She walks to the back of the room and opens a small door. Inside the room is a table with buttons on it. She looks up at me with sorrow in her eyes before pressing one of them. Pain shoots down from my wrists and engulfs my senses. I see hear, and feel pain. I never even knew that was possible before today. A memory of the first day I found out what my power was fills my mind.

***

It had rained earlier that day, puddles still lay in the muddy streets.  I listened to my slow steps as they stuck to the ground because of the mud and made a suction sound before coming up. It wasn't raining anymore, although the clouds in the sky showed that it might. I was walking aimlessly, I had nothing better to do. I wanted Augustin to come out and play. I figured if he saw me he might come out.  I really enjoyed playing tag with him, but hide and seek was always his favorite, because we got to go in  the forest for that one.  He really liked the forest. 

 I crouched down and look into a puddle at my reflection. My straight brown hair hung right above my shoulders. My hazel eyes almost seemed too big for my small face. I looked towards the forest. The trees stood still but the leaves rustled in the wind. I looked back into the puddle and saw a small boy with brown hair standing behind me. His hair was long, it almost covered his bright green eyes. I pretend to not see him. He comes up slowly from behind me. and just as he is about to place his hands on my shoulders in an attempt to scare me I move out of the way. He falls into the puddle I was looking at. 

I tried to hold in my giggles, but as always, they made their way out. Augustin picked himself up and looked at me with forced anger in his eyes. He was pretending to be mad. But, he soon forgets the anger and smiles. When I didn't stop laughing he pushed my arm gently. I looked at him carefully. He was soaking wet. It was a small puddle, thankfully, so only the top half of his shirt got wet. His hair was wet too though and it dripped dirty water down his face. Mud was smeared on his clothing. 

"Oops," I said smiling at him. 

"Yeah, " he replied. He quickly ran towards me. He tried to grab me into a hug but I pushed him away. He caught my arm as  I brought it back towards me and hugs me tightly.  Getting mud all over my blue sweater. I pushed him off, but his grip was so tight that when he finally lets go my last push makes me fall back into a puddle. "Oops." he said with laughter in his eyes. A big smile grew on his face and he put out a hand to help me up. I grabbed it and got out of the water. My hair wasn't wet, but my lower back and butt were soaked. A small gust of wind sent shivers through my body. 

"Want to go get a change of clothes?" He asked. I nodded my head and we walked to his house. His is closer to the forest than mine, therefore closer to where we are than my house is. Like all the other houses here, his house is wood. But, his is painted a shade of green that can almost be mistaken as a light grey. We walked in to the scent of cinnamon. His house always smells like that, every weekend it does at least. On Saturdays his mom bakes cinnamon rolls. Luckily today was Saturday. If we came to his house there were always fresh baked cinnamon rolls on the kitchen counters. 

"I'll go get your clothes." he said right before he ran up the stairs. I stood at the front door afraid to get mud and dirty water on their clean floor. 

My clothes are in his room, I use the  top drawer of his dresser. I always leave a pair of pants a shirt and some underwear at his house in case something happened like it did today. He runs down the stairs already wearing his new clothes and hands me mine and a towel. "Maybe dry up a bit before you go get changed." I knew this wasn't because  I was going to wet the floors but because I was going to wet my new clothes.  I have had to change many times since we've been friends. 

With my new clothes held tightly in my arms and away from my wet body I walked through to living room and into the small bathroom. There is only a bit of room here to get changed but there is enough.  I put my wet clothing in the bathtub and quickly put on my dry clothes. His mother always tells me to leave the dirty clothes in the bathtub. Mostly because they are always wet and she just wants them to drain out a bit before bringing them through the kitchen. 

Their counters are on the outside of their kitchen, on the edge of the hall near the living room. I had passed before and I saw the cinnamon rolls piled up on the counter. As I passed the second time I saw that Augustin was already there, choosing the cinnamon roll that looked the biggest.  I laughed and walked up beside him. He looked down at the two rolls in his hands. One was bigger than the other, and it was quite obvious. They were the two biggest ones there though. He handed me the bigger one and started eating the other.  I gave him an odd look but ate the roll all the same. He always took the biggest one, claiming" My house, my rolls." He never even thought about giving me the bigger one.  I shrugged it off and we both walked out of the house and outside once again. 

"Hide and seek?" He asked. 

Before I answered I ran towards the forest yelling "You're it." Usually he would've yelled back he would've ran after me declaring that whoever won the race got to hide. He was a faster runner than I was making the race completely fair. I would usually lose though. This time, he stood behind and yelled back "Sure, whatever you want." and he started counting. I ran deep into the forest. He knew his way around and would bring me back even if  I got lost. I hid inside a small bush. Soon after I heard rustling in the leaves. I held my breath and tried my best not to move. But the rustling didn't come from Augustin. Later I heard two women speaking. One was angry, the other scared. I heard a loud scream and then a small chuckle. The rustling continued and then Augustin ran up to where I was hiding. He looked in the direction towards the two ladies and stood there, horrified. 

I stood up to see what happened. But Augustin turned around and grabbed my arm before I could. "We have to leave." he said . "Now."

he ran with my arm in his hand. He was faster than me so I was tripping as we ran. "Slow down." I said, breathlessly. He slowed his pace a little but not enough to keep me from tripping on the tree roots and on the un-flat ground. 

When we finally get out of the forest Augustin and I sit down where it is dry.

"What happened?" I ask.

"A witch." was his only answer. His face was white and his hands were trembling. He got up and walked home. Leaving me sitting alone in the mud. 

I stood up and walked once again towards the forest.  I wanted to see what happened. After what seemed like hours but was probably only twenty minutes I found my hiding spot and went to where Augustin stood. A young woman lay on the floor, in a pool of her own blood. A deep cut was on her neck and so was dried blood. She was dead for sure, small insects were already climbing around her. Her eyes showed pain and fear. I couldn't tear my eyes away. On the dirt, a few feet away from the body was the witches mark. A 'W' with a 'V' attached to the bottom. It was written in the dead lady's blood. I heard rustling in the leaves. Panic struck and I ran blindly through the forest. Tears fell down my face in fear. All I had wanted was to be back in my room. Curled up in my blankets. A moment later the world blurred away, and all I saw was white. 

***

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