A Witch's Love Story

A Witch's Love Story_Chapter 1

She lay there looking beyond the sky. It was a bright and sunny day, sky was a magnificent blue and she could see the crescent of moon and the Venus just beside each other. She wondered about how many times she lay like that and watched the beautiful sky! Every time it had been breathtaking and peaceful. She had spent thousands of hours, sometimes days at a stretch, lying down and looking at the sky or looking for something far away, that may never exist for her. Her life had rolled through her vision a million times, every time picking up a tiny bit of the happier memories and she smiled. Some days her mind played evil to her and picked up the most painful memories for her to revisit like a tape on repeat mode. It was the shuffle of thoughts and moments that kept her mind busy on some days when she had nothing else to fill them up with. As tears started flowing through her eyes, they gently slid from the corner of her eyes and fell drop by drop.

As drops fell on his face; a shiver of anticipation ran through his spine. He looked carefully at the sky for clouds, but there were none. He was told that rainy season would start in few weeks, the beautiful 'Indian Monsoons' he had read about. It may rain like cats and dogs for days, he was informed. He ignored the drops on his face, touching it gently with finger tips and observing the wetness, smiling that maybe it was some random bird that relieved itself on its way to its nest. He chuckled while wiping off his face, maybe watching the sky for answers wasn't the best thing to do! He made a mental checklist to check the roof for leaks before a real monsoon strikes in.
Jason stood outside his just moved in, temporary accommodation. It was a very basic concrete structure with paints peeling off and faded walls. During its prime days this house must have been a glowing white beauty against the lush wild greenery of the village. There was limited water supply from the tap; cracked and yellowed ceramic sink and deep red stains of betel leaf spits were everywhere. There were two rooms and a kitchen in that tiny house. He had already gotten a cotton filled mattress for the rickety iron cot that had been already provided in that house. The cot looked like maybe it was picked up from some old, run down hospital, with its white paint peeling and metal rusting. He hoped it will survive his weight for next couple of months of his stay. Looking at his new house, which the people from the charity organization had mentioned was a luxury provided to him because he was a white man, a "gora" in the local dialect, he felt unsure. A white house for a white man, he smirked at his own thoughts. It was his decision to visit an underprivileged place to serve the people for a few months before he went back to resume his medical school. And here he was, in a small, quaint village in India. He had read about the dense forests and local tribes living in Karaikella, in Jharkhand state of India, living under the influence of poverty, illiteracy, poor sanitation and Maoist activities. Knowing all this made his resolution to serve these people a bit stronger. And here he was, standing outside his tiny, little, crumbling house in Karaikella, looking up at the sky and wondering about his decision.

Raina wiped her tears and kept staring at the moon. Not many people took time to see the beauty of the sky, especially during day time. But she had all the time in this world! She had seen it innumerable times, lying on her back, suspended in mid-air. It's been centuries, but it had been particularly sorrowful since last five hundred years. Her clothes were fluttering hard with the wind and her long, jet black hair kept sweeping through her face. She didn't mind it; it was peaceful here most of the times. Except since last half a century or more, airplanes had been particularly annoying and noisy. Birds were a pleasant company though. She turned her position to her side and rested herself on her elbow. She looked down and saw a man looking up at her, like a miniature doll, not bigger than her small finger. No, he wasn't looking at her, she knew that. He was probably just looking up at the sky, introspecting, just like her. Only difference was, she was floating in the sky and he was standing on earth. She smiled; no one could see her... Her spells always worked. It would be amusing to see the reaction of a human if she got them there with her, in the sky, on the clouds, just holding her hand as their only lifeline. But no, she couldn't risk that. She couldn't gamble with the lives of her fellow beings, never. Her loved ones were all living in another world and she couldn't risk their lives for her petty amusements.

She decided to get back home or being missing for too long could raise suspicions, especially in such a small village like Karaikella where everyone knew everyone. She had been moving to places for centuries to hide her identity but coming to Karaikella had been more like coming back to the roots. Though it was risky to be there, she had been longing to be there, to get back to where it all started. Five hundred years were a long time but not too long for this part of the world where time moved slowly and memories stayed forever as folklore; passed on from one generation to another. She had managed to get there without suspicions as a volunteer from the charity organization. They had provided her a small accommodation, which to her, almost looked like from a time that was stuck where she had left it in Karaikella. The house consisted of merely a thatched roof and mud walls. A hand pump was just outside her house which she was thankful for. Last time when she lived here, centuries ago, women folk had to walk for miles to fetch water from the nearest well or river. Now she won't have to walk miles to show everyone that she got her water with some suspicious means, like magic. She smirked at the thought. She had seen a concrete house and not a mud and thatched roof house in her vicinity. It seemed to be the only one with brick and cement walls around her home. Though the walls were literally crumbling, everyone seemed to think of that house as a luxury. She didn't care about that; the kind of house she lived in was the least of her concern. She straightened herself up and headed back home. She could have reached home within a blink but she loved flying in the open skies and feel the wind caress her face and blow her hair wild. It was liberating and she deserved to have at least that much of pleasure from her powers. She flew back home and landed smoothly at the threshold of her new home. She looked around to confirm if her spell worked, like every time. There was no one watching her. She was really invisible. She went home; and back to her pretty much human and visible world.