Spookerella | Horror Short Stories

13 | The Potion Shop

I must have paced the entire length of the street about one hundred times by now. I may have added in a few rounds around the block, too, just to spice up the view a little. My hands were clammy every time I passed Potions Inc, but I could never bring myself to enter when I came back around. The minutes ticked by until an hour had passed, but I continued to wander back and forth.

Finally, the pressure of time and not wishing to wait until next year to find out about this place pushed me to cross the road and enter the shop. A bell rung above me, a light tinkle as the scent of flowers, perfumes and other substances engulfed my senses. Bright coloured liquids were in different shaped beakers. It was a lot warmer than I expected, filled with the heat from the candlelight which surrounded the room in a golden glow. Despite the various concoctions in jars and such, it was rather homely.

An elderly woman hummed to herself behind a wooden counter that was tucked away in the farthest corner of the shop, a black cauldron on top where she spun her wooden spoon, engrossed in her work. Upon closer inspection, a bump was on her back, possibly from years of bending over the counter making whatever she was currently stirring within the black cauldron.

"Hello?" My voice wobbled from my nervousness.

The old lady hummed as she looked up towards me, fixing the half moon glasses perched at the edge of her nose. "Oh, hello dear!" She smiled, her eyes closed with her head tilted to the side, exposing the tight bun of her silver hair wrapped around her head.

I thumbed the table, wiping off the dust that coated it as I passed. "Um, I don't think I've been in here before," I murmur.

The old woman chuckled, returning to stirring whatever liquid she was creating in the cauldron. "Yes, I believe I would remember you if you had been. How can I help you, dear?"

"Well, I was wondering why this shop only appears here only once a year for a start?" I ask, prodding for an answer to the question that had been stirring within me for years.

She smiled, looking over the top of her glasses. "Hm, well you see, this is a special kind of shop. It only ever appears on Halloween because it is the day of all things strange and beautiful, don't you agree?" She gestured around the potions shop.

"Are these potions, then? Like, you're a witch?" I look sidelong at her.

Another chuckle escaped her as her shoulders jutted up and down. "Yes, I am and yes these are." She looked up again. "I am in fact looking for a student. An apprentice if you will. Perhaps you would like to be, oh inquisitive one?"

I stared at her for a while before one word escaped my mouth as I knew it would, "Yes." 

Word count = 499 words

Written for the Magic prompt for the Halloween Vault 3D