some experience and done some research, but it’s not like I’m in a coven or anything.”
    “I’m not saying you are a witch, I’m talking about your powers. We share the same powers,” she told Jenna.
    “Oh, so what makes me so special now?” She asked.
    “You will be able to perform the spell after we are all gone.”
    “What spell, I don’t know any spells,” Jenna told her.
    “I will explain everything and then it will be up to you,” she said.
    Jenna did not like where this was going, but asked anyway, “what will be up to me?”
    “Well, you can choose to help or you can walk away. If you choose to walk, then you, your family and everyone will suffer. This won’t go away on its own, you’re gonna have to fight,” she told her.
    “I’m a lover, not a fighter,” Jenna said. She was right and did not like where it was going. “You talk as if I have to save the world.”
    “You do have to save the world, I’ll even go macabre and it’s your destiny.”
    “All right, what’s happening?” Jenna could not believe she even asked.
    “We are a special coven, we know spells that would help people and, of course, there are others that would rather do harm,” she said.
    “Isn’t that the way it always goes,” Jenna said.
    The apparition continued, and ignored Jenna’s last comment, “these spells can only be performed by a special sort of person; our coven, our killer and you.”
    “Killer, who is it?” Jenna asked.
    “I don’t know his name, but you will see him soon. You have that gift, too,” she told her.
    “Oh, that’s nice.” Jenna now regretted that she had to ask what was going on.   
    “The spells, the ancient writings were deciphered by Eve,” she said.
    “Eve, who’s that?”
    “Our leader,” the dead woman said.
    Jenna asked, “the first victim?”
    “Yes, she figured out the meaning and we have performed the spell and it works.”
    “What does it do?” Jenna had to ask.
    “It is a healing spell.”
    “A healing potion, cool,” she said relieved that it was not something really bad.
    “It’s not a potion, it is a spell that also regenerates dead tissue,” she told Jenna.
    “Are you kidding?”
    She shook her head and said, “I’m not kidding, we have the power to help people that have lost the use of their limbs.”
    “Wouldn’t it also help people that had heart attacks and brain damage?” Jenna asked excitedly.
    “Yes, it would,” she said and smiled.
    “That’s wonderful, so what’s the problem?” Jenna asked.
    “This man, our killer, is slightly power hungry. Wouldn’t it be a great power trip to be a leader of your very own army of the dead,” she said.
    Jenna believed her jaw dropped on that comment. She did not think of that when the ghost mentioned regenerating dead tissue. “That’s great, a modern day Frankenstein. What am I supposed to do about it?”
    “Stop him,” she answered calmly.
    Jenna knew her jaw dropped that time. “How the hell am I supposed to do that?”   
    “The spell was torn out of the book when Eve foreseen this coming. Each member of the coven, six all together, has a page of the spell,” she said.
    “What, not thirteen?” Jenna had to be a smartass.
    She did not believe ghosts could give dirty looks, but she sure did before continuing, “you must collect all six pages.”
    “Then what, bury them in sacred ground,” Jenna said.
    “This is not a movie, yeah I saw ‘Warlock’ too,” she said.
    Jenna asked, “so what am I supposed to do with them?”
    “Keep them safe and use the spell to destroy him with his own plan,” she told her.
    “What, how do I do that?”
    “You will think of something, you always do,” she said.
    The spirit was not being much help. Jenna asked, hoping the ghost would give her a straight answer, “where are the pages?”
    “Each witch has a page hidden, you will find it.”
    “Nope, guess not,” Jenna thought and then asked, “who are the other witches so I can warn them?”
    She said, “they already know and they are prepared to die.”
    “The police want me to help stop the murders and you want me to wait for them all to die,” Jenna could not believe what she was hearing, it was self-sacrificing bull shit.
    “Six deaths would be better than millions.”
    Jenna hated to admit it, but she was right.
    “Good luck, Jenna,” she said and disappeared.
    Jenna stood alone for a few minutes and looked at the body still tied to the pole. “I’ll do my best, I guess, not that I have a choice.” She walked into the house to find a page of the spell.
    “Did you find out anything?” Troy asked when she stepped inside the house.
    “Oh boy, did I ever,” Jenna said to him.
    “Well?” He asked.
    “I’ll tell ya later,” Jenna told him then she began to get that strange feeling again. Jenna decided to go with it and walked further into the house. The cops were busy with dusting for fingerprints and looking for evidence, they did not even notice Jenna and Troy.
    “What are you doing?” Troy asked as he followed her through the house.
    Jenna told him, “I’m getting a page of the spell.”
    “What spell, what are you talking about?” He asked.
    “I’ll tell you later,” she said to him and then stopped in front of a black door with silver symbols. Jenna opened the door and walked in, as Troy followed close behind. Strange how she knew exactly where to go; Jenna walked up to the altar. It was more like a very fancy coffee table; it had thick legs that had the planets carved into the wood.
    She pressed on Saturn and a drawer under the table opened. Jenna looked at Troy, he was shocked, well so was Jenna. She smiled and reached into the drawer and pulled out a piece of paper with strange words written on it. Jenna folded the paper and put it in her jeans pocket. “Let’s go and wait outside.
    They waited for Roscoe and Enos to finish with their investigation. Troy and Jenna waited in silence. She knew Troy wanted to know what was going on but he was going to have to wait. Boy, was it killing him.   
    They did not have to wait long, soon Johnson and Lewis walked up to them. “Well, what do ya think?’ Johnson asked.
    “Don’t know much right now; well, it looks like someone is out to kill witches, but I don’t know why or who at this moment,” Jenna told him.
    “Hopefully its only two witches he was after,” Lewis said.
    “Don’t count on it,” Jenna said under her breath. Troy had heard it and looked at her.
    “What did you say?” Johnson asked.
    “I need to go back to Eve’s trailer,” Jenna told him.
    “How did you know her name was Eve?” Johnson said as he looked suspiciously at her.
    Jenna smiled and said, “her name was on the mail at her house, I saw it when we were there earlier.”
    “Oh, why do you need to go there again?” Johnson asked.
    “I want to see something, it might help.”
    “Ok, let’s go,” Lewis said.
    They drove to Eve’s house and went inside. “Wait here I’ll be right back.” To Jenna’s surprise, they actually had waited. She walked to the room with the black door and went inside. Jenna moved quickly to the altar and pressed Mars. The drawer opened; she grabbed the spell, folded it and put the paper in her pocket. They were still waiting at the door when Jenna returned.
    “Did you find what you were looking for?” Johnson asked.
    “Uhh, yeah, the two witches that were killed were from the same coven,” Jenna said to them.
    “Coven, what’s that?” Lewis asked.   
    She looked at him and said, “it’s a small group of witches.”
    “Well, how would we know, we asked you for help remember,” Johnson said.
    “Oh, yeah right, sorry,” Jenna said.
    “If two people from the same group have been killed, maybe there are others from this thing that is in danger,” Lewis said.
    “I don’t know,” she told them. Jenna was not going to say anything else; the others wanted to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
    “Do you know how to find the others, would it be written somewhere?” Johnson asked.
    Yeah of course, the names were in the Grimoire, but Jenna was not going to tell them that. She said instead, “no, I don’t, it’s pretty much a secret in covens, you know like a secret society thing.” Jenna needed to get that book, in case they figured it out.
    “Damn, I wish there was something we could do,” Johnson said.
    “There is not much to do right now, it’s getting late and I want to go home to my kids,” Jenna told them.
    “Yeah, we’ll take you home,” Lewis said.
    They pulled into the driveway within minutes, before Jenna got out of the car she said, “let me know if another one dies, I will need to go to their homes and see if I can figure this out before it’s too late.”
    “Yeah, we’ll come and get you on our way to the crime scene,” Lewis said.
    “Thanks.” Jenna looked toward the porch and saw her kids waiting impatiently to be filled in on what was happening. She knew Justin would have to be left out; he was too young.     
    “Another thing, I need that book; the Grimoire. It has info on the coven; it might tell me if someone was left out. If there was someone who was not chosen to join the coven and pissed enough to kill.”
    “Yeah, sure, here ya go,” Lewis said and handed her the book.
    Troy and Jenna got out of the car. She stood and watched them drive away, then turned around and saw her whole family staring; they were waiting for an explanation. Jenna walked with them into the house, and tried to figure out on how to tell them what was going on.
    “Is this a joke?” Troy asked.
    The boys were in bed. Justin fought all the way but in the end, he listened to his father. Jessika sat quietly on the couch; Jenna bet that she was wishing she were too young also. “Murder is pretty far to go for a joke,” Jenna told him.
    “Yeah, I know but this is unbelievable,” Troy said.
    “Stranger things have happened; I have to do this, Troy, in case it is true. If I don’t and it really does happen, then we would have to deal with the live version of ‘Night of the Living Dead’, that scares me more,” Jenna told him.
    All Troy could say was, “yeah, I know.”
    That night Jenna saw the killer for the first time. She saw him in a nightmare and watched as he killed another witch. Now Jenna knew how they died, though she was not too thrilled to see the life leaving their bodies. He smothered them with a pillow as they slept; there was no mark because there was no struggle, good old self-sacrifice.
    The man was young and actually good-looking in a sinister way. He was tall, muscular and lean, and he had long blonde hair. His eyes were a beautiful, hypnotic blue and he was dressed all in black.
    Jenna watched as he killed them and carried them out to the yard where a pole was waiting. She watched as he searched the house for the spell coming up empty handed, he did not know where it was hidden.
    Every night, Jenna watched him kill the witches off, one by one. Every day she would go with Johnson and Lewis, see their dead body in person and retrieved the spell. Jenna began to wonder; “If I can see him, does that mean he could see me.”
    With each death and each piece of paper, Jenna became more nervous. What was she going to do when all the papers were collected; he was going to come after her. There was no way Jenna was going to wait at home with her children as he came up the driveway. She had to come up with a place to go, away from the kids when she found that last page. There was only one place to go, away from everyone and Troy knew the area well.
    Jenna told Troy about going to Laurel Creek, he agreed. “I’m not going to ask you to stay with me, but I’m scared,” she told him.
    “I began this mess with you, I’ll end it by your side,” he told her.
    “Thanks,” Jenna said and hugged him; she did not want to let him go. The last witch was going to be killed that night and Jenna would have the last page in her hand the next day.
    “Do you know what you’re gonna do?” Troy asked.
    “No, and there is no one to help us,” Jenna said.
    Troy laughed and said, “except maybe the snakes, bears, bobcats and dead Indians.”
    “Laurel Creek is an Indian burial ground, of course, why didn’t I think of that before,” Jenna said excitedly.
    “How could dead Indians, ohhh, I get it,” Troy said. “But can you do the spell to bring back the Indians?”
    “I sure hope so, at least we will find out if it is a joke,” Jenna said.
    “Yeah, but being surrounded by zombies ain't to appealing,” he told her.
    They went to bed that night late, wanting to put it off, but Jenna grew tired and knew she needed strength for the next day. Troy held her in his arms throughout the whole night as Jenna watched another innocent person die.
      The next morning, Jenna hugged her children good-bye and told them that she loved them. Jenna watched the bus come and take Jessika and Justin to school. It was a cold morning, the mountains were full of color; fall was finally here. The mountains looked so beautiful; Jenna hoped it was not the last time that she had the opportunity to see them. They took Joey to Debbie’s, who loved watching him every chance she got and then Jenna and Troy waited.
    About nine thirty in the morning, the sheriff car pulled into the driveway. They headed to the home of the last witch in Bandy. Her name was Anna, a pretty woman with black hair. Jenna glanced at her body as she walked to the house, the spirit of Anna stood near it. Jenna did not react; Anna nodded her head, smiled and disappeared. Jenna felt a little more relaxed, but only just a little bit. Troy and her walked into the house and found the black door with silver symbols.
    “I wonder what all these symbols mean?” Troy asked.
    Jenna simply said, “protection.”   
    “Maybe they shoulda slept in here,” he said.
    “Self-sacrifice, remember,” Jenna said and opened the door. They walked to the altar; Jenna knelt down and found the planet. “Earth, how convenient.”
    “Of course, we are saving the earth,” Troy said.
    The two of them laughed as Jenna pressed on it and the drawer opened. She grabbed the last piece of the spell and said, “let’s get out of here.” They bumped into Johnson and Lewis on their way out.
    “You have been working with us for a week, have you came up with anything?” Johnson asked
    Jenna snapped, “yeah, I know who the killer is. He has long blonde hair and blue eyes. I don’t know his name but he is a witch too and boy is he pissed off right now. Don’t you worry about any more murders because their all dead, no one is left in the coven.”
    Roscoe and Enos shut right up.
    “Damn!” Troy said.
    Jenna had to smile at him; the expression on his face was priceless. The cops were going crazy setting up an APB on a mysterious blonde killer. “Listen, I guess I’m just a little upset by all this stuff.”
    “A little upset,” Lewis said.
    “Yeah, sorry, could you take us home, I need to rest.”
    “Sure, I’ll take you home right now,” Lewis said.
    The second Lewis pulled out of the driveway; Troy and Jenna jumped into their truck and drove to Laurel Creek.   
    “Are you sure he will find us?” Troy asked.
    “Yeah, I just hope it’s not right away.”
    They pulled off and got out of the truck, then started to walk on the overgrown trail deeper into the holler. Jenna kept looking all around her.
    “It’s too cold for snakes,” Troy said.
    “Ok, ok,” Jenna said, she had a slight phobia about snakes. She did relax a little and looked straight ahead. They walked to where Troy said was the most burial mounds. “Well, now we will find out if this is real.”
    Troy nodded and stepped a distance away from her and waited.
    Jenna took out the papers and began to read the incantation. It was an ancient language that she somehow could read. Jenna did not know what she was saying though. By the fifth page, the wind began to blow strongly all around them. It took all her strength to stand still. Jenna took a quick glance at Troy and saw him struggling also. She read the last part of the spell on the sixth page, and waited.
    “Jenna, we meet at last.”
    She turned around slowly, very afraid. Jenna met Troy’s eyes as he too turned toward the new voice. She then saw him; he looked exactly as Jenna saw him every night.
    “Let me introduce myself, my name is Brian. You don’t have to tell me who you are, I know you. Did you enjoy watching me kill those women? I sure did enjoy doing it. Ahhh, yes Jenna, I saw you too.” He began to walk toward her. “Now, I believe you have something of mine.”
    Troy moved closer to Jenna and put his arm around her waist. It was a nice suggestion to protect Jenna but she knew if it came to a fight, no matter how brave, her husband would die.
    “It does not belong to you, it belongs to the witches that you killed,” Jenna said to him.   
    Brian laughed; it sent shivers down her spine. It had the same effect on Troy, Jenna felt him shudder next to her.
    Brian walked closer to them; Jenna began to hope with all her might that the zombies come very quickly. Suddenly Eve appeared before Jenna, separating Brian from Troy and Jenna. Another witch appeared, and then another and another until six witches surrounded Brian.
    “What are they doing?” Troy asked as he watched the ghosts he could finally see.
    “I don’t know,” Jenna told him.
    “You cannot protect the girl from me, eventually you all will disappear and then I will get my chance,” Brian said.
    Then it finally dawned on Jenna, “their stalling him.”
    “What?” Troy asked.
    “Something is going to happen,” Jenna said as she pulled him a distance away from Brian.
    Troy noticed it first; he pulled on Jenna’s arm and she looked at him. He was not looking at her; he was looking to the left. Jenna turned her head in the direction Troy was and said, “oh, shit, now we know it wasn’t a joke.”
    He did not say anything, so Jenna turned toward him. His eyes were wide and his mouth was wide open; in awe or shock, she did not know but he looked slightly ridiculous. Jenna had to laugh at the sight of him, but she sobered very quickly; more Indians came out of their mounds.
    Their skin was rotted, not as bad as she thought it would be though. They still had their long, black hair and war paint was still noticeable. In their skeletal hands were tomahawks and knives. The Indians were slowly moving towards Brian.   
    Jenna looked toward Brian his focus was not on her anymore. His guards were slowly disappearing, but he did not notice. The Indians closed in on him; the last of the witches had disappeared. Brian raised his hand to attack, one of the warriors chopped off his hand with one whack. He screamed; it pierced Troy and Jenna’s ears so they covered them.
    One by one, the Indians hacked away at their prey. Blood and body parts flew all around, as they dodged them. The Indians laughed while they dismembered poor Brian, they were covered with his blood. Both, Troy and Jenna had to look away, so they turned their backs to the massacre. She knew Brian deserved it, but hell, it was gross.
    When it was quiet and the whooping cries of war had ceased, they turned back around. It was a little unnerving to see what was left of Brian, but the worse of it was the Indians. They were standing there, blood dripping from their bodies, weapons raised in their hands and staring at Jenna and Troy.
    “Uh-oh, now what?” Troy asked.
    “I don’t know, why the hell should I know,” Jenna said. They never looked away from the Indians.
    “You’re the witch,” he said.
    “I’m not a witch,” she said. “You’re the man, do something.”
    There was a long pause; Jenna knew Troy was giving her a dirty look from the last comment. She did not care and continued to stare at the Indians.
    Troy raised his hand, palm facing outward and said, “HOW!”
    “I really don’t think that is gonna help.” Jenna grabbed his hand and pulled it down, now it was her turn to give a dirty look.
    “What did I do?” He asked.   
    A figure appeared before them, it was Eve and she said, “you are a witch, Jenna and a very good one.” She winked at Troy who had begun to laugh; Eve then turned to the Indians and waved her arm. The Indians retreated to their mounds and disappeared.
    “See that’s what you were supposed to do,” Troy said, still laughing.
    “Shut up,” Jenna said.
    Eve turned back toward them, “thank-you for helping, you have a great gift and to block it is wrong; be proud to be a witch. It’s really not that bad.” She smiled and disappeared.
    “So what about him?” Jenna asked Troy.
    “You mean, what is left of him; the animals will take care of him,” he said.
    She asked, “what about the police?”
    “I’ve got an idea,” Troy said.
    Troy called Sheriff Lewis and told him that the witch killer was dead. “A bear attacked him in Laurel Creek. We ran and saved ourselves. His body is still there if you want it.”
    “He actually believed you?” Jenna asked when Troy hung up the phone.
    “Of course he did, shit like that happens all the time round here,” Troy told her.
    She laughed; glad it was finally over. Jenna thought Troy would make a good writer, the way he made up that story to the police. Then he would have to help the police solve murders. Then Jenna thought about it, a writer is not the answer, they needed a witch.