2 chapter 1
15th century, Medieval times
My first life was long long ago. This I know because it was the era of witches being caught and tortured. I'm not saying that I was born a witch, I'm saying that I believe that I have become a witch.This is the story of my first life and my birthmark that comes with it.
My name was Ragana, I was 16 years old and I was born in a loving complete family. I had a caring, young, stay-at-home mother and a caring, fun, and hard-working father. They both looked similar, same dark brown eyes and dark brown hair, but my father's complexion was way darker than my mother. We lived in a nice land that was at the outskirts of the city. There was a field that looked like it would go forever with tall grass that were both dead and alive. The air was so fresh and clear, just like the sky. The weather seemed to always be nice; it wouldn't get too cold, and when it got warm, a cool gentle breeze would sweep through our little cottage. . There were some brilliant green trees at the distance of our house.
Far, far from the fields there was an old a wooden fence located between the feild and the forest that seemed dark and cold even when it's sunny outside. i never dared to pass the fence. I could feel the dark and heavy aura that the forest emitted, sending chills down my spine every time I stared too long at it
Our house was nice and strong. My dad built it for us with his two bare hands out of wood and stone.The inside was nicely done, we had a large dining room. We had 2 rooms, one for me and the other for my parents. At the back of the house there was a huge shed that had space for my dad's working and building materials as well as enough space to keep a guest if we ever needed to lend someone a room. We had a peaceful life. That is, until something dreadful happened..
A day came were a mysterious illness has infected many people in the city. We were not informed till my mother went off to the city to go buy food and returned her joyful self, but I felt something was off, and noticed she came back with a handkerchief that she never owned.
I ran toward her to see what she got, but with her loving gaze she told me
"Sweetie go play outside for a while till dinner is ready".
I knew this meant she was going to talk about something serious to father,so i waited till mother went inside to sneak around the house to the back. The kitchen has a back door, so i crouched down next to the door as my usual eavesdropping spot. I sneaked close to the door and bent over, opened the door just a slit, and stayed still as I overheard my parents starting to talk softly.
My mother was the first to break their silence, "Jacob, we can't go to the city for a while. The market streets were empty, and when I went to check on Miss Beck's shop, it was closed. I knocked in the back door and once I told her it was me, she immediately pulled me in". She paused for a while, trying to calm herself down. "She told me the city is dying, there has been a mysterious illness in the air. Many people have died." I looked over at her, and saw her tightly gripping the handkerchief.
She let out a gasp as a tear began to drip down her face, before saying with a wavering voice,. "...her son died…and she gave me this so I can go home without breathing the air, but I think…I got infect-".
At that moment I heard a chair fall and saw my father hugging her and heard her begin to sob. I knew what she was going to say and i couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it. I thought to myself 'Mother is going to be okay, she has to be okay.''. I walked around the backyard, with my head full of thoughts of how the city is, is everyone okay? Will mother tell me what is wrong? Will we be safe? I was lost in a sea of questions that I didn't realize I walked all the way to the fence that separated our land to the dark forest that was in front of me until i bumped against the worn down fence. A sudden wind that came from the forest pushed the dark aura towards me, making me feel overwhelmed. I was frozen in place, unable to tear my eyes away from the dark and looming forest right in front of me. The tree's bark was black as if they were burned, the bushes had dark leaves with thorns, and the grass looked like tall needles jutting out of the ground that would stab your feet if you walked through it.. I looked straight at what seemed to be a narrow pathway, and I jumped when I thought I saw a black figure fly across the path. I just stood there for what felt like hours, staring blankly at the jet-black bark of the trees. I suddenly heard a faint voice from behind,
"Ragana, dinner is ready".
It was my mother. Hearing her voice made me come to my senses. I didn't realize that I had stopped breathing until I sucked in a deep breath and sighed of releaf. I ran all the way across the yard, feeling as if something was trying to pull me back to the forest, making me run as hard as I could until I reached the back door. I stood there, crouched over as I tried to regain my breath, my heart thudding loudly in my ears. My head craned up, and my eyes locked on the deep dark forest in front of me, making my heart skip a beat and an unsettling feeling rush through me.
I stepped in, cleaned my hands, and helped mother set up dinner. We would usually talk about how our days went, like how father's process in building new things for a customer, or mother would talk about her friends or I would talk about my little adventures around our land. That didn't happen for today's dinner. We were all quite, with both of my parents in deep thought, making me nervous. So I decided to talk about how I followed a little lizard to a random hole, which I guess was its home. Mother and Father seemed to have cheered up a bit afterwards, enough for them to share as well, and I was happy they did. After dinner I played inside for a bit and then father told me it was time to sleep. When they both said good night and left my room, I snuggled up in my blanket, looked out my window and sighed in relief that everything seemed to be fine again, but I was too naive that night.
The next couple of days I saw a few changes in my mother. One change that was noticeable throughout the days was that she seemed to be growing tired more frequently, resulting in her taking multiple naps throughout the day.Father and i helped by separating mother's chores between us, we tried our best to do as well as mother. Eventually she also grew paler, and i started to worry when she would randomly feel dizzy just trying to walk across the room in search for a small trinket to keep her entertained. Most of my chores now involved helping tend the garden from the front and backyard.
Before leaving my mother to finish my chores, I pushed a chair by her bedside, and gathered a long strand of rope with a bell. I tied the rope to the chair's back and the bell to the other end, with the rope being long enough to reach outside the window, creating a fully-functional pulley system for her. Luckily, her room window was facing the backyard, so I was able to hear the soft chimes of the bell whenever she called.
"If you need me just tug the rope and I will hear the bell," I told her. She smiled sweetly, a comforting warmth radiated off of her before she nodded and went back to sleep. I trimmed the bushes and then watered them. It was very relaxing -hearing the soft gurgles of the water landing on the ground, and smelling the aroma of wild flowers blooming around me, it was always pleasant. Then I went to do the same at the backyard.
As I was contently watering the plants, a strong wind pushed me from behind, and I felt as though someone was sharply staring to my back. I turned to see if someone was there, but when I turned around only the dark forest greeted me from a distance. The wind pick up again, softly. This time it felt like the wind picked up my hair from my ears and softly whispered "Come here". I felt numb and shivered. I was torn between running back inside and walking towards the forest, until ultimately deciding that I wanted to know who was calling me, so I grabbed a small machete my father let me borrow for gardening and began to walk through the field with a blank mind. I didn't know for how long i walked, but i realized i reached the fence. I ended up at the same place as last time, right in front of the path in the forest.
I didn't know what what to do or where to go afterwards, everything was dead quiet. it felt as if it got darker and the air got thicker, making it harder to breath. I didn't feel cold, but oddly warm. I wanted to get closer to the warmth for some reason, I felt like as if the warmth will show me answers to the questions that were swarming in my head last time I was in this exact spot. As I slowly sucked in a deep breath , I went toward the fence, with my heart pounding as if it were going to jump out of my chest, I heard a soft twinkling sound at the distance. When I turned around, everything was suddenly bright,the birds chirped loudly in the distance again, and I could breath better. Again I heard the twinkling sound much clearer it was the bell! I sprinted to the house, and ran up to my mother's room.
Out of breath I entered the room, "Yes mother, what's the matter!"
She was sitting at the bedside and stared at me with a confused look, before her eyes trailed down my side.
"Why do you have your machete with you?" I looked down at my hand and saw how I was tightly gripping the rusted and sharp metal close to my leg, that my hand started to ache.
"I forgot to leave it in the garden,"
"And you were running right? Please don't do that again. You could've cut yourself, or worse." she scold me
"Sorry mother, I was tending the garden and rushed without thinking, I'll put it back. What was it that you needed?"
It she seemed for forgot what she was going to say for a while and then her eyes open wide and turned to me.
"Oh I almost forgot, please prepare some soup and bread, your father is about to come home," I looked outside to see the brilliant oranges coupled perfectly with the vibrant pink hues. Sunset. My father was on his way back home.
"Yes mother, I'll go clean myself first and then get dinner started".
I helped her go downstairs to the porch, and sat her down on her favorite chair where she enjoyed seeing the sunset. It was the most pretty and calming spot, where you could see the flowers change colors as the sun setted, and a cool breeze would make them dance side to side. She had a basket full of yarn balls by her chair and started knitting. I couldn't tell what she was making, but my mother seemed to put a lot of love in it and i was just happy she was having fun.
When father came, dinner was ready. I prepared the table and helped mother to her seat. Father and i were worried when she only ate a bit and wanted to sleep. He reassured me that he will help her get ready for bed, so i helped clean up the table. When i was done i didn't hear anything , so i checked on them. They both fell asleep early, making myself and the starry night sky the only ones awake. It was getting late so i went up to my room which is beside my parents room, and tucked myself in bed. I couldn't sleep at all that night even though i was physically tired. I stared at the ceiling for a long time with no luck of me falling asleep, so i walked toward a chair i have beside my window. The sky was filled with many bright stars so at times when i can't sleep i would try to count them. As i began my awfully long attempt to get sleepy, i felt a similar gentle wind coming from that same direction. The dark woods was calling again.
I was growing tired of the curiosity, so i lit a candle that was on my bedside furniture. Careful and quietly i opened my door, held my breath and passed down the hallway. I slowly passed in front my parents room and went down stairs. When i reached the back door i searched for my little machete. I tucked in behind me and started jogging across the backyard. I didn't know what to exactly do once i reached the fence, but this time nothing will stop me to find out what is calling me from inside the forest. As i reached the fence i started to breathe faster. The warm feeling came again through the forest,
"I don't want to go in" I told myself softly, "but I hope I find whatever is in there and just get it over with". I slowly waved the candle around to see if i ended up in front of the path, and i was. I started the same steps as i did last time. I slowly stretched my arm to the fence, swang my right leg over the fence, took a deep breathe, pushed myself over, and finally crossed over my other leg. For the first time in my life i was in the dark forest. I looked back and i saw how my house looked much smaller from the other side of the fence.
"Sorry mother and father, i promise i will come back before sunrise" i mumbled under my breath, and then turned back to face the forest. "I'm here, i hope you show me where to go" i said boldly to the path. A gust of soft wind caressed my burning cheeks.
