The Witch of Willow Lake

Three

It was the eve before my birthday and Mary had been nothing short of astonishing. She'd helped me get a cleaning job in a small apothecary where she worked herself. It did not pay much, only seventeen cents an hour, but it was enough to give Mary a little something for the food and clothing she gave me.

Within just six days, Mary had helped make the small town of Silver Oak like a new home. It could never replace the home I'd come from, but I knew there were far worse places for me to start my new life and I was enjoying living with Mary.

I did what I could to help Mary. In the mornings, I would make and make her breakfast while she readied herself for work. While she was at work, I would clean up around the house and do a small bit of gardening in her front yard. I would join her at the shop later in the afternoon, where I would resume my duties until a little after closing.

In the evenings, she would let me rest a little while she busied herself, making dinner for the two of us. Sometimes I would help and she would teach me to cook new things. Then after we ate, I cleaned up, doing the dishes before we would sit in front of the fireplace, talking, or reading together.

She would ask me all about my family, although I never told her who my family had really been. That was the first thing we were taught, never to say to people that we were warlocks. It was the one thing we had to keep a secret, in fear that an event much like the Salem witch trials happened again.

Most humans feared the unknown, and they feared the supernatural. Their minds filled with horror stories from a young age, so we could not tell. So, I was always careful to leave that part out as Mary questioned me, and was sure never to answer in ways that may cause her to suspect anything of the sort.

"So, what would you like to do for your birthday tomorrow? Sweet sixteen, we must do something special."

"I'm perfectly okay with just staying here and reading this book." I gave Mary a small smile, holding up the book she'd lent me to read.

"Oh, nonsense. Only once does a beautiful young lady like yourself turn sixteen. Oh, how I envy your eyes and hair." Mary swooned. "That beautiful flowing silver hair, which you keep so neat in a braid. Your eyes are magnificent. I've heard of people with eyes like yours, but never have I seen them before. With that said, I've never seen someone so young with silver hair either. You are certainly someone very special."

My eyes weren't like other peoples. Everyone I had ever encountered had two eyes of the same color; however, mine was different. My left eye was a deep ocean blue with a darker rim around the iris, much like my fathers. And my right was more of a soft green, with a dark blue fleck in the iris. Green like my mothers.

"You're certainly a unique beauty with your hair and eyes." Mary continued, "I know that the young boy who visits the shop is very taken with you. Damon. He asked me to see if you'd be interested in meeting up with him one evening. He's seventeen and a charming boy."

My cheeks warmed as a blush crept over them. I couldn't deny, I did quite fancy the young boy, he was handsome and well mannered with a smile that could light up a dark room. "Oh. He does seem very sweet."

Damon had come into the shop while I was cleaning almost every day. He always stopped to say hello to me and offered me a hard candied sweet which he got from his father's sweet shop on the other side of town.

"I'll tell you now my love; you can't go wrong with a boy like Damon. His family is one of the richest in town, although of course money is no matter. He's always been such a well mannered, polite boy. Well educated and besides the odd, minor transgression, never puts a foot wrong. You should consider it. But that's for another day. I think tomorrow I shall borrow my friends car and I'll take you to the next town over. They have a beautiful park where we can have a picnic, indulge ourselves in cake and relax a little. I took the day off and arranged for you to have the day off too."