Hunger

Chapter 2

As the moon rises high in the night sky, you sneak into the surrounding forest. There is a village roughly one day's walk away. But there is no reason for a witch to walk. Wrapping yourself tightly in a woolen cloak, you straddle your broom and kick off the ground, your body becoming weightless in the air. You fly swiftly to and fro for a moment, becoming accustomed to the feeling of your broom. Your hands are shaking as sweat begins to drip from your face. It has been so long since your took to the night sky. Your hair swirls around you as you lean forward, causing the broom to propel you through the air. It doesn't take long to remember your skill. After only a few moments, you set off intently, keeping your eyes upon the world below. Your hands are still shaking, but you know this is what you must do.

As you fly through the sky above the woods, your attention is pulled to the left. The scent is the first thing you notice. A scent of freshly turned dirt and honey commingling, traveling up your nose and entangling itself around your mind, taking ahold of your senses. A child! There is a cottage here in the woods you didn't know existed. How you could have missed something like this, you don't know. All you know is that you've finally seemed to come across a stroke of good luck. Now you don't have to enchant a child all the way back to your home. You won't have to enchant a child at all. Why spell the children when you can drive the parents to abandon their offspring in the woods, doing half the work for you?

You float towards the grounds, gently dismounting your steed with the grace of a snake, slithering to the forest floor without even the smallest sound. The cottage itself is small, made up of many stones with a thatched roof. Peering through the windows, you see a small open room with two doors leading to bed-chambers. You set your broom off to the side of the hovel and, after focusing for only a moment, your body begins to bend and shrink, hair sprouts from your pores, and a tail extends from your spinal column. You feel your bones pop and twist as you shift your form from that of a human, to an inconsequential mouse. The world always seems more fantastic when you shape-shift; more grandiose. It's an uncomfortable process, but one with many benefits. Scuttling beneath the door, you see the glowing embers of the fireplace and cringe. You think back to what happened to Annabelle again. You miss her so, but you learned from her mistakes. She was always affected by the hunger differently, more violently. She told you it was like having her insides clawing at her, tearing her apart. She went mad with the hunger after only two weeks without eating, killing a child in broad daylight without even using magic, and eating her in the middle of her home. It was loud, and it was messy. She was burned that day. You wanted to save her, but if you used your magic, you would have been killed too. Perhaps that would have been better than your current fate, starving and unable to die. But you can't focus on that right now. If you are going to survive this, you have to keep your wits about you.

Thecold floor on the pads of your tiny paws remind you of your goal. You runtowards the nearest door and move beneath it into the room. Shifting back tohuman form, you see something you did not expect. Two children resting in the same bed. The hunger overcomes you. "It would be so easy," you think toyourself when you see how deeply they are sleeping. Your mouth is watering, thehunger pushing you, commanding you to act NOW. As your raise your hands tostrike though, your sisters screams float back to you. You certainly could sate your hunger right here, rightnow. But if you were caught, if you were captured, your fate would be a mosttorturous death. Killing the family wouldn't be hard, but if this cottageexisted for so long without your knowledge, how many other may be nearby? No.You wouldn't go through that. Taking a breath, you step back before shiftingback to a mouse and scuttling out of the children's room and into that of the parents.You shift form again, and lean down. You whisper your will into the ear of thefather, using the magic of your words and voice to implant your spell. Movingto the mother, you do this same. You have to be more commanding, but you getthe job done. Mothers are always harder, their love more difficult to overcome.With a sly smile, you shift your form once more and exit the home, returning toyour broom. Tomorrow, the parents willbe kicking their children out of the home. Tomorrow, you will have not justone, but two children in your grasp. With a leap, you mount your broom and flyhigh above the tree canopy, ecstatic at your near victory. Your thoughts turnonce more to your sister. "Soon," youthink to yourself. "Soon I will haveenough to eat for both of us." With a nod to Annabelle's spirit, you flyhome, ready for a night of restless sleep.