Athens

Sad start to life

My mother said on the day of my birth, there was an eclipse of the sun and a meteor shower that night. All the signs pointed to wild greatness. My father a wizard for our king, was proud the day I was born. The first child was a son! That is where a good portion of pride stopped. I was wired differently even back when actual monsters lived in the dark parts of our houses. Dragons roamed the skies and demons floated past humans working in the fields.

"Momma, I am going out to the woods to gather things for practicing potions," I said to the blonde-haired woman who had my matching blue eyes.

"Of course, but be back before nightfall. We have heard that the Babadook is back." She patted my head as she went back to making bread.

I wandered the forest, partly shooting my magic just for fun and partially actually looking for ingredients. I was a kid, just 12 or 13. I danced and gathered most of the day. Noticing the sun was setting, I ran as fast as my feet could carry me back home.

The house was dark and disheveled. The door was propped open and I could hear nothing. Slowly I made my way in, worried about what could be inside. There I willed a light ball up and it cast its glow into the small room. Chairs were toppled, mom's vase was broken, the bread and bowl were on the floor. I could see no one. Walking with the ball of light following me, I wandered to the living area to find that too ravaged. My worry and fear went up tenfold. I continued toward the back door. There I seen it was shattered, more chaos met me. I found my father dead in the backyard. Tears started to flow as I began looking for my mother.

"Mom!" I screamed, hovering over my father's lifeless form. I heard nothing. "Mom!" I bellowed, my heart in agony as it clenched in my chest.

I am not sure how I heard it. The low muffled groan of pain. I scrambled on all fours as I jetted to the small woodshed near the back door of the house. There I found her wounded, bleeding deeply from her chest. She was pale. I cried into her lap as I tried to do what I could.

"Try the healing spell." She coughed, blood staining her lips.

"Ok... Ok.." I stuttered trying to get a hold of my raging emotions. I pulled the spell up in my mind. A blue light that was always part of me got my hands glowing. I hovered them. Over my mother's chest as she coughed more blood coming up to her mouth.

I pushed the spell harder into my body willing it to work with all my might. My hand started to become hot, burning almost. I pushed on. I saw the blood slowly disappear. Her color began to come back to its warm glow. My hands began to burn like hot white flames ate at my hands. "I can't do more." I cried.

"You healed a good portion, I will live." Momma kissed my forehead. "Let us get out of here. I am not sure when they will be back." She worriedly looked around. "Let us grab a few things and leave."

Following her in, I helped her gather bits she thought we would need and we ran. Back to the forest that I had been in. As we ran the top of one of the farther hills, I saw our village burning. You could hear the faint screams and loud booms of building exploding. We ran, further and further into the woods.

"Let's stop and eat." My mother panted leaning against a tree as the sun was just starting to come up.

We ate silently, putting things back quickly Mom grabbed my hand and we ran more. My legs burning, my chest heaving and sore. I was exhausted but still, we ran. All-day long stopping only to eat and drink for a few short minutes.

On the eve of the second night, we stopped. There we found an abandoned house. Working to clean a small area we slept. Neither of us worried about being caught. We didn't care at that point.

The morning, I found Mom cleaning the house. "Gather some wood, we will heat some food to eat." she shooed me out the door as nothing had happened. I cried the whole time I got the wood. My father was dead. Our home and village were gone, I had almost lost my mother. Things were not good. But, my mom seemed to brush it off and move forward.

I brought the wood in, she had me start it in the hearth she had cleaned. She was working on getting the food started so we could eat. "Mom, is your heart hurting?" I looked up tears fell from my eyes.

"It is baby, but right now we have tasks to stay alive. My drive to keep you fed and healthy is keeping that hurt at bay for now." She kissed my forehead and ruffled my hair. "Now go, grab a few more big pieces of wood and we can eat soon." She shooed me out the door once again.

I stopped to wipe my tears, that is when I heard it. Peeking through the side window, I saw my mother wracked with sobs. She was holding her hands over her mouth, keeping it as quiet as possible. She didn't want me to see her cry. She was being strong for me. That was the kind of mother she was. My sister was just the same. I was happy to know she had been married to a noble. So she would be way safer than we ever were.

I scurried out into the woods again, looking for more logs to bring back. I found a hooded woman watching me silently. She said nothing. I watched her and she watched me. Nothing was said until just before I left the area. "I will be back when you are older. We will talk then." I shook my head and ran back to my mother. I needed to hug her and hope that woman had nothing to do with what happened to our village.