Short Stories

Dried Roses (Part 2)

‼️Warning: images of death by poison, harrasment, and attempted murder by fire and stake‼️

Witching Season: Week 2

I walk around the school halls in a daze. It is now Tuesday, during the second week of Witching Season. Neveah and Lucas have already been buried. I still can't get the images out of my head.

I find myself at my locker and switch out my books. Rem is waiting silently beside my locker. "Are you all right?" She asks. "You've been so quiet since Friday."

"I don't know," I reply. "Finding two bodies isn't something you just...get over." I shudder and wrap my arms around myself. "There has to be some way to stop this. How long has the Witching Season been occurring?"

"The Witches died in 1816," Rem explained. "The first three couples died the year after. It's happened every year since."

"That's been nearly 200 years. No one has tried to stop it?" I almost can't believe it.

"Several people did but it made no difference. It continues to happen every year."

"Who got the roses this week?"

"No one."

"No one?"

Rem nods. "Sometimes the roses don't appear immediately. They can show up at the start of the week with the deaths at the end. They can show up in the middle of the week, at the end of the week..."

"I get the picture." I sigh and lean my head against the locker. "This weeks method is poison, right?"

"Right."

"Why?"

Rem shrugged. "That's a question for Moses. I've got to go to class now. I'll find you later." She gives me a small smile and heads off.

I close my locker and walk to my next class. Unfortunately for me, Madison is there. She's taken to blaming me for Lucas and Neveah's deaths, ever since she learned that I was the one who found them.

I take my seat and get ready for the lesson. Madison enters the room and sits down next to me. "Hello, Witch," she sneers.

I choose to ignore her. Mrs. Ellis calls the class to order. She hands around our worksheets to fill out during the lesson and we begin. Madison starts chewing her gum extra loud and leaning towards me. I swallow and focus harder on listening to Mrs. Ellis.

"Who are you going to poison this week, Witch?" Madison whispers. "Who did they tell you to kill?"

"I didn't kill anyone and I'm not a witch."

"Sure, and Neveah just happened to fall into the lake and drown. You were there. You did it to them. You're a witch and I'm going to make sure that everyone knows it."

"That doesn't even make sense. These deaths and Witching Season have been happening long before I came to Tatterbend," I retort.

"Yes, but no one has ever actually claimed to witness a death before. You're a witch. I think you can talk to them." By them, she means the couple who were murdered for supposedly being witches, I suppose. "They tell you who to kill and you do it."