Witches Don't Burn, Silly

Running Away with a Basket... Every Girl's Dream

The purple fire flared around. The weeds and grass just fueled the fire. The people screamed. I made a run for it. I ran back to the manor. I rushed into my room and grabbed my journal, pen, a bottle of ink, dresses, and rushed to the garden. I threw all of my things into my large basket. "Sally!"

The little gecko scurried towards me. I grabbed the gecko. I placed her in the basket. As I rushed back into the manor I grabbed my cloak and raised the hood over my head. I headed to the exit quickly.

"Why would you do this, Mariposa?" My father stood in the doorway. His sleeve was on fire. He looked ragged but stared at me in hatred.

"Why did you have to burn me at the stake?" I countered with ease.

"You are a witch! A danger to the village!" He shouts at me. "Look at what you did in a mere minute!" He spits in my face and gestures to the growing fire.

"I saved a life with my magic as well." I hissed. "This never would have happened if you weren't trying to burn every woman on earth under the pretense that they were a witch just because mother was." He froze and stared at me, bewildered. "What? Am I wrong?" I hissed. "You knew all those girls were innocent!" I pushed past him. "You just wanted an excuse because one woman displeased you."

"Mariposa." He said it softly this time. "Please wait."

I glared at him from over my shoulder. "I have waited enough." Then I ran. I ran down the road out of the village. I could see the fire from here. I took a deep breath and released the fire. They may have tried to kill me but I was not that cruel to purposely try to wipe them out. Tears ran down my face as I abandoned my town.

I ran along the side of the road, ready to jump into the treeline at any given moment. I used my magic and pulled my journal out of the basket. It floated in front of me. The pen dipped in the ink and I manipulated it to write in the journal.

Glorious Beginning is no longer safe. I can heal grave wounds with magic. I can completely put out my fires from afar. Since burning witches started in my town only three years ago, there is a chance that it hasn't spread to the farther towns. If it has...I don't know what to do next.

The book closes and then all the materials float back into the basket. Sally crawled on to my shoulder and nestled in my hair. I should have made a plan for if I had been found out. How naive I am for thinking that I would never be caught. Tears stream down my face even more and I wipe them away.

Running was a lot harder than training my magic. It made me tired. It made my breaths burn. I don't run like this often. Or ever for that matter. I just need to get away. I don't stop running until I trip on a small pebble and stumble to the ground. "Are you ok, Sally?" I ask the gecko as I push myself onto my hands and knees. It nods but climbs back into my basket. I sigh and push myself to my feet.

I keep walking until I reach the outskirts of the village. I am going to need a room to stay in. I don't have any money. I groan and walk back out of the village. I rummage around in the forest for different herbs. As long as they don't have a better herb master than me I should be able to make some money.

I form the rocks near me into a bowl and crush some of the herbs into a thick paste for fevers. I make one for headaches, colds, and rashes too. I form the rock into thin vials and pour the contents into different ones. I have twelve vials in total. That's three vials of each mixture. I storm back into the village.

I go straight to the market. "Excuse me, madam?" I smile gently as I approach a medicine stand. "If you are interested, I have some herbal pastes that help with fevers, colds, rashes, and headaches."

The old lady was plump with pure white hair. She smiled sweetly as she smiled at me. She was very small. "Well, how effective are they?" She motions for me to sit down on the bench next to her and I do. "What is your name, dear?"

"Mariposa." I said with a smile as I placed the mixture in front of her. "This one is for fevers." I handed it to her. She opens it and smells it. She smiles. "It has a cinnamon scent." I say carefully.

"It's very unique. Have you tested these out yet?" She asks.

"Yes, I have. We use them all the time in my village." We go through the other four types and she eyes each of them critically. She makes a humming noise as she looks over them.

"I will buy them all." She says with a graceful smile and I feel my face light up. "Here you go, dear."

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed as she placed a large coin bag in my hands. I stood up and did a messy curtsy. It was hard with my dress being burnt and hardly there. I rushed up to find a nice, out of the way, inn.

As I stride along the street I see a crowd of people gathered around a wall. I get closer and see that there is a poster on the wall. A drawn poster of a witch burning. The poster makes it sound like it's an event and not a murder. A sour taste fills my mouth. That's cruel. So very cruel.

I continue to pass the crowd, pulling my cloak around me tighter. I find a decent looking inn and stride inside. "Good evening, miss!" The plump old man at the counter smiled at me. "What can I do for you today?"

"Just a room for the night." I smile kindly.

"Alright." I hand him the money and he hands me the key to a room. I walk up several flights of stairs until I reach my room for the night. I lock the door and push a chair in front of it. I locked the window and covered it. I placed my basket on the large bed in the middle of the room.

"Are you alright, Sally?" I lift up my little gecko and she licks my nose and nods her head. I placed her on the nightstand. I went into the bathroom and washed myself and

changed into a pink slip. "Sally, do you think I can enchant objects?" I ask the gecko and it just stares at me.

I pull out my journal, pen, and ink and sit on the bed. An ache in my knee I didn't notice draws my attention to the scabbed area. I must have gotten it when I fell. Can I heal myself? I try to summon the same feeling I had when I did it by accident. It was easier this time. The gold light covered the whole room as I healed my knee and even the smallest scrapes on my body.

In my journal I write, "I can heal myself. Maybe that is why Witches can't be killed easily. They can just heal themself. Does that mean that I am at my weakest when I sleep from over using my power? Going to start working on enchanting items next to see if it's possible. Can witches control a human body? It is sixty percent water." I let the ink dry and then pack it away.

"Goodnight Sally." The gecko lets out a squeak and I blow out the candle.