Amber must keep her powers a secret or they will be her undoing

Amber was usually very attentive during her literature class – usually, she would have been eagerly volunteering to read extracts from the book they were studying, but today the girl was silent, her lips pressed tightly together, and staring with at the wall with wide, frightened eyes.

Her teacher had already asked her what the matter was, but Amber had replied in a very unconvincing, high-pitched voice, that everything was fine.

But everything was not fine. Nothing would ever be fine again…

Yesterday had started off as a very normal day. She had gone to school, met her boyfriend for their daily walk together, and went to sleep after completing her chores. But instead of remaining asleep, she was jolted awake by a very sudden, almost painful sensation in her hands. And to her horror, when she looked at them, they were glowing a very bright green. This had sent the girl into a panic, and she had rubbed her hands desperately on her blanket to try and stop them from doing so. But this had made her blanket shoot across the room and then zoom around like an excited bat.

The reason Amber was so terrified that she had magical powers, was because she knew what happened to the witches if they were discovered. It was like what happened to anyone that society deemed as ‘different’ – they were mistreated and pushed away – but if you were a witch, it was far worse – you were hunted down, imprisoned and then killed.

By the time Amber had managed to pin down her blanket on the floor, she was shaking like a leaf.

Everything had been going so well lately…

She had thought, her eyes full of tears. She could not possibly tell her parents, because they hated witches with a passion and never had a good thing to say about them – it was a scandal to them when Amber was born with flaming red hair instead of the normal brown – though that had died down when they found her to be a sweet-tempered, hard-working child. But a witch…they thought that witches were inherently evil, and conniving creatures that would put evil spells on you on a whim. Her boyfriend felt the same way…

Amber’s only option was to tell her grandmother because she was the only one who had anything positive to say on the subject. She had always told Amber stories about her best friend who was a witch – and she had hardly seemed to be deceitful or evil. But Amber had thought that they were just that – stories. But going to her grandmother was the only chance she had if she wanted to live…

Amber nearly fell out of her chair in fright as the bell clanged loudly, signaling the end of school. She ran out of class, terrified that her hands might start to glow or that she might accidentally put an evil spell on someone.

Her grandmother lived near the edge town, a bit away from anyone else – over the next bridge and down the road…Amber hurtles towards the bridge, she needed help – before anyone found –

A scream escapes her throat as her body is flung forward as she trips over her own feet on the bridge. She realizes that she is going to go over the edge and fall into the water below and squeezes her eyes shut.

But then realizes… that she…isn’t falling. She opens her eyes and then, in a mixture of horror and disbelief, she realizes that her body had frozen mid fall and that she was now suspended in the air.

How do I undo this before someone-!

There is a yell of terror behind her, and she turns her head to see her boyfriend staring at her with eyes so wide that they look as though they were going to pop right out of his skull.

“DEMON!”

He screams, pointing at her, and her heart stops.

Penned By: Rtr.  Eshini Meegaskumbura (Editorial Member 2021-22)

Edited and published by: RACSLIIT Editorial Team 2021-22