Witch in the Woods

Part 6

The passage of seasons had lost all meaning, so Natya had no idea what day it was when Yunitsa threw back the curtains and proclaimed, "It's time! You're finally ready!"

Late morning sun streamed through the window, pouring over Natya, making her blink and squint. By now she was a real sight to behold. A whole lifetime's worth of overindulgence had been compressed into a few short months, transforming her into a soft, wide mountain. Her colossal belly ruled it all, stretched and swollen, heaving and rolling with every slight movement, shoving everything else out of its way. It surged past her bulging thighs, far past the feet that dangled uselessly over the floor. Her heavy pillowed arms could not reach more than a fraction of that enormous expanse. Her breasts balanced on top, cradling her round face and its waterfall of chins. She nearly filled the little cabin. Except for the gold braids woven with Baba's ribbon and the green eyes half-buried in plump cheeks, Natya was unrecognizable as the thin, willowy girl she had once been.

Natya fought for breath. She had been gorging herself at breakneck speed since the crack of dawn, and her overworked stomach was straining to manage it all. She struggled to think past her food-clouded haze. "Time...pant... for what? What...pant...pant...what am I ready for?"

A sudden chilling thought shot straight through to her core, of what witches in the woods generally did with their victims. "You're not-", she swallowed, eyes wide. "Are you going to eat me?"

Yunitsa threw back her head and laughed. "Eat you?! Of course not! You hardly had any meat on you to begin with, and now there's nothing there but fat!" Yunitsa tweaked Natya's nose and slapped her belly, laughing as Natya fought to keep balance while her whole body wobbled wildly. "Anyhow, I'm not one of those witches who go around eating people. I'm offended you would think that of me!" She winked. "I may be a mean old woman who would take advantage of a young girl's gluttony and fatten her up until she's the size of a house, but I'm no monster!"

"So..." Natya shifted as her stomach gurgled, still struggling to digest. "What am I ready for?"

"For the solstice, obviously." Yunitsa snapped her fingers. Natya felt a breeze as an infinite expanse of red cloth appeared out of nowhere. It folded, tucked, and trimmed itself, swathing her whole body in soft fabric, brushing gently over her pained stomach, soothing it a little.

She looked down as best she could over her multiple chins and ample bust. The cloth had made itself into a dress. Not just any dress. Natya could tell by the careful, intricate embroidery that this was the festival dress that Baba had been preparing for her. But obviously much, much bigger, to cover her unimaginable girth. The cat, seeing an improvement to his favorite bed, hopped up and began to knead.

Natya heard a papery rustle and felt something settle on her hair. She reached up, her fingers meeting leaves and ferns and flowers. It was a wreath, the kind worn by unmarried men and women at the summer solstice celebration.

"Your mother's right, it's high time a pretty thing like you becomes a bride."

Natya's eyes snapped wide in fear. "Oh no! No, no no! I can't let the people at home see me!" She pulled her braid close to her face, Baba's ribbon brushing her cheek. Her eyes filled with furious tears. "And I can't possibly be a bride! No one would want to marry me now! That's why I worked so hard to stay thin! So I wouldn't end up like THIS! But then YOU-!"

Yunitsa wagged a finger. "That's foolishness talking. A glutton like you couldn't have held out forever. You would have eventually given in and gotten fat anyway, and the one who married you for your pretty face would disappear-" Yunitsa snapped, "Like that!"

Natya bit her trembling lip. As usual, Yunitsa was right.

Her eyes filled with hot tears, blurring the view of her expansive rolls, cradled in the dress Baba had worked so hard on, a dress meant for a bride. Natya would never be a bride, not now, not like this. This dress was wasted on her massive body.

"None of that now, no bellyaching. We don't have time for it. We need to get moving."

"I CAN'T move!"

"I was using a figure of speech, obviously."

Yunitsa shooed the cat off of Natya. He complained as he rose, slowly stretching to show that this was his OWN idea, thank you. He climbed down the staircase of rolls to the floor. Yunitsa rolled her eyes at his impertinence.

"Now normally I use the mortar and pestle for traveling, but-" She wrinkled her nose teasingly at Natya, "That obviously won't work. We'll have to take the back way."

"What does that mea-"

Yunitsa clapped her hands three times. The cottage disappeared, swallowed by a white haze. Natya felt a cool, damp wind blow over her as they started moving. The coolness felt good after the warm summer morning. She looked around, but there was nothing to see, just rushing clouds too dense to see through. She wanted to ask where they were, but the question was ripped out of her mouth as she suddenly stopped traveling and started falling.

She landed with a mighty, ground-shaking BOOM! She had only fallen a couple feet, but the impact left her rattled and disoriented as every inch of her massive body wobbled and lurched wildly. Still feeling very unstable, Natya blinked at her surroundings, a little dazzled by sunlight. She couldn't tell exactly where she was, but she was surrounded by chatter and the smell of good food. Her stomach rumbled a bit, but now that she had left Yunitsa's house, the spell was broken. This was a normal hunger she felt, not the frantic desperation to stuff herself until it hurt.

Her eyes finally adjusted to the sun enough to get a good look around. A gasp caught in her throat like a knife.

She had been plopped down right in the middle of the village festival grounds. Boys dropped their baskets of flowers. Mothers pulled their children close. Girls stopped their dances. All noise and chatter faded as everyone stopped, gaping at the mountain of flesh that had suddenly dropped into their midst.

The chatter returned, different this time, hissing whispers rising like snakes.

"Is that-?"

"It can't be!"

"She's been missing for so long!"

"It can't be her!"

"What HAPPENED?!"

The whispers may have well been thunder, beating Natya at all sides. She covered her face, shaking with humiliation. Yesterday she'd have given anything to escape Yunitsa's house, but now she'd have given anything to go back!

Her mother burst out of the crowd, Baba close behind. Baba looked surprised to see her granddaughter's new shape, but did not seem particularly concerned. She did not even lose the rhythm of her spinning.

Mama, on the other hand, was furious. "Natya! Where have you been? What have you DONE to yourself?!"

Despite her enormous size, Natya felt very small under her mother's accusing glare. "Mama, I'm sorry! I didn't... I-I couldn't-"

"Do you mind? I'm in the middle of something!" Yunitsa flapped her hands irritably, as if Natya's mother were just a cat she was shooing off the table. Mama fumed, but kept from Yunitsa. Baba just kept spinning her thread, the drop spindle bobbing at her feet.

Yunitsa snapped her fingers. A young man sitting on a crate of apples was unceremoniously dumped to the ground as the crate flew to Yunitsa. The crate settled at her feet, and Yunitsa climbed on top. She banged her cane sharply. One by one, the crowd tore their eyes away from Natya's stunning bulk, turning their attention to the short figure on the apple crate.

Yunitsa gestured proudly,"Your lovely Natya has returned! I understand she had many suitors when she left, and I'm sure you were all devastated without her. And now here she is, on the day for betrothals!" Yunitsa lifted the flowery crown off Natya's head, holding it aloft. "Here's your chance!" Yunitsa tossed the wreath into the soft grass. The crowd backed away, looking like they expected the thing to leap up and bite. "Come now, don't be shy! Who will return the lovely Natya's crown? Which of you will pledge your love and loyalty?"

The young people tittered and shifted. Natya looked at each of their faces, hoping that someone, anyone would speak up. Mikhail... Sonya... Pytor... Olya... Ivan... Pascha... none of them stepped forward. None of them would even meet her eyes. They looked at the sky, the grass, their fingernails... anywhere except at Natya or her wreath.

Natya swallowed, fighting a lump of hot shame and despair burning her throat, squeezing her eyes shut against the tears. She had asked the trees to tell her who would love her if she were no longer beautiful. And now Yunitsa had given her the answer.

Yunitsa asked again, smirking, "Is no one going to step up? Will no one pledge their love and loyalty?"

A soft, squeaky voice rose from the back of the crowd. "I-I will."