A Psycho's Mind

Ukranian Witch

Its hollow white eyes stared at me with a malevolent intention as it sat on the worn down window ledge. Its fur was as black at the dead of night without a moon outside to cast an eerie light on the environment. If it wasn't for the sky being lit up by an orange color tonight as the sun sets, I would have never had seen the animal. A rusty silver bell hung from its neck, creating a light ring as the breeze picked up. Surprisingly it looked healthy with no sign of bones poking through its skin showing signs of starvation. In a village as small as this and after nearly 70 years after the Ukrainian famine, the food supply was a minimum for each family and leaving animal life here just as rare. Since a majority of the families who live here are survivors of the horrific event, many struggle to eat consistently in remembrance of those who died. So having more food than needed was something most of them didn't have, leaving excess food laying around to feed to this animal something very uncommon. "Sister!" my brother said, yanking on my arm sleeve as he looked up at me. "I see a kitti!" He jumped up and down a bit in excitement as his hazel eyes stared back up at me. A smile began to sketch across his face as he pointed at the cat sitting on the ledge. "Ahhh yes," I replied patting his head. "That is a kitty." My brother Vadim was only five, often caught our family member's attention by grabbing their sleeves. He'd often point at an animal to say their name to show us he knew the name. He had a habit of not fully pronouncing the animal's name correctly such as cow he pronounced as coow. Or kitty as kitt-ei. "No, kitti!" he repeated pointing. "It's right there!" I didn't need an argument with a five-year-old on how to say kitty, so I smiled and replied back, "Yes kitti." Without an argument I took Vadim's hand as we began to stroll down the cobblestone road towards the stairs that descended down to a main road. In order to get to the main road we needed to pass the kitten who still gave me a malevolent stare. Its gaze pierced through my skin and muscle and right into my soul, turning the white of it to a dark black filled with hate. I desperately wanted to get away quickly from the kitten. Even if it was innocent, something or someone was lurking nearby giving of an aurora of darkness. We passed by the kitten and even though I looked forward, trying not to look at it as we passed, Vadim did and waved at it out of pure politeness. I grabbed his hand and pushed it down, stopping the waving since I felt uncomfortable passing the kitten. I didn't want to greet it and open up the door of conversation or any sort of greeting back. Something about it gave me an uneasy feeling as if my life was in danger. My body was telling me to hurry up and in result I picked up our pace to pass the kitten. Quickly we walked to the stairs ahead, trying to lose the kitten's stare. I'm sure it was just pure anxiety, but still the uneasiness stayed as we descended down the steps. Before we hit the first stair going down I looked back behind me to see the kitten had disappeared from its ledge and was nowhere to be seen. Spooked we began to quickly go down the steps down to the main path below. I didn't think rationally since the kitten may have jumped off and gone to lurk in the shadows somewhere else since probably one of its few visitors left leaving it alone. Still I kept looking over my shoulder to see if I could see the kitten anywhere, in fear it had taken a liking to my brother and had decided to follow us home. I had to slow down since my brother broke his rhythmic stride and had to gain it back. This took a few crucial seconds away from our fleeing attempt and during this I looked over my shoulder to thankfully to see nothing. But, when I turned around I saw the same black kitten licking its paw on a few stairs below us. It didn't look up at us seeming too fixated on the cleaning of it's paw. I grabbed my brother and yanked him to the left to go around the animal once again. I ushered him in front of me as I glared at the kitten refusing to take my eyes off of it this time. "How did it get from the ledge to the stair case without me noticing it?!" I thought trying to come up with some reason, not caring how unrational it sounded. I just wanted an explanation. It was impossible and this only gave more evidence that this wasn't a normal cat. The bell would have made a noise and a lot too since earlier the slightest breeze made it ring to the point I could hear it, so if it ran I would have heard the bell ringing. Now it hung motionless around the kitten's neck and if the kitten had moved, there would have been some movement of the bell. Yet it stood completely still. I pushed him down the steps slowly and quietly, hoping the kitten wouldn't look up and notice us. As I got to the step the kitten sat on, it suddenly looked up at me with the same eerie stare from earlier. This time it peered at me, skinning a slit of its hollow white eyes at me. I froze in place as our glazes met and as we stared at each other my brother piped in. "Kitti!" He replied and pointed once again at the kitten that sat in front of us. I couldn't muster enough courage to say anything back. All courage had let my body once our gaze met and as much as I wished to leave, my bodily functions stood frozen and motionless. I wanted to leave this area as quick as I could and get back to my grandmother's house and into the safety of my family. More I wanted to make sure my brother got home too safely. The kitten stood up on all fours and ascending up the stairs towards my brother. When it reached him, it began to rub its head on his leg and purr a bit. I couldn't do anything beyond stare at this site. My brother didn't seem to fear the kitten as much as I did. He seemed to accept it with open arms as he bent down to pet the kitten. In reaction it raised its head cheerfully and let my brother pet its blackened fur, ending with a low purr of love. My brother giggled now petting its back too allowing the kitten to purr and rub it's scent and fur on my brother's hand. "Maybe the kitten isn't as harmful as I thought it was." I thought, bending down to pet the kitten too. Suddenly it turned around and with a quick, fluent swing, swiped at my hand leaving a few cuts where it was. It faced me glaring up at me in the same expression as before as it lowered itself into attack mode with a rattlesnake like hiss for a warning. I took my hand back and began waving it in the air to calm the burning sensation. "Ouch!" I cried out as I looked down at the cat resentfully. "What's wrong with you!?" The cat didn't reply still hissing at me as we still looked at each other neither of us wanting to break away from the others stare. "Maybe you scared it." Vadim reasoned. "You did try to pet it and maybe kitti got scared." I broke off my stare with the kitten to look at Vadim who looked back at me. "You scared him." "Maybe." I replied shortly, not looking back down at the kitten. It didn't show me any attention as it went back to rubbing it's head on Vadim's leg. I grabbed his hand and we began to go down the steps to the street as the sky turned a dark maroon color as the sun descended into nightfall and the moon began to come out in its half form. We needed to get home before nightfall and the interaction with the kitten was distracting us from our intentions. "Come!" I said as I yanked Vadim's arm as he slowly followed leaving the kitten behind. "We have to get home to grandmother." He followed slowly looking at the near disappeared kitten with its cloak of darkness wrapping itself around it. It's rusty bell and now light lime green eyes showed in the darkness making me pick up the pace to leave quicker. "We can't leave it!" Vadim protested pulling back as he tried to climb back to the kitten. "It likes me!" "We have to get home Vadim!" I replied yanking him down the stairs once again. "They'll be worried. Anyways the kitten probably has a home so don't worry." Still he resisted pushing upward and wiggling around so my grip loosened. I didn't want to hurt him so when he suddenly forcefully pulled forward and pushed my arm away I lost contact with him. I hopped up the stairs toward him as I heard him repeat, "Kitti" "Vadim come back here now!" I shouted as I reached the level we'd previously been on. Darkness had already began to envelope the side street ahead as I heard the steadily jingle of the bell. Vadim's voice could no longer be heard as I looked around for him frantically. I looked in the shadows as I jogged up the darken street shouting his name. "VADIM!" I shouted looking through a darken window. It seemed no life inhabited this street which provided no help. No lights to shine the path and no lights to show people that could help. The doors we either locked or missing leaving into a darker realm than that of the realm I stood in now. Anxiety swept over me as I jiggled the handle of one door then hustling to another to see if anyone would answer. I had just lost my brother in an area I knew nothing about. My parents didn't know where I was either making this a worse predicament. When I thought all hope was lost I heard the gentle jingle of a bell nearby. I looked around for the eerie light lime green eyes of the kitten, but saw nothing only hearing the bell. "Vadim?" I asked as I looked around, my back to an abandoned shop. Its windows were ripped out leaving shards of glass on the display tables and on the window ledge. Inside was pitch black as the sun creaked below the horizon leaving nothing, but a light blue color in the sky as the moon took over for the night shift. "Sister?" I heard a familiar voice croak. "Help." I looked around desperately hoping to find him wandering aimlessly down the cobblestone street. I didn't see him as my eyes began to slowly adjust to the nightfall. I squinted trying to help my vision adjust quicker to no prevail. "Sister?" Vadim called out again from the shadows. "Help me." This time the voice was closer as my heartbeat picked up. "Vadim?" I responded looking squinting ahead as I aimlessly walked into the darkness. "Come on Follow my voice."
"I'm scared," he cried out trying to hold back the tears. "Help me." I didn't respond as I tried to find a location of where the voice was coming from. It seemed to be right across from me. I stuck out my arms feeling for something till I touched something containing flesh. Startled I jumped back to discover it was my brother. My eyes had adapted enough to see the outline of him and his face. Tears glimmered in the moon light as I took him roughly by the arm and pulled him toward me. He didn't yelp or anything, but rather went with it not protesting as I lead him away. "You're going to leave so soon?" a voice called out and I looked around. I gulped as I pushed Vadim toward the lit street below. My breathing became heavier and my palms started to sweat more. Someone was here and they knew we were too. "Where are you going?" the voice asked again. It was rough as if they'd smoked a pack a day for multiple decades mixed with a hint of femininity. The breeze picked up a bit and we heard the oh so familiar jingle of the bell from the cat. It too was still here. "Come here kitties." The voice said again and this time it sounded closer. "Maybe she's talking to the kitten." I reasoned to myself, as the steps quickly approached us. "The kitten seems to roam a lot." Suddenly a tall, lanky figure appeared a few steps ahead directly in the middle of the road. Of what I could see it was a woman a skeletal appearance. Her skin hung on to her bones almost glued there as her milky white eyes laid small in the large blanken sockets. She wore a shirt that seemed to fit her, yet hung loosely on her as she had no meat anywhere on her body. A weird red design appeared on the color that ran down to just above the breast in a button up fashion with the same red design on both arm sleeves and sleeve collars. She wore an equally black skirt that ran down to below her knees, exposing ripped of flesh and scabs to the open air. Her hair flowed behind her, long and straight as it too was shadowy black and blending in with the darkness around her. "Stop!" the woman called out sticking one hand out as I nearly picked up Vadim in hurry as I ran past the figure. "Help me my kitties!" I didn't stop and wouldn't stop even as we got onto the main road below back into population, till we reached grandmothers house. We quickly scurried in as the moon had now fully peaked up and illuminated the sky casing a shade of navy blue with the stars scattered around like blown dust. When we entered into the lit home and quickly shut the door behind us. Mother, father, and grandmother were sitting around the fireplace in the living room discussing something, which abruptly stopped when we entered. "There you are," my mother started turning to face us. "Where have you-" Before she could finish she was met with the horror and dismay plastered on our faces. "What happened?!"
I explained in between gasps for air, how we had been walking down a strip on an early twilight before Vadim (who was still sniffling a bit) got lost chasing a kitten. After I found him and we began to hear voices then we ran into a woman who looked skeletal on the streets. My mother and father called my stories an excuse for showing up late, but my grandmother seemed interested. Multiple times my mother told her to be quiet that these were just figments of our imagination and nothing else. My grandmother would go quiet before trying to ask a question about the woman. Finally my mother allowed her to ask her question. "Dear can you describe this woman?" she asked. I looked at her with a look of confinement. "Why?" I replied, trying to recall certain features. "Don't mind why, just tell me." She replied back placing a hand on my shoulder and looked at me in the eye, "Describe her." "She was about your height with long straight black hair..." I stammered and my parents grew impatient. "Well there are tons of people just like that!" my mother interrupted, but was quickly stopped by my grandmother's finger singling one moment. "Continue." She said with a smile on her wrinkled face. "Um... She didn't seem to have any meat on her body as if she'd been starved for a while." I continued through the gasps by my parents. It was taboo to bring up starving and hunger here since the horrific acts many years prior. Still my grandmother wasn't taken back and still smiled with a slight nod for me to continue. "She had hollow eyes." I added and my grandmother nodded. "What did she wear?" she asked shortly. "Well some weird long-sleeved like shirt with weird red designs that were around her collar and arms." I informed trying to remember what the design was. "Where did you meet her?" she said with a tone of curiosity in her voice. "Well... Just above the market on the center of town. Where the older homes are, why?" "The witch is back at it again." My grandmother spat, before taking her hand off my shoulder and sitting back down. "Which one of you two did she try to get?" We all looked at her confused and lost as she pointed at me and Vadim. "Who she tried to get?" I repeated to see if the words would registered in my mind. They didn't. "Did you by any chance see a kitten with a bell around its neck?" she asked and chills ran down my spine. "Yes..." I replied unnerved that she'd know this. She did live here, but rarely left the home due to the inability to move because of age. So for her to know something like this was startling. "Was the kitten black?" she asked again sounding more confident she knew the thing. "Yes, how-" I started, but was cut off by the finger once again. "Did it lure you into the darkness?" This time Vadim spoke with a low, "Yes" and a nod. "It's the Ukrainian Witch." She said shortly before looking at the fire. "Many years ago when I was a kid we had a horrid famine. Food was scarce here so many people resorted to cannibalism or eating of their fellow kind." Her gaze moved from the fire to the window overlooking the village. "There was once a woman whose husband had been killed trying to supply food to the village. She was pregnant with a child and with two others had no food to give them. As she watched her children wither away, rumors say she killed them and ate them. Why, no one knows, but because of the unlikely circumstances and events she had a miscarriage. Mad at Stalin for the loss of her family she resorted to witch craft to feed herself and make others who were just as lucky to live, suffer. She envied those who had surviving children since she lost her own to the genocide. She'd turn into a black cat only noticeable by the bell around its neck, and lead variable little children to a home where she'd kill them and consume them. The village was terrified of the witch and told kids not to follow the black cat, yet kids still. They found the bodies and skeletons of the kids in the homes above the market place shortly after the famine ended. Enraged and with grievance they took torches to the home and burned it to the ground to scare off the witch." She chuckled a bit before looking at me.

"That's why no one goes up there."