The Cursed Witch

Prologue

"Hurry up, grandma ! I must go see my friend!"

I groan and face the most calmly possible my little patient while rubbing my forehead. We only have a three-year difference, but he keeps calling me "grandma". It shouldn't upset me, after all, he doesn't know the truth. But, well... It does bother me. That body of mine bothers me.

The reason is simple. I look like an eighty-year-old woman. Yeah, you read it right. But what with the three-year difference if that's so? Life really loves tricking honest people. I was born in a real old family of witches. A famous one in the area. After all, it has been ages since the Witch started to look after the villagers. With all her years on Earth (because I can't really speak of experience), with her unchanging face and arthritis problem, she thinks about the villagers before herself... What a cute little story!

That's exactly what it is. A cute little story. But the Witch doesn't heal the villagers on her own will. She doesn't look like this for her pleasure. It's a curse. She can't leave this place. Her soul is embedded in this house. And she will die if she quits it for too long.

"Seriously, grandma, stop looking in the void and take care of my ankle!"

"You little brat! It's nothing! You must really like whining..." I walk through the room and put the cream beside him. I struggle while opening the pot, but finally I spread the medicine on his ankle.

"Oww... It hurts so much, how can it be nothing? Oww... Can't you be nicer with me?"

"I'll try..." I sigh.

"Finally! That's better..."

I can't stand him. However, he is one of my last clients, so I can't be too rough. The Witch doesn't have her so-impressive-wonderful-and-miraculous reputation anymore. Since two generations people has been quite suspicious around her. In fact, the curse states that the Witch looks old the day and shows her true self at night. One night, my grandmother didn't close the curtains when she was the Witch. And some villagers saw. She was a beautiful young woman at that time...

Strange rumors appeared from that event. One of them was that she had kidnapped the woman and was sucking her life to death in order to stay alive. And the other, the most terrible for the villagers, was that she was deceiving them. She had made a contract with the Evil, some said they even saw them kiss passionately. She was sowing the seeds of sickness instead of helping them. She wanted to make them suffer with her weird and expensive treatments for the sake of her evil lover. From this damned night on, the villagers don't really trust the Witch they were so proud of having in the neighborhood. A few of them have still been seeing the Witch. And except for this kid, they were all in critical state when they came. They have been waiting so much time before really being aware of the gravity of their sickness. When my mother was the Witch, she couldn't save so many of them... She became depressive and died at an early age, leaving me the status of the Witch before anyone else in our family history.

"It's all done. Take this with you and apply some on your ankle evening and morning for one week. And be more careful, the more you twist your ankle, the more you will twist it afterwards."

"Yeah yeah... Here's your reward." He puts two copper coins in my hand.

Such an arrogant child!

"Thank you so much... Leave now..."

"Are you sure? You seem to be lonely..." He smiles mischievously.

I made a vow at this instant. One day, when I won't need him anymore to make a living, I will really sow the seeds of sickness in his body for at least one month.

"Get out. I'm old and sleepy."

"If you say so..." Reluctantly, he takes his jacket. "Good night grandma!"

It is 4 p.m. Once the door is closed, I take the first thing I find and close my hand on it the tightest possible. This reaction bothers me so much!!! And I can't help it! Really...

My eyes fall on the sculpture in the right corner of the room and I feel a brutal revulsion for it. It was already there before my arrival. Made of wood, it is a tree sculpture about which I received a few compliments, but I can't seem to like it.

I turn back to my previous occupation. Being the Witch is quite tough. Since I can't leave my house, I need to be organized to provide the greatest service in all possible situations. The essential is to have the good ingredient and to try to improve my treatments. I must gain the trust of the villagers. It's hell without it, and even if I hate being here, I can't help thinking about the next Witch... It won't be my daughter, I was too young to have one when I became the Witch and the probability of having one in my current state is quite low. But I read from my mother that one of my cousins can become the Witch, if I don't bear a girl. She told me it already happened at least twice in our history. I can't let this happen without trying my best to make them live a better life. I'd like to live better myself.

Without sighing, I rummage through my boxes and write down what I need to order to the guild to maintain a great service for my patients.