Day One, First Moon, Hunting Year Five Hundred and Four
There are witches in the wood. That's what Mama said. She made us promise not to go there. Vowed that she will give us a good, hard smack if we break our promise. But I'm not afraid of Mama's smacks. Jacob Wilder hits way meaner than she does and half the time, she chickens out on her threat and makes us clean up after the pigs instead. It's not much of a punishment because we have to scoop the pig pen every few days anyway. I don't really enjoy cleaning it because it's so smelly, but my brother, Michael, doesn't mind. He says the scent is interesting, kind of like sniffing his old socks. I don't really get why he would want to do that, but that's his business -- well maybe its a little bit my business because it's my job to wash those socks, but they are so rancid that I really wish it wasn't.
Sometimes, I sit on the stone wall at the edge of the field and watch the wood. I imagine the wood watching back, but I've never seen anything worth my attention. I've seen a fox and a few coyotes, but definitely no witches. Michael says maybe they're witches in disguise, but I doubt it. Witches wouldn't be scared of me the way the wild animals are.
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Hi there! This story is a novella written in the style of journal entries. I have completed the story, and plan to upload weekly. This story came to me while I was adjusting to life with long-COVID. My body continues to be not what it used to be. I don't know if I will ever heal 100% -- there's still so much we don't know about COVID, especially the many variations of long-COVID -- so I've had to adjust to living in my body differently. Writing this story was part of processing those changes and accepting myself as I am.
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The Wood
FantasyLike every other girl in her village, Kyla has been taught to ward off curses with the right concoction of herbs, but when a new plague falls upon the village, the elders begin to hunt for the witch who caused it. Kyla becomes the next target after...
