The Dark Witch, page 8
part #3 of Crimson Black Series
“No,” she responded with a wide grin. “She’s your dog now.”
“What?” I shrieked in excitement while picking up the squirmy furball.
“For some odd reason, we found this little girl wandering around the apartment complex last week. Your father and I asked around, but no one had seen her before. She seemed thrilled to be in our care though.”
“Are you happy to be a part of our nutty family?” I asked the dog in a mischievous tone and it barked twice as an answer.
“It’s strange though… How she got into the building in the first place is a mystery. She didn’t seem scared at all. It didn’t look like she was malnourished or mistreated. It was like she was waiting there for me to find her.”
“Mom,” I frowned. “Do you know how silly you sound? Doggies don’t just show up out of nowhere, right?” I said to the dog, panting in my arms. She barked once again, twice. “Huh… You seem pretty smart for a lost pup. Does she have a name yet?”
“Nope,” my mother answered. “Your grandmother has been calling her ‘Rat’ this whole time. It’s solely up to you, sweetie. It’s your dog now.”
“Hmm… What should I call you?” She glanced up where I could see her dark eyes. “Casey…” I suddenly uttered without thinking.”
“What did you call her?” my mother asked.
“Casey!” I answered clearer. “Her name is Casey.”
“How did you come up with that name?” mother asked. “I was gonna call her Beatrice if you didn’t produce a name for her. She looks like a Beatrice.”
“No… She’s definitely a Casey, for sure,” I retorted. “I don’t know… The name just popped in my head.”
“Interesting,” my grandmother added. “Then Casey it shall be… Welcome to the family.”
✽ ✽ ✽
The rest of the morning we had breakfast together and talked until it was time for my parents to leave. They wanted to beat rush-hour heading back to Newark, and they left me behind in my grandmother’s care until they sorted their living situation. Until then, I had to live in the corner bedroom that faced the front of the house.
Casey followed me upstairs, hopping like a bunny on her stubby little legs. We walked together along the long hallway with peach painted walls and more paintings of the outside property my aunt painted. All the way to the end, going towards the wall-sized vanity mirror, my room was the last door on the left. Casey and I entered the bedroom. The walls were painted white and the windows retouched-up and cleaner than I last remembered. This was the very room my mother and father slept in when I was a baby. It looked different now, though. Now there’s just a queen bed and they had it moved away from the closet. The old dresser with a vanity mirror replaced its spot. By the door was where my crib used to be, my grandfather has long since used it for firewood. Someone broke it and it was unsafe to use for my younger cousins anyway. Someone replaced even the cracked glass on the right window with a new one. However, the old clock was still there above the window, its hands no longer moving after the battery died some years ago.
The closet from my babyhood, the one once covered with a sheet had a brand-new door installed. They filled it with my clothes from what my mother and grandmother unpacked. I didn’t own much living in Virginia, but it was my own things. In the back of the closet I found an unopened box, still sealed with tape. I lifted it up and realized it was heavy.
“Casey—looks like they packed my books too.” I carried the box out into the light and laid it on the carpet. “Shit…” I patted down my pockets. “Where’s my knife?” When I glanced over at the dresser, I saw my motorcycle keys on top with my lotions and toiletries. I reached over and grabbed ahold of the keys and used it to cut the clear tape around the box. When I pried open the cardboard, sure enough it was my books on spiritualism, gods and goddesses, wiccan, and witchcraft. Even my zipped bags of herbs were in the box, which I labeled, lavender, jasmine, belladonna, and a sage stick.
I opened the bag with the sage. “What ‘d you think, Casey, should I cleanse the room?” She barked twice. I lifted out some books and stacked them on the carpet with the bags of herb and a wooden box.
Inside the box I found my lighter. “All right, girl. Do you wanna wait outside while I do this? It’s gonna be smelly.” She sat her behind on the carpet and didn’t move. “Ok. I need perfect silence and no barking.” I closed the bedroom door and locked it. Then while standing at the door, I lit the end of the stick with the flame of the lighter. The sage burned and caught on fire. As soon as it did, I blew it out. In doing so, smoke formed, and it had a bitter-sweet aroma. I waved it around in a circular motion, starting at the ceiling and moved down to the walls while walking around the room. Every corner the smoke reached, and I recited, “cleanse this space. No evil may enter.”
While purifying the room, Casey sat in silence, following me with her eyes. It seemed strange for a dog to sit so still and not act bothered by the burning incense. I didn’t even have the windows open, so the aroma was strong, but she remained, watching my every move.
Once the entire room became enveloped in sage, I found a copper bowl with a lid on my nightstand. “This will do.” I lifted off the lid and placed the stick inside, leaving the lid off for the rest of the burning ash to extinguish. It would take a while, so I pried open the windows. Each one was difficult to slide up along the track. It squeaked and creaked as I put my back into pushing it all the way open. “Damn-hell.” I rotated my shoulders to stretch out the ache in my shoulder-blades and arms. “Sheesh… My grandmother really needs to replace these… Not just slap-on a new coat of paint and glass and say it looks new.”
A breeze flowed in, dulling out the burning sage in the room. “Umm…” I exhaled and breathed in the fresh air. “That’s so much better. I glanced down to look at Casey, but she moved beside the cardboard box and was on her hind-legs with her front paws on the edge. Her nose and head peeked inside, sniffing and whimpering. “Casey!” I rushed over to her. “What are you doing?” She looked as if she was ready to fall into the box since it was heavier than her with all the books still piled together on the bottom. “Hey...” I lifted her away and laid her on my lap. “What-you lookin’ for, girl? There’re no treats or toys in here. Only books and tools from when I used to practice Wicca.”
Casey kept whimpering, wanting to get away, and pointing her nose towards the box. “Ok-ok… I’ll show you what’s in here.” I reached my hand in and felt the rest of the books and a velvet fabric against my fingertips. “Hmm… Maybe you’re smelling this.” I pulled out a black suede pouch, tied at the top with a string. It still had the scent of lavender and chamomile, even though it had sat for two weeks inside the box. “It smells good, doesn’t it?” She sniffed the pouch as I loosened the string. “I’m surprised… Certain herbs lose their scent after a while.” The contents collided together in the palm of my hand as I poured it out to show her. Crystals of pink, turquoise, white and green laid in my hand as I held it near her nose. “See… No treats… Just quartz and crystals. You eat one of these and you will definitely have a tough time pooping.”
Suddenly, she snatched a white quartz from the batch and scurried off my lap. “Casey!” I yelled, reaching across the floor to catch her. I grasped her hind legs, but she slipped through my fingers, dashing to the corner of the room by the bedroom door. “Don’t you dare—Drop that right now!”
Casey glanced back at me and then abruptly dropped the crystal, it plopped on the floorboard. I laid there and watched as she slid it against the trim until it wedged into the corner. “What are you doing?” I became bewildered by what just happened. Then I realized. “A barrier…” She twirled around and sat, staring at me, not whimpering anymore. “A barrier of protection… but how did you…?” Casey remained silent staring at me, cocking her head and her ears perked up. “Nah… There’s no way… How would you know about something like…?” I forced myself up. “You’re just a dog.” I walked over to the next corner by the closet. “It’s not a bad idea though. Thank you for reminding me. I might actually sleep better tonight knowing something won’t haunt me as I dream.” My eyes glared into the dark closet, recalling the fear of the shadows’ glowing eyes. It’s presence in my memory etched deep into my subconscious, ‘I will never have a mundane life.’
“You know, Casey, I have a lot of history inside this house. My parents stayed with me in this room until my grandfather finished building a house on top of the hill.”
I ventured over to the corner and hoisted her in my arm before strolling across the room. We stood by the window once again both gazed out to the thick line of trees to the right of the yard. “Through those trees, there’s a street of houses my grandfather built. He built most of the buildings in this town. That’s how deep our roots are around here. Everyone knows my family—well at least the ones who had lived here forever. Every day… It was peaceful… Never had to worry much about the outside world. I was in this front yard all the time, picking pears in season from that tree over there for my grandmother so she could make wine.”
I laughed remembering an almost forgotten memory. “One time the fermenter or the blooper, my mom called it, rumbled and exploded in the kitchen up here. The whole house shook, and the explosion expanded all the way back in the car graveyard. Damn, I came running back here like a bat-outta-hell, hoping it hurt no one. Fortunate enough, everyone was fine. Just a hell-of-a mess to clean up afterwards. It took a week to clean everything and repaint the walls.” I laughed. “I’m gonna take you out into the field later to play, so you can experience this place as your new home. Every animal we’ve had here was always happy and fat. And believe me, we used to have quite a few animals. Horses, swans, geese, chickens, pigs, dogs, cats, goats… I don’t remember all of them, but the point is you will be happy here too. Hopefully, I’ll find happiness once again in my life. Even though…” I patted over where the wound was on my chest. “It might not last.”
Casey whimpered and stared at me with sad eyes. “I have quite a bit going on girl. Things you wouldn’t understand since you’re a dog and all. I can’t believe I’m talking to you right now. But then again, I’m alone here. All my friends have their lives. My parents have theirs.” I sighed while setting Casey on the bed and sinking back onto the firm mattress. “I’m tired…” The sun was moving into the middle of the sky as I glanced back at the window. “It’s almost noon. I should at least stay awake.” Casey hopped on my chest and laid next to my face. “Yoho—I’m not a pillow.”
Then my uncle’s voice called out to me in the silent background. “Kris…” I sat up and Casey moved off. “Kris…” My uncle yelled again. His voice was coming from outside, so I rolled off the mattress and went to the window. There he was below, looking straight up at me. “Wanna help gather some firewood in the woods? Grandma wants a fire in the pit tonight. Some of her old friends are visiting later.”
“Sure,” I answered. “As long as I get to drive…”
“Sure baby,” he agreed. “I’m gonna attach the bed and fuel-up the chainsaw.”
“Alright… I’ll be down soon.”
I watched my uncle walk to the right of the house, towards the garden gate to get around to the back. “Looks like I’m not gonna laze-around today.” I perked up and became determined to help around. Even though my body felt exhausted after sleeping out in the shack last night, I wanted to get my mind off the experience of traveling to that place with the strange owl lady.
Casey followed me downstairs and Grandma was in the kitchen preparing food for the evening. “Hey grandma, I’m going out to get wood for tonight—can you watch Casey until I get back? I don’t want her following me into the backwoods.”
“Oh yes, we wouldn’t want her getting caught by the coyotes and bears.”
“Don’t joke like that, grandma.” I became concerned about Casey’s safety. “You stay here, girl.” I squatted down to pet her. “Keep a watchful eye on this old lady.”
“Old…” My grandmother laughed. “Get going before I beat you with my mother’s iron skillet over there.” A large twenty-four-inch black iron pan hung on a hemp string with the other pans over the sink.
“You’re on your own, Casey. Run if she plans on cooking you, ok.” I rushed out of the kitchen and through the living room. I looked back to see Casey sitting on the floor, looking after my grandmother. “Huh…” I uttered while opening the door to the garage. Then I closed the door behind me, walking down the wooden ramp my uncle built for my grandfather during his final years in a wheelchair.
“Hey… I thought you would have disassembled this thing by now.” I asked while he laid the chainsaw in the tractor bed, the cooler was already in the back, ready to go.
“I didn’t have the heart to do it yet,” he answered. “Besides, Grandma has been using his old wheelchair to bring in the firewood from outside during the winter. I rather keep it since she’s getting older you know. Can’t carry as much as she used to.”
“At least the wheelchair is not collecting dust in a closet somewhere.”
My uncle laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s torn to hell now.” He pointed at it against the wall. The blue leather shredded with foam sticking out and covered in dirt and rust.
“Eww… She actually uses that thing?”
“Yep,” he climbed up onto the tractor seat and started it before climbing across the gap and sitting on the ledge of the bed. “Are we ready to go?”
“Like, yeah,” I replied. Using my muscles to haul myself up on the tractor.
Once I settled in, the memories of driving it all came flooding back. The clutch was the pedal on the left, and the break on the right just like a car. I cranked it into first gear, which was the handle on the steering wheel. I released the clutch, sending my uncle and I lurching forward.
“Easy there.” He said before I had it rotating in a steady motion.
“It’s been a while since I’ve driven this old thing.” Cranking the clutch to speed up wasn’t easy to relearn and switching gears at the same time was a struggle, since it wasn’t the same as riding a motorcycle.
“Take it slow until you get used to it again.”
The tractor rode halfway down the driveway and we kept going straight, entering the grass field pass the old picket post. I turned the wide wheel to the left, steering us into the car graveyard. Then we passed the old oak tree, where I stood with Phyla and Maddox yesterday, and followed a path into the thickness of the forest. However, it was difficult to maneuver the steering wheel since it was like using physical strength to move the front axle and get the tires to turn where it needed to go. It rumbled in my hands and I felt the bumps as the tires crossed over uneven terrain along the path.
Even with the loudness of the engine the birds still tweeted in the surrounding trees, loud enough for us to admire their voices. Wildflowers of white, purple, blue, and green grew in the tall grass as we enter an open field. My uncle created this field by cutting down the trees for lumber during most winters. I heard him rummage around in the cooler, followed by a ‘pop'. Staying true to form, my uncle was having a beer on the job.
“Isn’t it too early for that?” I asked.
“Hells… I’m just on time,” he answered. “It’s not too often I get to spend time with my niece in our favorite place.” He referred to the forest. “Remember… I took you out here almost every day when you were a kid? Every day after work, we came out here, following this same path to Black Ash.”
“Yeah, I remember,” I replied. “We’d come out here to just get away from all the arguments in the house. Even though we told grandma we’re getting firewood. Sometimes we’d come home with nothing.” I chuckled. “You’d forget after having a few beers and we just sat on this tractor, with you preaching about God.”
“You remember best baby,” he answered. “Nothing has changed here. Every Sunday, I keep the trail clean to ride on, but no matter how many winters or droughts, this place is still the same.”
I peeked up at the branches watching as the wind blew through the leaves. “You’re right, this place hasn’t changed… But we have.” I glanced back at him basking his face in the sun. “So, where do you wanna stop?”
“Up ahead there’s a tree that was struck by lightning a few weeks ago… Split it right in half.”
In the distance, I spotted the tree just as he said, the trunk split down the middle, with black charred marks like it caught fire, but didn’t burn. It just wilted the branches with no leaves or flowers. It was dead.
“Strange…” As I focused more on how precise the lightning hit the tree. “You said lightning did this? It doesn’t seem like it’s possible.”
“I’m not lying to you,” he reassured me. “Your grandmother, aunt, and I heard the explosion all the way from the house. A dark cloud came out of nowhere over this mountain. The sky was black as the barrel of my shotgun and I swear to you, streaks of lightning filled the sky and just one did this.”
I hit the brakes and shifted the clutch back into neutral before turning off the engine.
“When I drove the van down here, I found the tree like this… It was the same day we got a phone call you died in the hospital. When the doctors gave us all the details and the time of death and how you came back to life after being flatlined for over fifteen minutes—was the same time the lightning struck this tree.
“Are you kidding me…?” The story was far-fetched, but I turned to look him in the eye; however, he showed no sign it was a cruel joke.
“I’m not kidding.” His tone was more serious than the stern glare he gave me. “Kris, I didn’t talk about being blessed like it came out of my ass. God granted you a second chance, and this is proof.”
