Witch

Chapter Eight

"What do you mean, Mother?"  I ask her.

"Well, I'm sure that you know.  After you recover, I'm taking you home."

Silence.  I let the words sink into my skin and spread throughout my body.  In their wake is anger.  "What do you mean, take me home?  I have to graduate, first."

"No, after an accident like this, I don't know if I can trust you to live on your own here anymore,"  She sounds as if she's trying to be kind about it, but I see through her façade. 

"But, I'm the most trustworthy person you know, mother,"  I plead.  "You can't take me home!  This is my home!  This is where I belong!"

I had finished my sentence after realizing that I had taken it too far.  Mother stares at me through hurt, glassy eyes.  "Do you mean, that you do not want to come back to the Abbey at all?"  She says in a small voice.

"No, no,"  I blink and stare back.  "I mean that I have to stay here to live up to my full potential.  To be the best I can be.  I always come visit the Abbey during a holiday.  You can always trust me to come home to you, to help you with the shop, to--"

"That doesn't matter, Willow.  You didn't think before you acted.  I thought you were an adult,"  She says.

"That was one time Mother!"

"And look where it got you!"  She yells.  "A damned hospital with half of your body crushed to bits!"

Anger wells up of the rim of my eyes and threatens to explode out.  My breathing becomes staggered and my heart starts to race.  "You have to believe that nothing like this will happen again."  I try to crane my neck forward, but am stopped by a neck brace and intense pain.  "Mother, this place is the best thing that ever happened to me, even with a broken body...I don't have a broken mind.  I can stay and study."

She doesn't reply, but appears to be lost in thought. 

"Just give it time; I will heal and all with be normal again,"  I say.  "I promise."

She sighs and her shoulders sag.  She looks at me with the same tired face Limerick did just moments ago.  "I got the news by mail.  I had to close the shop, jump on the broomstick and head here right away.  I took me three days by broomstick.  I suffered through sleet and rain just to get to the one I love.  A mother's love for her daughter is something that cannot be matched.  A mother always wants to protect, to shelter, but when their child gets hurt, they feel hopeless and lost.  I would live an empty life without you Willow.  I would be an empty shell of a witch."

"Mother,"  I clear my throat.  "I'll always be here.  You never have to worry about losing me, because I know it's the same love that you have for me is what pulls me through the tough times.  And I love you just as much."

The room is silent. 

"Who's hungry?"  The door burst open.  A cheerful looking woman walks in with a plate of food, who's smells hit my nose as soon as she enters.  My stomach now realizes that it hasn't eaten anything in almost two months and growls.  The woman presses a button, which slowly raises the bed up, positioning me sitting up.  She unfolds two legs from the bottom of the tray and sits it on my lap.

Yogurt, oats, and milk with fruit  salad.  How depressing. 

"Now,"  The nurse steps back.  "There's a powerful healing elixir in your food, so make sure you eat all of it.  It'll help you get better."

"Thank you,"  I tell her as she leaves the room.  I take my good hand, my right hand, which is also my off hand, and attempt to pick up my spoon.  After a few tries I finally get a good grip on it.  "I hate being left-handed," I mumble and dip the spoon into my yogurt.