Disenchanted

1- Don't Come to Salem

I stare out the window of my office. The streets of Salem, Massachusetts look normal. From an areal view it's hard to tell that at least three times a month people are shipped here to be tortured publicly. 

A large black bird flies into the window and successfully scares the shit out of me.

"Fin, its great to see you!" Mr. Low, my boss, walks to my desk and pats me on the back.

"It's good to see you as well, sir." I say, rolling my chair around to face him.

"I see you're working on a new obituary!" He cheers.

I sigh. It's been a long day and if he asks me to do more spreadsheet for him I might fling myself off a bridge. "Actually sir, I'm just working on a bit of paperwork right now."

"Oh well, I tried." He laughs. "I need you to do something for me. If you do it, I might consider giving you a raise."

I sit up a bit in my chair. It's insane to even think of him giving anyone a raise this randomly. "What could be so big that you'd offer a raise?"

His wrinkly face contorts from his usual fake smile into a weird grimace. "My wife was arrested. last night. I'd rather not get into what she was doing, but when her time comes... could you maybe alter her obituary?"

I'm at a loss for words. The poor man lost his son two years ago.. and now his wife, but the mayor will have me head on a platter, or rather my body in a pyre, if I stray from the outline.

"Sir, you know I can't do that." I lower my voice dramatically so nobody else in the office hears us.

"Finley, I don't want to have to have another family member listed as a witch. She was a good woman. She was just up to something she shouldn't have been, and soon..."

"Okay, I'll do it, but if I'm risking my job for this I want that raise." I say.

"That's fine. In fact, I'll give you the rest of the day off. I know its not an easy thing to ask of you, but I'm so grateful." Mr. Low walks off.

Poor dude. I can barely cope with my parents being gone. I don't think I could handle my wife and child.

I exit the building and head towards the bus station. I see a flyer for an execution tomorrow downtown. It's sickening. The people around here- and everywhere- treat the trials like a party. The "witch" in question was caught doing "mysterious acts." Whatever that means. It's being advertised so much because the Priest will be there. Of course he's not just any priest. He's like the fucking president, just not official, he has more control over anyone else in the country. He's more like the Pope of America. He's the one who, "talks to god" and encourages the trials. The sick fuck has so much blood on his hands that if anyone on this fucking planet is going to hell it's him.

As I walk past people on the way to the station, I can't help but think who will be next. My parents are still awaiting their trial, but considering the church once hung a woman for holding her breath under water for too long, I'm pretty sure they're going to find a couple found practicing real witchcraft guilty.

I know the names of everyone within the last five years who's been executed. It's my job to attend every execution with a front row seat and take pictures. Then, I go to the office and write them an obituary that paints the victim out to be a fucking satanist. At night, I go home but I can barely sleep due to the stress. On the bright side, it pays well.

The bus station is crowded as always. I hate crowds like this. They make me way too nervous, but thankfully, bus ride is quick so I get home around six.

"Hey Alice." I say into the hallway where her room is.

No answer.

"Alice?"

Where the hell is she?

She pops her head out of her bedroom door. Jesus, she scared me.

"I got to come home early, kiddo. Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm okay. Thanks anyways, Fin." She says. Her voice is raspier than normal and her cheeks are red. The poor thing's been crying.

"Why don't you go back to sleep? I'll wake you up when dinner is done." I reassure her.

She nods and walks back into her room. I grab some shredded cheese and milk out of the fridge. Baked mac and cheese is her favorite food, so if I make it, she might be a little less sad. I mean, she's just a kid and she's being raised by her big brother who has no fucking idea what he's doing. If this would've happened to me at her age, I would've lost my fucking mind. When the pasta is boiled I mix the seasoning packet and cheese in and put it a pan to bake.

The night goes by slowly, and when dinner is done, I wake Alice up, but she says she's just not hungry so I put some left-overs in the fridge for her.

Around eleven, I go to my room and flip through my book. It's a collection I have of every picture I've taken and every obituary I've written. Towards the end,  I have a journal section where I write things that I'd do to the Priest. I know it's beyond fucked up to fantasize over torturing someone. I know I'm sick in the head. I just can't cope in any other way. I'm a terrified and pissed young adult with a lot of repressed angst.

I mean, I'm raising a child that I didn't even have, I have to make sure that the local church thinks that I'm a fucking angel on Earth and to top it all off I'm cursed. My parents messed around in the wrong areas of town and now they have a son who can control fucking water in a town that is famous for it's witch executions. If the church finds out about what I can do, not only will I die, but so will my sister. She doesn't have any weird abilities but the people at the church aren't going to listen long enough to know that.

Salem is the capitol of capitol punishment and every day I spend here I swear I find at least five more reasons to leave. The only problem is that it's suspicious to leave town. Any town I go to will see that I left Salem without an excuse and they'll start to monitor me and then... it all goes downhill. Not to mention, I need to figure out some way to get my parents out of that prison. They aren't going to win in the trial. The only way to save them is to prove that  whatever they were doing was misunderstood. Too fucking bad they were caught standing over a pentagram in the middle of the woods. It's pretty hard to explain that one.

After a few hours of flipping through my book, I fall asleep at my desk.

-

AN: Hello! This is my first story. I hope you enjoy it! It was originally posted on my old account and it was a fanfiction, but I'm not really into writing fanfiction anymore so I changed the names and moved the plot around and here we are! Have a great day XOXO