• Blood Bound •||• Simon Kalivoda X Female Reader •

24 - The Death Of Sarah Fier

Every single one of the townsfolk comes to witness the hanging of Sarah and Hannah. Most by choice, some forced. "This reminds me of our dark days," Mother quietly says to me. "When your sister passed away, a darkness I could never describe filled my heart. Now, the darkness has returned."
Mother and I are forced to stand and watch two of my friends die. Our other friends that I have also known since childhood are also forced to watch them be hanged to death.

"The penalty for practicing witchcraft," Elijah announces. "is death by hanging!"
The two lovers stand under the old tree. Powerless as their own village turns on them, chanting for them to be hanged. "Confess! Confess your sins or burn in eternal hell," Elijah says to Hannah and Sarah. "Confess!"

I squeeze Isaac's hand as the both of us anticipate the inevitable. I tried to save them... but I think I made everything worse. Sarah and Hannah give each other a sad look. Sarah turns to the crowd.
"I confess," Sarah finally speaks up. Everyone goes silent for just a moment. "No! She's lying-" Hannah tries to plead Sarah's case but is cut off by Elijah covering up her mouth. "I walked with the Devil," Sarah says. "I lay with him. I cursed Winifred Watkins... I bewitched the good pastor. And I bewitched... Hannah Miller."

Hannah's screams for Sarah are muffled by Elijah even as she tries escaping him. "I clouded her mind... it was me! It was only me. It was always me. Hannah's innocent." Solomon orders Elijah to let Hannah go. Elijah unties her from her chains and throws her into her mother's arms.

She whispers something to Solomon as he wraps the chain around her body. The man who caught her. The man she trusted. What is she whispering to him? A farewell? A taunt? A curse? What ever it is, the intensity in her icy blue eyes tells me that she's serious about everything she's saying to him.

Tears begin to leave my eyes as the noose is tied around her neck. Memories of her flash before my eyes. Every laugh, every cry, every moment that we have spent together.
Another one of my sisters is being taken away from me.

Mother holds onto me, whispering to me with her breath on my ear, "You don't have to watch this, darling."
Sarah only ever loved Hannah. Love is not a sin. Hannah tries to escape her mother's hold on her while I can't even bring myself to move. The townsfolk jeer at Sarah and yells for her to be hanged. "Hang her! Hang the witch!"

I look towards Isaac, Abbi, and Lizzie the moment the rope is pulled up. I hear the sound of her choking, so I cover my ears.

I glance towards her. And I can't bring myself to look away at the sight of her legs kicking at the air as her airway is cut off by the rope. Her eyes slightly bulge out of their sockets as her face slowly turns from shades of red, purple, and then finally a dark blue.

A sob leaves my throat. "Please," I cry. "make me look away." Isaac turns my head towards him, and I bury my face in his shoulder. Minutes seem to pass by before Isaac tells me, "She's... she's dead."
"I don't want to see," I whisper. "Please, I don't want to be here." "Let's leave," he says. "We will meet back here after moon down."

And just like that, it's over. Everyone begins to leave. They return home. They go on with life knowing what happened. Knowing that they participated in the murder of an innocent youth. But before I return home, I speak with Solomon as we walk back down to the village.

"How does it feel, Solomon?" I coldly tell him. "How does it feel to have someone you love be taken from you? I know all too well. As do you. So tell me-- how did you feel when you murdered Sarah Fier?" He tightens his jaw and looks away from me.
I shake my head in disappointment. "You are a disgrace to my sister. A disgrace to your child. They would despise you for what you have become. Just like I do."

I pick up my pace, and I don't look back to see his "hurt" expression. I do, however, look back to see Mother spit on his face. "Not even through law will I ever consider you my son ever again," she hisses. "My dear Marybeth is ashamed." Pure anger burns in her eyes even as she walks away from him.

----

Just as we promised, we meet at the tree where Sarah was hanged. Hannah, Abbi, Lizzie, Isaac, and I. We arrive with shovels in our hands, and we dig up the dirt covering Sarah. I finally look down after she is fully uncovered. "Oh, Sarah..." Hannah softly gasps. She reaches down to touch Sarah's cold, dead cheek.

Sarah is still wrapped up in her chains. Eyes closed as if she had only fallen into a deep sleep. "We can't just leave her here," Lizzie says. "alone underneath this tree." Abbi nods in agreement. "She deserves a proper burial." "It's the very least we could do for her," I add. A shaky breath leaves my lungs.
Bad memories are being brought back to me, but I can't just run away from them. Forgetting about Marybeth's death won't make me miss her any less. The same will go to Sarah. I must face what is reality.

"Let's move her, bury her somewhere else," Isaac says. We all turn to him. "So know one else knows where she is." "Except us," we all say in unison.

Isaac picks up a rock and begins to carve words on it.
"We will lift her together," I say to everyone else, sweeping my arms underneath Sarah's back. "One..." I begin. "two... three!" We carry her out of the hole in the ground and gently place her beside it.

The wytch forever lives is what Isaac carved on the rock. He places it in the hole and begins to bury it. "A message to whomever may dare," he states. "Do you know where we can bury her?" I ask him, glacing to Sarah. "I do," Hannah speaks up. "I know exactly where."

We follow her into the woods near a big rock. It's a good distance away from where the full moon party was held. "Here will be perfect," she tells us. We dig up a new hole for Sarah and place her in. Hannah carves Fier on the lock of the chains that tied up Sarah.

I take my unfinished cross-stitch design and place it under her remaining hand. It's unfinished. Just like her story. My best guess is that what she told Solomon was a declaration of some sort. That somehow, someway, her story will continue. Someday.
Hannah places a crown made of red moss on top of Sarah's head. The crown that she wore at the full moon party.

"Winnie? Can you sing for her?" Isaac asks me. I let out a half-hearted laugh. "I haven't sang since Marybeth passed away," I softly say. "Besides, I don't think I sound very good." "Good or not, I've always loved your voice." "So have I," Lizzie adds.

"What shall I sing?" I ask them. "There's no need for a song. Just your voice," Abbi says.
I nod and clear my throat. I begin to sing. Not any specific words, just vocalizations. I start out soft and somber, but my voice gradually strengthens along with my confidence.

Goodbye, Sarah. You were like a sister to me after mine passed away. You were always there for me and the people you loved. Even as you and your dear Hannah stood here to be hanged, you confessed to a sin you never committed to protect her.

I feel my nose running, so I wipe it away. I look down to see blood instead of mucus on my wrist.

----

After the events of 1666, Isaac and Winifred got married. They had five children. Two boys named Henry and Richard. Three girls named Gillian, Marybeth, and Sarah. The both of them died in 1700 of what has been claimed to be natural causes. They died holding each other in their arms.

In reality, the couple was murdered by an unknown entity. Was it someone who was possessed into doing it? Or was it Goode? The only two people that knew are dead.

Every victim of Goode's evil will get justice, now or never.