Dear Dad,
Hi Dad!! How's England? We just got the letter from you, when are you coming back though? I miss you! I guess things are okay here, but the other Puritans for some reason are accusing some women of being witches. Can you believe it? There are no such things as witches! Already 12 people have been executed for nothing! Ugh, anyway big brother and sister have gone to there friend's house and let me stay here by myself! I'm so excited! They probably think I'm finally old enough for it! I'm 14 after all, and my classmates have been allowed to do it since they were 10, at least the boys anyway-
Crash!
"Eeep!!" Cassie squealed, dropping her quill pen and fell out of her chair. W-what was that? She stood up and walked up to the bedroom door,eying it wearily. I-It's probably sister and brother trying to scare me again..Y-yeah! T-they'll be in so much trouble when Dad hears about this! She tried to push back all the worse possibilities from her mind, she had a bad habit of over reacting about the smallest things. The air started to smell like smoke. Cassie smiled and thought back to when she had first gotten to America. All three of them had gotten pretty restless on the boat so it was a relief for all of them, especially the sailors, that they had arrived.
"WOW!!!" Cassie stared in awe at the huge field spread out in front of herself. So much grass! So this was America!? She looked back at the boat. Their father was busy unloading their belongings, so there was a bit of time to spare. "OI!! Cassie!! Bet you can't catch me !" Cassie's brother was running ahead of them laughing. She ran after him but tripped and fell, "Owwieee..." She looked down at her scraped knee and the 6 year old started to cry. Her sister smirked and chased down their brother and tackled him to the ground. "W-wha! N-no fair!" He struggled but he was pinned down with no way out. "Fine I give, I give! What do I have to say this time!?" He glared up at their older sister." Girls are just as good as boys!" "What? No way!-Owww sis I don't bend that way! OWW FINE, FINE! GIRLS ARE JUST AS GOOD AS BOYS!" He cried out, the oldest got off of him. Cassie ran up to them and laughed "Sis! Sis! Make him say it again!"
She remembered how to air smelled like smoke from a nearby Indian village and how eager she had been to meet Indians and play games with them. Strangely the smell offered a sense of comfort for the teen. She silently turned the handle and winced as it made a loud creak noise. She looked down the pitch black hall and felt a urge to run back into her room, or to run crying to the neighbor's house to stay with her sister for the night. But what would that prove? She needed to show them she could take care of herself! She noticed that all the candles, that lined the hallway at night, were blown out. Well no matter, I'll just take my candle. I-I just probably forgot to light them is all.. But Cassie was lying to herself, she ALWAYS made sure to light them, since she was frightened of the dark. Why are they blown out? She ran back to her room and grabbed the candle she had been using to write the letter to her father. Should I do this? Maybe I SHOULD go out the window and stay with my brother and sis....They'd laugh and say that there was nothing to be afraid of and make me laugh at my own paranoia....Cassie! Get a hold of your self! You can't be dependent on your siblings forever! Sooner or later you'll just become a nuisance to them! Cassie took a deep breath and tiptoed down the hall. It seemed every step she took was louder then the next. She had gotten to the stairs when, all of a sudden, her candle got blown out. She stifled a scream and sprinted back to her room, which was pitch black now. She couldn't calm herself down, she just sat beside her bed, clutching her pounding heart and holding back tears. "S-sister...brother...why'd you have to go to your friends house today? Why..." Cassie muttered hugging her legs to her chest.
"Cassie! Come on, be on my side!!" her brother pleaded and he got tackled by his sisters again. "Younger siblings against oldest?" He continued. "Awwwwww! But big sis is nicer then you!! She lets me have the cookie dough when we make cookies!" Cassie stuck her tongue out at the boy and giggled. "Cassie your leg's bleeding!" Cassie glanced down at her skinned knee, it had gotten worse since she had forgotten about it; it was covered in dirt and blood. "Ugh, Cassie! It could get infected and we can't afford to go to a hospital right now!" Her older sister wiped away some dirt and blood with her sleeve"I'm sorry sister.."
"T-that's right...You have to get stronger, like your sister,Cassie." Cassie looked around, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness so it wasn't as scary as before. Cassie used the bed to help herself up and tiptoed back to the hallway. She hugged herself and was muttering comforts as she got to the stairs. She stared down them and took one slow step after another.
"One." she counted to herself
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
"Five."
"Six."
"Seven."
"Eight."
"Nine."
"Ten."
"Eleven."
"Twelve." She could hear someone breathing behind her
"SIS-" Her scream was stifled by a hand covering it.
The man laughed, easily restraining the struggling girl. "Never made that thirteenth step did yeh, witchy?"
