The First

A Monster is Born

Ash painted Reina Maria's face gray. She ran her hands across the ground, running her fingers through the embers like sand. Reina Maria stood. She did not wipe their remains off of her legs, arms, or face. They were a part of her now, even in their afterlife, they were a part of her. She walked through the center of town.

People watched from cracks in closed blinds and opened doors as she passed, no one spoke a word to her.

When she reached the edge of the town, she stopped for a moment and glanced back at her past life. They were all dead to her now.

Reina Maria made her way into the forest. It was almost nightfall, but she did not mind the cold. This was her forest. She knew it well.

After an hour or so had passed, she approached her destination. On any other day, she would have been afraid to come to this place. This was where the real witch lived, or so the rumors said.

Reina Maria opened the gate and walked up the path to the front door. The house appeared abandoned. A layer of dried leaves and dirt covered the front porch. Old vines climbed up the outer walls of the house, clinging in desperation to the edges of the windows.

Reina Maria lifted her hand to knock and then hesitated. She was not afraid of the witch. She had lost everything. What was left for her to lose? But up to that moment, she had not thought about what she would do once she reached the cabin. She simply had an overwhelming need and desire to go to it, as if something was calling her forth.

She had no other choice. She had nowhere else to go.

She knocked twice and waited. 

Several moments later, the door opened. A sour metallic scent of blood escaped out the open door of the cabin. She peered in but could not see a thing. 

Reina Maria took a deep breath. She no longer felt any fear or hesitation. She exhaled and walked over the threshold into the darkness.

...

"You're a brave girl coming here," a voice spoke out from the darkness. It was frigid and harsh and resonated throughout the room. "Or maybe just foolish."

Each word trickled down the back of Reina Maria's spine like a faint chill.

"I have nothing left to lose," Reina Maria said, taking a step forward.

"You have your life."

"I will give it."

"Is that why you came here, to die? You can accomplish that on your own."

"I don't seek death."

"Then what is it that you want?" The woman asked.

"Revenge."

"Revenge is a path walked alone."

"I am already alone," Reina Maria said and took another step. She stood only a foot away. She knelt down onto her knees and grabbed the woman's hand. It felt cold and lifeless in her grasp.

"You speak of revenge with an unscathed tongue. If you repay evil with evil, you are condemning yourself to a life of unhappiness. You will never satisfy your thirst."

"They tied my mother and pregnant sister to a stake." Reina Maria held her hand tighter. "Their flesh turned black." The whites in her eyes grew large. "Flames engulfed their hair. Their bodies."

"A rose of love does not blossom from thorns of vengeance."

"You speak in riddles but my answer remains the same," Reina Maria said. "Besides, I don't want love."