Judith Goodhope || Mother's House of Horrors

Goodhope in Carsden

"Take it slowly, Judith. Your body has been through a lot."

Judith ached. Her vision pulsed. Her forehead burned.

Someone spooned something into her mouth. She swallowed it.

She shivered.

"Cold..."

"Yes, you are likely to be cold. You are lying naked on a stone floor."

Candlelight flickered on a low, curved stone ceiling. She could feel now the floor beneath her.

Spoon. Swallow. Warm liquid. It helped. A face above her.

"Kris?..."

"Take it slowly, Judith."

Judith turned her head to look around. The candles circled her. Kris Kent sat within the circle, with a bowl, a book, a bouquet of dried herbs. They wore the hooded robe Judith had first seen them in.

"Where..."

"I will give you one guess."

They were under the library, in the room, the cavern, really, at the bottom of the stairs.

"Moth-"

Kris Kent put a finger to Judith's lips, and shook their head. "It is gone for now. You are safe here."

Judith lifted one of her own hands, examining it in the wavering light. It appeared normal again. She ran her tongue around her teeth. They weren't as sharp anymore, though they still felt somewhat changed.

"I have done my best to reverse what changes I could. Some may fade with time. Although there may be scars that stay with you."

Abigail. Most of Judith's memories wouldn't return for some time, but that one piece of information Mother had gifted her and cursed her with, that was with her now.

Judith wept. Her forehead burned.

Kris Kent held her hand.

Almost a day went by before Judith found the strength to sit up, to stand, another before she could get up the stairs. Kris Kent kept the library shuttered and attended to her tirelessly. Weeks went by as Judith's memories returned and most of her body returned to some version of normal, though she would always contend that she felt at least ten years older.

Kris had found Judith's suitcase outside that night, and had taken it in, hoping Judith would return to it. At sunrise, Kris had found Judith herself, unconscious on the library's doorstep, and had taken her in as well. "Although it did take me a while to figure out how to fold your wings up enough to be able to carry you..."

After a month of recovery, Judith stooped at the triangular front window of the apartment on the third floor of the library, watching the town of Carsden attempting to return to normal. Some bodies had been found. Some had not. Judith didn't know who else, if anyone else, had been called to the house and survived to tell the tale, like she had. Maybe she'd cross paths with another survivor if she decided to stay around.

"Judith."

She turned from the window.

"Have you made a decision yet?"

"No."

"I know you may accuse me - once again - of being shall we say a bit manipulative, but I have been keeping something of yours that I believe now is the right time to return to you."

Kris had apologized for the secrecy around their protective teas and spells. They said the magic lost power if the receiver knew about it, but Judith suspected they just liked the sneaking around.

"It was on the ground by your suitcase that night. I guess you missed one."

Kris held out a warped tarot card. Judith took it, looked down at the Four of Rods, and smiled.

"Well, I suppose this means I'm home."

"Good. We should start preparing for next year."

"Next year?"

"Yes, when it comes back again. With two of us, maybe we can make an actual difference. And if next year brings another dark and witchy stranger into town, we can get a real coven going. I am not sure if Eden's Gifts has opened back up again, but let's go check, I need more herbs."

Judith looked back at the card. Kris had handed it to her upside down, which likely meant it was the way they had found it. It would be an odd kind of home, a fulfillment of something Judith hadn't known she wanted, but it would be hers.

Getting ready in the mirror, Judith applied a little bit of lipstick to help cover the cuts she kept biting into her own lips, and wrapped a new star-covered headscarf Kris had bought her around her still-bruised-shut-but-time-would-have-to-tell third eye.