generated with meta.ai
I let my sleeves fall when I noticed their cold stares piercing all over me. If looks could kill, the villagers would have had my mother and me dead a long time ago.
“That's her, the witch’s daughter. The one with a mark on her arm.
“It is the reason her father ran away. The poor man couldn't bear to live with a cursed child I guess.”
“Ummh. What a cruel fate.” The pregnant carrot seller shielded her belly as though I was going to hurt her.
I didn't blame her. Part of the village rumors was that my mother was the witch who roamed the village with a monster every time a child was born. They believed that they were trying to steal the newborns.
I raised my head high as I walked past the stall of the women who gossiped to my hearing. I was only thirteen but my mother had taught me early how to block out the noise. My tough skin shielded me from the staring and snide comments. It was an open secret that my mother and I were the outcasts that no one wanted to be seen with.
The scar on my left arm, just above my elbow itched as I hurriedly bought some vegetables and raced home. Mother hated it whenever I was late. She also loathed the villagers and shunned me from speaking to them.
“Savages! We rid them of Olga. They have no idea of the sanctuary we have provided them with.” She would always curse.
In our small village Metika, pregnant women mostly stayed indoors unless they had to work. They feared the evil witch named Olga. Legend had it that Olga used to lurk around pregnant women. She could smell their babies from miles away and as soon as they had them, she’d steal them. Their cries would be heard far away in the mountains that led to another land. This went on for decades and Olga’s unfortunate victims multiplied.
I knew there was a secret room in my mother’s house and she kept some things about my father from me but that was all. In my eyes, my mother was the angel who saved me from death the day I was born. She had told me the story and I remembered it like I was aware of everything that happened that day.
My mother was pregnant when she and my father moved to Metika to start a new life. Aside from the occasional stares and whispers, no one told them about the tale of Olga so they went about their normal life. On the night my mother gave birth, my father held me in a lullaby when they began to hear strange growls and scratching at the door. Soon the door was wide open.
Before my parents’ eyes was Olga. She had flaming eyes and a slender frame. Her long floating gray hair spread into the room like the webs of a spider. She had thick red lips that dangled when she spoke.
Her thunderous voice filled the room. “She is mine now. Let me have her.” Her thin arms stretched from the door to where my parents stood petrified. When her claws pierced my little fragile arm, my parents' hearts broke. They summoned the courage to fight back. My mother wasn't sure if it was their boldness but the witch simply retreated and she never came back to Metika again.
The villagers never believed that story. They concluded that my mother was a stronger witch who defeated Olga and had come to curse Metika. Since they never saw my father again, they believed that he had run away that day.
“Mother, why wouldn't you tell me what happened to Father after that day? Where is he?” I demanded as I barged into the house and slammed the vegetables on the table.
My Mother simply looked at me and smiled. She sat swaying on her recliner and I saw pain in her eyes. The kind that had endured for a long time. My mother had been battling a fever but it was something we thought we could manage. Slowly, the smile vanished from her face and the recliner halted. Just like that, the only person who loved me was gone.
If tears could wake the dead, my mother would have returned to life. Pain and sorrow became my companion. All by myself, I buried my mother alone behind the house.
Two days passed and I was starting to feel suffocated. I had no one to turn to. As I sat on my mother's recliner pondering, I heard a rumble. It was coming from the secret door in my mother's room.
“What could that be?”
“Eryl! Eryl! It's been two days and I haven't seen you. Is everything okay with you and Icka?” A growling voice that shook the house came through. Then it began to hum. I could swear I knew that rhyme from somewhere.
I froze and my heart paused. “Was Mother truly a witch with a monster friend?” My heart sank.
My mother had forbidden me from opening that door but I wasn't going to let fear take over me. I wanted to see what was behind that door even if it would be the end of me.
I swallowed hard, treading softly. Gently, I unlocked the door and let it slide. The next thing I saw scared me to my bones and I yelled.
“Icka! Is that you?” The terrifying figure before me tried to approach me but I backed off.
It was very huge with furs and a big round belly. It had protruding eyes, pointy ears, and a horn in the middle of its head.
“Icka, it is me, your father,” he echoed.
I stopped yelling and he began to hum again. I recognized the song. I was shocked that I could remember but It was the lullaby he sang to me the day I was born.
“I didn't run away from you Icka. That night, we fought to protect you. The witch didn't leave us just like that, since she couldn't have you, she turned me into a beast.” tears rolled down his face.
“Father? Mother is gone.” I wept. I could see him stagger. His body collapsed into a heap upon hearing me.
“I am so sorry Icka. I made your mother promise never to tell you the truth. I was ashamed.”
I drew closer to him. The door behind him opened up to an enclosed exotic garden that linked to the rest of the village. It looked like a secluded world of its own. Some vines barricaded it from the prying eyes of the villagers. The garden had trees and plants of all kinds and the air felt warm and fresh.
“You've been here all these years?” I pondered.
“Yes,” he nodded.
Suddenly, a growling sound filled the air.
“Ah. A woman has given birth. We must save her child from the witch first.” He rose
My mind raced to the carrot seller. “The witch is back?”
“She never left but your mother and I make sure that she never takes another child from Metika. She thought she made me a monster. Now, I'm the bane of her existence. It is you and I against Olga now.”
I looked into his eyes and for the first time in days, I found something to smile about. I had met my father. I knew that I was not cursed and he never abandoned me. He gave up his human form to protect me and the children of Metika.
Together, we ventured through the garden to the village and I could see from where I was what the villagers thought they saw those nights. “A witch and her monster.”