1
I was re-watching old home videos from when I was young, when everything was better. My name is Lavender Barnes, my parents were murdered a few months after this video was taken, I don’t like to talk about their death, but I watch these videos to keep their memory. To see them happy and smiling. After they died, I went to live with my aunt. She was young, in her late twenties. She took me in and tried to raise me like a normal kid, but she knew the truth, and did everything in her power to shelter it from me. Little did I know my parents were the first of many victims to come unless I came to and realized my true self.
“Twenty years old and nothing to live for; I wake up, go to work, come home, sleep, and start the rotation over again. Every day is a battle between my brain and my body. I feel like something is clawing its way through my stomach to my heart making its way to my brain, rushing through my blood to the tips of my fingers.” I said to my therapist who I see weekly. She responds with something along the lines of,
“Are you suicidal? Killing yourself isn’t an option. Are you taking your medication?”
I’m barely listening though; my aunt is the one who tells me to come here every week. The appointment always ends with an awkward brief hug… Driving home is always my favorite part of the day, I am completely alone, it’s so peaceful compared to the rotten world that surrounds me. As I walk inside the house the sweet fresh smell of desert engulfs the house, Aunt Juniper is always baking.
“Lavender! I have a surprise for you!”
She shouts from the kitchen. I make my way to her and before I stepped through the entryway she shouts for me to close my eyes before I walk in. I smirk and close my eyes while reaching out in front of me. She grabs my hand then starts leading me to another part of the kitchen, giggling the whole time.
“What kinda scheme are you planning here aunt J?” I said with a laugh.
“You know damn well I wouldn’t forget your birthday, now open your eyes”.
My eyes widen as I see my favorite dessert, cheesecake, along with an array of black balloons (aunt J always had a sense of humor), and then two presents and two cards. I thought it was odd for there to be two sets of presents, we had no other relatives. She tells me to sit, she then explains that my parents left this card and the gift for me to open on my twentieth birthday. I say,
“I’m so confused, did they know they were going to die?”. Then her response flushed my brain with confusion, she said,
“Sweetie, it’s time you know who you really are, your parents were wiccan, they were special. They had powers beyond belief, they were the royalty of our kind”
“Our ‘kind’?”
“You’re a witch honey, a very powerful one at that.”
Puzzled and speechless I get up to leave and she shouts for me to sit back down. She then explains to me that the gift from my parents is a book of knowledge handed down through the family when a young witch has come of age. My aunt goes on to say she is also a witch and an experienced medium, she claims she has seen what my future holds.
I am the savior of our kind.
The pieces start falling together, that creature I felt crawling under my skin, the rushing through my blood, it was all me, my powers, my true self. My parents were murdered when I was 10 because of who they were. I was forsaken, why? I ask my aunt that same question. She tells me that I was protected because my powers hadn’t surfaced yet, I wasn’t a true witch, not yet at least. I hadn’t blinked for minutes. Aunt Juniper grabs my hand and tells me its my duty to save the rest of our people.
“The trials of Salem are resurfacing, people have become afraid of us, cast us to the shadows and now they intend to eliminate us. The next genocide is upon us. Our lives are in your hands now.” She says.
“What do I do? I haven’t exactly learned anything, I haven’t been trained or even experienced any magic of any kind!”
“Yes, you have… When you were 14 your powers surfaced, you were walking home from school and a man started following you. He snatched you into an alley and attempted rape you… as you were struggling with him your powers took over, the man froze completely and with only the tilt of your head his fingers broke one by one. You allowed him to drop to the ground, then to silence him you blinked your eyes and he was out cold. The man was later questioned and had no memory of what happened. I needed to protect you a bit longer, so I casted a retention spell to bury your powers until you were ready. And today is the day.”
“If I am as powerful as you claim then please let my powers come through.”
“… I have, now demonstrate to me.”
I stand up angry and confused, I look up at the balloons floating around us. While visualizing them popping I blink my eyes and they all burst in one stride. I fall back in shock, frantically I look at my aunt who is sitting there still as a pole. She nods to me and I’m forced up into the chair. Her eyes well up with tears as she comes to hug me.
“Now start reading and get some rest. Your work starts tomorrow.”, she whispered in my ear.
I sit in my bed with countless emotions running through my mind. I start reading this old book that looks handmade, some pages are newer than others. I notice my mother’s handwriting; the tears started flowing as I read her words of spells and magic. I feel a brisk hand softly touch my shoulder, I know it’s her, she whispers to me
“My daughter, you will save so many I know it. I love you and even in death my love will never subside.”
“I love you too mom. I miss you”
The cool air turns warm again and I slowly fall asleep with the spell book in my arms, then suddenly it was morning.
To be continued...
