The Witch's House - The Diary of Ellen

Epilogue

I heard a whistling sound. It was close by, and I heard it every time I heaved my chest. So I knew that it was not the wind, but a sound coming from me.

On the little path to Ellen's house.

The black cat had told me things I never wanted to hear.

After his words made me lose consciousness at the end of the conversation, I woke up on a cold floor.

It was pitch black before me. I could see nothing.

I could only hear my labored breathing.

I had no feeling beneath my thighs, and I remembered that it was because there were no legs there.

In the depths of my ears, I heard the voice of the black cat I'd just heard, and "my" laughter.

"Mine"?

Yes.

I heard my laughter. As my body laughed, I heard it leave the room and run down the hallway.

I was Viola. A thirteen-year-old girl.

I lived in a rural village with my father, a hunter.

But now, my body was Ellen.

A sick witch who had lived longer than she should have.

...And here I was after switching bodies with her.

Ellen's memories, all the things she'd seen, were in her body.

On a whim, she had her magic compose it in her diary.

Her life in the slums. Her bedridden days. Her parents who didn't love her. The back alley she ran into after killing them both. Her meeting with a demon, and the house she was taken to. The days she spent after becoming a witch.

All the way up to receiving a spell to cure her sickness, finding me, and switching bodies with me.

At that time...

I visited with a basket of flowers, and saw Ellen breathing laboriously.

Bandages were wrapped around both eyes.

I let go of the basket and ran over.

I gripped her hand, and listened carefully to each faint syllable out of her little lips.

Thinking on it now, I can't exactly remember what we said to each other. I'm unable to.

After a word or two...

She said she could use magic.

And she said that she wanted to borrow my body, just for a day.

I felt so sorry for her, I lent her my body.

...And yet.

Ellen ran, leaving me behind.

She had me drink a medicine that burned my throat, and said she'd borrow my body forever.

Her betrayal echoed in my ears.

Her words pierced my chest and gouged the meat out of my heart.

My body was hot like a fire had been lit. I sobbed in terrible sorrow.

I thought of you as my friend.

Why?

...Why, you ask?

I heard the voice of the black cat.

Are you still saying that?

Surely you know.