From Eden

the earth is trembling on some new beginning

warning: literally just hijacked the plot of vvitch sorry (no copyright infringement intended)

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The woodcutting fell to father and Caleb. Mother and I tended to Mercy and Jonas, and their obsession with that blasted goat. They sang songs about the ugly creature, thought he thing gave us no milk. Father kept it because it kept the children nearly as well as I or mother. It corralled them, and kept them silent during times of prayer. Though, I would hear them snickering under their breath, or pausing in their praying to comfort the thing. The natives of the land resided miles west and the colony was too far for food. We had been exiled, so had it not been miles we still would have been starving. I ached with hunger more days than not, eyeing the goat with the sins of killing on my mind. I dreamed of ways to cook the goat, and it seemed to dream the same thing of me.

His square eyes haunted me morning through night, and perhaps the goat's gaze is why I did not see those who stole Samuel from under my nose. I took my eyes off of the babe for a mere moment and then he was stolen. Mother changed after that, refusing to look at me. She wanted to send me to serve another family. Caleb and I, resting in a bed with Mercy and Jonas, heard the whole thing. I waited, day by day, for the new father to come pick me up but the day never came. Mother complained of a lost silver cup, of which I did not steal nor sell. It was an afternoon after Mother had accused me of stealing the cup away, when I found myself among our wheat.

It was as the sun was setting, and the fog was settling over the land. I was about to tend to that blasted goat when they arrived out of the forest, beautiful and sinfully naked. They looked like silver in the sun and they walked slowly toward our small homestead. I herded Mercy and Jonas, both howling and afraid for their souls, into the coop for the chickens. "Mother!" I called, turning for the door for our homestead. "Father, Caleb!" My voice shook with emotion and then, suddenly, the women were in front of me. They had not time to walk, even run, the distance between the trees and our home. I backed into the coop, holding the door shut with shaking hands. "Mercy, Jonas, get back. Stay behind me."

"Oh, Thomasin," One of the women cooed, leaning on the wood of the door. Her voice was like the cream from our cows, smooth. It rang like the bells on our old church. "We've been watching you."

"For a long time." Another voice, huskier but steal as smooth and sinful as the other woman's voice.

"You use the short words of the devil!" I screamed, crying already, "Begone, and leave my family alone!"

The door was wretched from my hands and the woman was there, standing naked and covered in blood. Behind her I could see the others standing over Mother and Father, also covered in blood. I gasped, shielding Mercy and Jonas, watching as they ripped that blasted goat apart. The woman approached and her eyes were as red as the fresh lifeblood on the ground. I cried, pressing my body into my siblings and their bodies into the wood of the coop. They screamed, clawing at my clothing. "The devil you are, Black Phillip himself in a stolen body. Begone!" I cried shrilly, fat tears dropping down my cheek as Mercy and Jonas continued to scream behind me.

"Shall I speak like you, little piglet?" The women walked like a wolf toward us, "Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?" She grinned, then, blood coating her teeth, "Oh, I do love to play with my meals. I can give you the taste of butter, I can give you pretty dresses, I can give you all the power of God himself. Only if you sign my book." She grinned, chuckling cruelly after her speech.

"Blaspheme." I was still defending God even though he was not with us, clearly. "Leave us, witch, and seek shelter elsewhere." The woman smiled, tilting her head. Her hair fell over her shoulder, hair as red as the fires that once threatened our old colony. "Witch! Witch!" Perhaps if I kept telling her what she was, she would leave.

"Hilda," The woman called over her shoulder, "I know we have just found dear Noela, but I propose taking another into our coven."

"What is so special about this one, Anne?" The other woman moved too fast for my eyes to see, and I whimpered.

"She reminds me of Victoria in the scullery. Sad, lost. She needs saved and we have the power. Yet, she still has a fire in her belly." The women smiled at me and I closed my eyes. They would kill me, and then they would kill Mercy and Jonas. I waited, and I waited. Then there were two women with red hair, Mercy and Jonas were dead, and I was burning. I burned for three days and then I was born anew, naked and covered in my own blood. I thirsted for it, burning down my throat and into my stomach before they presented me with a citizen I knew through hazy memories.