Where?

Where ?

-The Sequel to Who?-

The Short Story 2

  Heather plucked the earphone out of her left ear, before pressing her thumb against where it once was, massaging it. Her ear hurt from all that pressure.

  Pressure…where did it come from? Heather had felt like she had just apparated -Harry Potter style- for the first time. Except that she had never known how to apparate and no one had taught her nor brought her alongside them.

  So how did she do it? And while she was musing over that, where in the world was she?

  She shifted her attention to her surroundings. She was in a completely out of the world and bizarre place. Within her line of sight was a once majestic but now crumbling stone arch with what appeared to be intricate, detailed carvings on it. The vanilla twilight lighting made it cast an impressive shadow. Apart from that out of nowhere arch, Heather seemed to be at a plain. Around her were the occasional tuft of knee-high golden grass. Heather looked down and saw that her feet were on a dusty concrete ground. Dusty with grey cement powder.

  But what made the place truly outlandish were the owls there. Owls, in hundreds, filled the sky with their brown, white and around one in ten, black feathers. The stone arch appeared to be their resting ‘bench’ -it was so crowded that some of them had even resorted to sitting on the ground. Flat land, not exactly what they liked.

  Heather took in this whole scene, before noticing a witch -don’t ask how she knew, but something in Heather’s gut told her that that lady was a witch- a few feet from the arch, sitting by a charcoal black cauldron and an animated fire dancing in the breezy air.

  The fire! Heather realized, and drew in a quick breath.

  Indeed, it was the eternal flame. Except that over here, it burned with a brilliant white light with the slightest tinge of blue.

  The witch looked up, startling Heather. Her pupils were a violent orange and amber red colour -the colour of fire. And they stared right through Heather’s warm brown ones.

  A shiver ran down Heather’s spine.

by,

Violetta Westwick

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Who

Who ?
A Short Story

  Heather pressed the repeat button on her iPod, to hear the too familiar rhythm at the beginning of the song. She leaned back against the chair, staring out at the rain. The song soon reached the chorus part: ‘I need a little more luck than a little bit…’ It was ‘Tongue Tied’ by Faber Drive. The lyrics suited her mood.

  She continued sitting there, watching the rain as it fell, making fine streaks across the air. As she stared, she noticed a curious sight.

  Right across the street, there was a vacant double-storey house. At least it was, until a few months ago, when Heather noticed that an old lady had shifted in. Nobody believed Heather though, especially her mum, when she tried to tell her. ‘If somebody had shifted in, we would know. There would’ve been delivery vans and everything. Look at the house; do you think it would still be in this condition if someone really shifted in? Do you really believe that anyone in the right mind would want to live there? Just look at it Heath!’  Heather knew better than to argue with her mum, so she just kept her mouth shut. But she did revise her observations.

  Sure enough, the house didn’t look fit enough for anyone to live in. Cobwebs concealed holes that were once windows, while creepers crept on the walls, growing over the dirty paint so that the house looked like some kind of concrete plant. Two cracked pots sat on the balcony, which railings look like they could snap and fall at the slightest touch. The yard was overgrown with weeds that were waist high and towards the east was a huge maple tree that looked like it could touch the clouds if it tried hard enough. The place was eerie, and even adults, not to mention children, would cross the road to the other side when they passed.

  Heather had put it behind the mind, but it was then, when she first saw the startling sight. Because there in the rain, around a blazing fire, Heather could make out a black shadow. The shadow that had a human’s outline, seemed to be warming her hands over the fire. Maybe it was the shadow, maybe it was the fire in the rain, but anyway, Heather scooped up her iPod and stuffed it into her pocket -totally forgetting her luck that day- grabbed an umbrella and went out.

  She stepped across the puddles in the mud and headed to the bush where she had made a hole through it ever since she noticed that the house was inhabited and peeked through it.

  Nothing strange or unusual happened at first, the lady -which Heather saw- sat as still as a statue, only moving her hands occasionally, till the song on Heather’s iPod ended. And everything happened so quickly. As Heather glanced down at the little display screen, the lady glanced up at Heather and ---

  There are many mysteries in the world, and beyond it. But two things I know for sure are that the lady was a witch, and also, the last song that Heather heard was ‘Shadow of the Day’. After that incident, Heather vanished, and no one knew or suspected a thing. Those who knew her had their minds modifies and as for the fire, it was the Eternal Flame, which burns anywhere, no matter what the conditions, but only that amount.

  I was the one who put out the flame - something that only two people in the world know and can do- but as for who I am, well, let’s just say that I’ll remain one of the mysteries in the world, and beyond it.

by, 

Violetta Westwick
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED