Witch.Burn them.
Oh god. Oh no.
My eyes widen at the sudden realisation of what I’ve done. I killed a man. A man who did nothing to provoke it. Even worse, I left his body in the forest.
Fuck.
I shoot to my feet, my chair falling onto its back from my sudden rise, and I look outside. Night has fallen, and it’s pitch black—I can't go back into the forest now. I'm too late. I'll befound out and charged with murder, and it'll be my own head on my own stage and block. I think back as hard as I can to figure out what happened to me.
Evelyn. My name. Someone had whispered my name.
Him.
He was there. I murdered a man and he saw me. He smiled at me, like he enjoyed the show.
I stop, standing in my kitchen area, tugging at my hair.
Hair.
I have his hair. My eyes widen and I look around me,where is it?There. On the floor near my cottage door, is a lock of hair, attached to some skin. I go and pick it up, examining the golden locks that I stole. I smile. My own little trophy.
A crow comes to my window and taps its beak on the glass, cawing and staring. I look at it and grin. Only that man knows my secret, and now I have to find something to do with this prize.
Terrified and excited at the same time, my heart begins racing and my mind spins.
I have to findHim.
Chapter Four
“Hear Ye,Hear Ye, man found dead in the Cliffe Wood!”
The town crier bellows the same words over and over, ringing his bell. I halt. That’smykill. I wait around to hear if he has any more information or if there are any witnesses. I might be caught.
My heart races.
What a thrill.
I killed an innocent yet creepy man and it allowed me to see those eyes. To seehim. I need to see him again. I need to know who orwhathe is.
The town crier only repeats the one sentence with no new information and I grow restless. I click my heels on Ada to get her moving again and I keep my eyes alert for anyone staring at me or wanting to come after me. No one can possibly know that man’s death was by my hands. My knife. The thought of what I did scares me but also excites my blood. I need to do it again, and soon.
Ada looks even more stunning than usual, with the golden lock of hair from my victim plaited amongst her mane, a light shining in her blackness. I made sure to clean the bit of skin off so as to hide where it came from.
I never take her close to work, instead dropping her off at a neighbourhood stable that many people use. Then I walk the rest of the way. I enjoy the half-hour stroll, it gives me time to take in the city around me.
The hushed voices of a group of women on the street make me slow down.
“They’ve accused Maude of putting a curse on her husband! They had an argument and the next day, he lost his job at the factory AND the debt collectors came to take his horse!”
“A witch? A witch, here?”
“She even has a black cat!”
“Doesn’t she collect a lot of weird things? Like, bones?”
“Yes! I saw she had a skull of something small!”
“Witch! She needs to burn!”
