City of Witchcraft

A... Strange Child

Karter Locke had always seemed a little different to his teachers and classmates in Locksin Elementary. His mother had always said it was because of his absent father, but there was always more to it than that. He had always had this strange fascination with witchcraft, and strange things always seemed to happen when he was around. His classmates thought he actually was a witch, and his teachers- well, they didn't know what he was.

While Karter's mother often denied his strangeness, even she seemed weirded out by him at times. Like the time he said he was going to put a curse on a girl in his class who had made fun of him for trying to make a potion out of his lunch- the next day, a snake came slithering out of her mouth in the middle of class. Nobody had been able to explain that one, and that girl had never come back to class again. Karter's mother was haunted to her core when she heard that story. Even stranger, when he came back to school the next day, he had bite marks on his arm that hadn't been there the day before.

From a snake.

Once, one of Karter's teachers asked him why his name started with a K rather than a C. He said it was because his mother wanted a special name for her special boy. He'd told her that his mother always knew he would be special, and that one day the fate of the world would be in his hands and he would get to choose whether to save it or destroy it. Karter said he would probably choose to destroy it. His teacher called home about that one, too.

Nobody knew who Karter's father was. Some people even doubted that he was born to his mother. Nobody ever seemed to remember her being pregnant with him. He just appeared one day, and she claimed he was hers. Nobody really questioned it- people had long given up on trying to understand Tasha Locke. Some people theorized that Karter didn't even have a father, and that he was born through unnatural means. Tasha Locke had always been considered strange, but her son was even stranger.

One day, Tasha disappeared. Karter had been around ten years old. His mother had vanished without a trace, she hadn't taken anything with her or left any note. Nobody had even seen her leave. Karter said that she hadn't told him anything, but he claimed that she'd gone home, back to her family. When questioned about how he knew that, Karter said he just knew, and that he could feel it in his gut.

Karter's obsession with witchcraft only grew after his mother left. It was the only way to make her come back, Karter said. It was the only way to make her proud, Karter said. When asked if he thought that the witchcraft was the reason his mother disappeared, Karter said that was ridiculous. He said that she was proud of who he was, but that she had more important things to do back home. Karter said that it made him sad, but that he understood, and that he would do the same thing in her shoes.

Karter dropped out of school when he was thirteen. People still saw him around town, and as time went on he only got stranger. More and more strange occurrences started happening, and people pointed the finger at Karter. Some people began to look into him, his doings, and his past. Those people would often disappear for days, before resurfacing with no memories of who they were or how they got there. This only made more people point the finger at Karter, but now people were too scared to investigate him.

When Karter turned fifteen, he disappeared. Nobody knew where he went. Someone eventually found him in the neighboring town of Littlewood while visiting family, but nobody ever knew why he left. Always just assumed that it was part of his strangeness. He returned to Cantrix City a few months later, but people began to see him less and less.

Nobody really knows where Karter is now. People assume he's still somewhere in the city, but nobody really knows where he could be if he is. Some say he has left- they feel like if he was still in the city, people would see him. But most people know that he still must be there somewhere- they can feel it in their gut. Karter hadn't left. They would know if he had.