The Witch Trials

~13~

  I am in a car. I am also utterly terrified. Everything around us is a blur and I grip the confining strap that goes over my chest. I can feel my heart beating fast. I glance up at the women driving the car. Her long red finger nails move skillfully across the wheel as  we spin around corners. This way of transportation must be very dangerous. Jakson told me we have to blend in. That's why I'm in this car, away from him and Hailey with this "foster" family. They don't know what I am. They never will. They think I'm a 14 year old girl who's parents died in some sort of accident. Now I am going home with these strange people. I remember staring into Jaksons eyes as he let them take me. I am so angry. We should have stayed together. I roll my eyes. Hailey and him probably know better. They promised they would come for me once things are sorted,  I'm counting on it. We pull into the driveway of a large house. The windows are all brightly lit, standing out against the evening darkness. The bushes around the house are perfectly shaped. The yard is lit by lamp posts, they must be a very wealthy family. The lady grabs my suitcase out of the back and tells me to carry it. A man opens the door, he must be her husband. They don't seem like a happy family, the house is not warm and happy, but rather cold and uninviting. I am led to a large, empty room by the lady. I am to stay here until dinner. The snippy tone she takes with me sends a pain through my chest. Why is she so rude? I busy myself with unpacking. I don't have much. Only what I need. Some clothes, a hairbrush, and a book. I look at the cover. Hailey must have gotten Jakson to put it in for me. I smile. I hear a knock on my door, it echoes loudly.
  "Come in." I say, my voice sounds foreign. A boy who looks a bit older than myself pokes his head in. He has a perfectly ironed dressy shirt on, and his hair is strangely perfect. He doesn't look happy either. What a depressing family.
  "It's time to eat." He says plainly, staring at me. I wish he would stop staring. "Are you wearing that?" He looks surprised as I get up. I look down at my sweatshirt and skinny jeans.
   "Um yes it would seem so." I answer a  little more snippy than I meant. He just shakes his head an slips away. What was that about? I walk down the stairs and find everyone sitting around a large table. The man gasps.
  "I know you're new to this house, but we never dress like that's for dinner." I notice that they are all dressed very nicely.
   "Oh, I'm sorry." I say, great they already hate me.
   "It's quite alright." The man says, "That's just for future reference." He glances at the women who shakes her head. So strange. The boy stuffs his face with potatoes and I just sit awkwardly as his mother scolds him coldly for eating that way. Finally dinner is over and I retreat back to my room. I open my dresser and expect to find my familiar clothing, but instead new clothes great my eyes. I search my room but they are gone. I open the closet to find a sea of clothes that smell like plastic. I open the door and look for the women to ask where my clothes were and I find her and her husband on the couch. They are drinking wine and watching something on a television.
  "Excuse me?" I ask quietly. The man looks over.
   "Yes?"
    "I was wondering where my old clothes were." I force a smile, I don't want to sound like a brat.
   "Oh, those old things? I threw them all away." The lady snaps, not even looking at me. The man looks at her. I feel my face tingle and tears threaten to fall.
    "Oh." I almost whisper and turn and quickly scale the stairs. I can't believe she threw them away. Some of those clothes were the ones I wore when I was rescued. The ones my mother made for me.