The Blood Witch

2

The Boston traffic made the thirty-minute trip to Charlotte's house seem more like forty five. It didn't help that every nerve Scarlett had was on edge. Every noise made her jump. Every yell in the distance made her want to cry out. Every time she stopped at a stop sign or red light, she thought the ground was going to open up and swallow her whole. Her life was currently one weird mess, and she was indeed panicking. Keeping it together, but on the inside, she was panicking.

In the back of her mind rang the thought that she has reduced that thing to ash. The weird just kept piling up, and she was at a crucial point in all of this. Being the rational person she was, she self-diagnosed. Either she was batty. Absolutely mad and out of her mind. She could live with being crazy. If she was going insane, she would have her grandma take her to the best asylum in town. She would get a nice padded room and be given a meal every day. Yeah, Scarlett decided she could do that.

However, it was the other options that bothered her. This was the part of her diagnosis that she was having a problem with. Could it be possible that there were in deed other worldly beings walking the earth? Was it possible that she has somehow become infected, and she was now also an otherworldly being? Did she have powers? Were those guys there to cart her off to some other realm?

Shaking those thoughts away. Scarlet focused on her driving. The closer she got to her grandmas the more at ease she felt. So much so that by the time she pulled up to her grandma's small cottage, she felt great. The small cottage in the woods right off the coast of the Crane river. Scarlet could smell the drying herbs on the porch from here. The river sound making her feel tranquil. She loved coming here. Every time she did, she left feeling lighter, as if she had left her problems here. Lately, she had not been to visit as much as she would like to.

Stepping from her car, she approached the old wooden cottage with the bright red trim. Not at all surprised when her grandma threw the door open and stepped onto the small porch. No matter how much time had passed since her last visit. Charlotte always had a smile for her. She stood there in a red house dress with an apron tied around her large frame. The dress brushed the porch and in her hand she held a wooden spoon. Her salt and pepper hair was pulled back into a bun and secured with hairpins. 

"It's been much too long, girl," Charlotte greeted her. "I have half a mind to whip you with this here spoon."

Scarlet laughed and pulled her grandma into a hug. She rested her head on Charlotte's chest and just held on to her. Charlotte's thick arms wrapped around her as well and for the first time since leaving her apartment, Scarlet felt safe.

"What's wrong with you girl," her grandmother asked? Her voice cracked as she added, "and what is that smell."

Scarlet pulled back and laughed again at her grandma. "What smell? I mean, I didn't get to shower this morning, but I didn't think it was that bad."

Charlotte wagged the spoon at her, Scarlet narrowly missing the wack that was coming. "You have to take care of yourself." Charlotte said, placing her spoon in the pocket of her apron. "Besides, what I smell is not you. At least I hope not. I smell sulfur. Burnt Sulfur."

When she said that, Scarlet thought of the man who turned to ash in her bedroom. She had been so happy to see her grandma that she had left all of her problems in the car. The burning man was only a small part of her entire reason for coming here.

Scarlet took a deep breath and grabbed her grandma's hand. "I didn't come just to visit grandma. I have been having some problems lately. A lot of things I don't even understand have been happening to me. Strange things, and I may have burned a guy to ash in my apartment."

Her grandmother didn't bat an eye while she had been talking. She hadn't seemed surprised at the burning man confession and she didn't look panicked. No, Charlotte had the look of someone who knew exactly what the issue was. If she did, then maybe she could fix it.

Charlotte tugged on her hand and headed inside, where she sat Scarlet on an old handcrafted wooded chair. She began to make tea. Without turning, she said, "Start from the beginning and leave nothing out. Tell grandma all about it."

So Scarlet did.