Thirty One Days

Pure

The ground was wet. Not a normal after a rain shower wet, but a deep saturated wet that would linger for days. The smell of a past rain still hung in the air accompanied by the scent of earth and freshness. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness around me, I realized I couldn't see my feet. They were drowning in a dark, deep puddle.
Feet can't drown, I laughed to myself then stopped when I realized where I was. A forest that was casted over in shadows, nothing was clear and nothing was blurry at the same time. Almost like my eyes couldn't decide what to focus on or where to focus.
A quick fog had rolled in covering the surrounding ground, while enormous tree crawled out of it and shot up towards the night sky. The moon shown brightly, but none of its light made it down toward me.
My skin prickled as someone appeared a few steps away from me, as I turned in the puddle to face them I realized it was a Faceless person who twirled their thumbs. This person seemed to be a child, shorter than me with a little dress on, however her dress was torn and bloody. The feeling of innocence poured of her with a hint of tragedy hidden behind her featureless face.
She waved at me.
Unsure of what to do, or if she would even see me, I waved back.
A giggle escaped her invisible lips.
She waved for me to come over towards her, I vaguely wondered if I could move my feet but found that I could. My stomach lurched as pain stretched through out my body. Glancing down at my feet, I saw that they were stained red, I had been standing in a pool of blood.
The girl waved at me again and I found myself pushing aside my pain to walk over to her. When I was standing directly in front of her, she gripped my hand tightly and waved for me to come down.
I bent down, cautiously.
"He is here." She whispered in a voice that didn't belong to a little girl, my heart jumped into my throat as I stumbled back, anxiety prickling my skin.  She held onto my hand tightly still, "Remember where you've come from,"
Just like that the little girl let go of my head and a hoard of faceless people appeared around me, all facing in different directions, all wearing different outfits, all whispering amongst themselves. The sound of their voices sent repetitive shivers down my spin as I looked for a way out of this hoard. A way out of this forest.
Standing again, I tried to move out of the crowd but the Faceless People that were the closest would whisper harshly towards me. Frustration built up inside of me as I continued to leave and was continuously blocked, their murders continued to grow.
Walking up close to one of the people I tried to listen to what they were whispering about, but it was useless. Whatever they were whispering had blending closing together and became a bush of noise
Then everything became quiet.
The voices stopped.
The Faceless People were still.
The only sound came from the heart beating aggressively in my chest and the rushing of the blood in my veins. The silence made my ears ring as I mentally begged for another noise to happened, anything, besides myself. Then, a twig snapped.
The single sound echoed throughout the entirety of the forest, a second later every single one of the Faceless People were rushing towards me. Huddling around me, tightly, I felt the air slipping away from my lungs. They bunched close and I could feel their dry, crackled skin brush against mine, their damp clothes resting on mine.
Then I noticed it, the Cloaked Skelton floating towards the mass of bodies that I was at the center of, incredibly fast. However, they wouldn't let me run no matter how hard I tried to get away until one of them pushed me down allowing me to see an opening in their legs. A path.
Crawling through puddles of blood, twigs and rocks digging into my skin, and getting caught on the people, I went as fast as I could. I felt the chill of the Skelton as it approached and the smell of rotten preluding it. I had to fight the urge to vomit and cry.
However, no matter how fast I crawled I could hear the black mass throwing the Faceless People aside as it made its way towards me. Some of the people began yelling at me, in their hoarse voice while others began to weep, they knew what would happen.
Just as I felt the chill creep up on my foot, it was over.

It was just a dream, I repeated to myself as the feeling of sunlight warmed my skin.
I was struggling to open my eyes, not for the fear of what lurked beyond my eye lids, not for what the day holds or more embarrassing moments but what the future holds. The thought of a future that was not promised to me was not a future that I looked forward to, but it intrigued me. The thought that my life could end at any moment was what pushed me out of bed everyday.
That and my mom scolding me.
As I finally opened my eyes I came to realize that Istvan was laying next to me, and we were in Madam Luna's house, in Madam Luna's bed, surrounded by all her beloved possessions. In that moment, I felt infinite.
My body ached.
"Stevie," Istvan said in a sleep voice as I turned towards him, his tired green eyes glancing up at me through half shut eyelids.
"Morning," I tried to sound lighthearted but he didn't seem to notice.
"I saw him," Istvan said plainly, "In my dream," After a slightly pause he added, "You did too."
The image of the Skelton advancing towards me in the moonlit forest set shivers down my spine, who else could he be talking about? Did he have the same dreams also? The ones with the Faceless People, puddles of blood, and sharp forest floor.
My silence must have been enough of an answer because he sighed and sat up, body leaning heavily towards one side. He was still weak from whatever procedures Doctor Williamson had done to him. 
"I've been having them too," Istvan said after a moment, struggling to control his labored breathing as his forehead became slightly beaded with sweat. "We need to talk to Madam Luna."

Helping Istvan out of bed, I found myself, and him, blushing because he only had underwear on. After we both dressed we went into the living room, which was empty, then went into the kitchen where we saw Madam Luna sitting at the kitchen table.
The kitchen was decent sized for her small house with white walls and ashy grey counters, her fridge and stove had to be from the 80's while she had a brand new stand mixer sitting in the corner. Compared the the rest of the house this room was oddly bare except for a few books and pictures lying around. A book shelve set that matched the grainy wood of the dark kitchen table, held many books and fancy tea cups. 
Tea cups similar to the one that Madam Luna was sipping tea out of.
"Hello," She said lightly, as she turned a page in a book, not bothering to look up at us. The book was not Professor Thorne's book and also wasn't in English. Neither of us said anything as we took our seats at the table. She waved to two cups sitting next to the tea pot and a small array of baked goods, as a way of saying have some.
The tea held hints of floral and herbal flavors while the scones were still warm.
"We have a-"
"Question about me?" Madam Luna finished the sentence, she laid her book down and her crystal blue eyes fell on us. "Ask."
In that moment I became hesitant, Madam Luna was such an unapologetic person, always daring to be her truest self. Who was I to question Madam Luna? Someone who avoided looking at herself and stared at old images. After all she had gone out of her way to help us find the answers we want, even though it harmed one of us. She tried her best. However, something deep down pushed me to ask the question.
"What are you?" I wished my voice was as strong as I pretended to be.
Madam Luna looked at us for a moment, her eyes shifting between the both of us, before settling on her own ringed finger that laid across the table. "I'm like you children."
"What!?" I couldn't hold my astonishment in, she was one of us? She saw the things that we saw? She lived through the things that Istvan and I did? I glanced at Istvan and his face portrayed the small astonishment and disbelief that mine sure did.
"How?" Istvan croaked as he blinked. 
"Let me rephrase," Madam Luna cleared her throat. "I am a Pure Blood. Meaning I am from a single bloodline while the two of you are from a mix of bloodlines."
"So you, you see the stuff, the insane stuff, that we do?" Istvan asked leaning into the table.
"And feel the same things?" I added.
Madam Luna sat oddly calm on the other side of the table, her arms crossed politely. "Yes. I am a Pure Blooded Witch."