Fair is foul, and foul is fair
Abby had just finished a long day of school. It was Friday and she had been planning to go out for weeks now, but of course English homework had to get in the way. See Abby was in 5th year now and they had just started Macbeth. It confused her deeply as to why they had to learn about Shakespeare; after all he is just another 'dead English guy' to her. But even through the confusion of trying to understand the old English language, Abby had really connected with the three witches in Macbeth.
You see, Abby had always had this strange obsession with magic; from loving black cats to never missing an episode of Merlin on t.v. Her favourite childhood memories included watching her grandmother 'cast spells'. To most people her grandmother was a 'daft ole bat' but not to Abby; instead she was her idol. Ever since those days, Abby has always aspired to become a witch, and needless to say her mother wasn't best pleased.
Just last year in history class they were given a project; to trace their family tree back generations. Naturally Abby being the 'history head' she was, was extremely excited. This was only added to when she found out her American ancestors lived in Salem. Now I know what you all are thinking, the Salem Witch Trials. Well Abby's family did indeed live there during the witch trials, and yes they were trialled.
She was able to find out that four of her great, great, great... (well you get the point) aunties were trialled as witches. Three of them died, so therefore they were not witches but nothing is known of the fourth one; Mary St. Clare. As legend has it, she didn't sink, meaning she was a witch. So naturally the townsmen decided to burn her at the stake; the only way to get rid of a real witch. As they lit the fire, and the wood started to burn; Mary St. Clare vanished into thin air. Her supposedly last words were; 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair.'
You may understand now why Abby freaked out when she read the opening scene of Macbeth, and saw those familiar lines. Abby was never really superstitious but she was now. She didn't see it as just a coincidence. Oh no, to Abby it was much deeper than that. You see as long as Abby can remember, very strange things always seemed to happen when she was around. After all a piano falling out of the sky isn't usually an everyday occurrence, now is it?
Not only that but Abby was 99.9% certain that she had physic abilities. From predicting when Pope John Paul the 2nd was going to die, to being able to tell when it will start to rain, days before it does. Abby's mother tried to protect her from the outside world but she couldn't keep Abby wrapped in bubble wrap forever. Especially when Abby was dying to spread her wings and learn how to fly.
After two hours straight of Macbeth, Abby called it a day. Instead she went to her favourite place in the whole house; the attic. When her mother and she had moved it three months ago the attic was like a dust palace. But now there was no dust in sight thanks to Abby's spring cleaning.
Abby loved this room as it was the only place that she felt at home in her own house. This was only added to by her grandmother's possessions, which lay forgotten by all but her. Abby had always loved her granny and was absolutely devastated when she died last year. You see, her grandmother and she were always there each other, when the rest of the world just cast them aside. But now Abby was all on her own, with only her grandmother's possessions to try and ease the pain.
She opened a box labelled 'important books,' it was full of old photo albums she had flicked through numerous amounts of time. As she took out the last Victorian style album, she realised there is another book in the box, that had never there before. The book was quite heavy and was wrapped in a bright red velvet dust cover complete with golden tassels and a pentagram. As she removed the dust cover; golden writing suddenly appeared on the front cover of the book, and it read:
The St. Clare Family Book of Spells.
This caused Abby to try open the book, but of course it had to be locked. It was an old lock that required a key that Abby didn't have, or did she? You see when Abby was younger her grandmother gave her a matching key to the one that she always wore around her neck. Ever since Abby was given the key she had never taken it off without a fight, much to her mother's dismay; as she never understood what was so important about it. If she was being honest Abby never did either, but her grandmother told her to protect at all costs, and to Abby her grandmother's word was law. Finally it had come to the time when the key had a purpose. But did Abby really want to find out all the dark secrets that may be held in this very book? Hell yeah she did, and no one was going to stop her.
As she had thought, the key was indeed a perfect match to the lock and the book was opened. Inside there was an inscription:
Abby this is a very important book to our family, protect it with your life. In return you may finally become the witch you have always aspired to be, with the help of these spells. Use them wisely, just like I, the original owner of this book did:
Mary St. Clare.
At this stage Abby was shaking with excitement and also with some fear, not that she would ever admit it. So the legend was true after all, but how did Mary St. Clare now her name, and why had she never seen this book before? As she flicked through the book a spell caught her eye 'how to enhance your physic abilities' so of course she read on. The spell was a basically a chant:
'After the lights turn dark,
I will call to enhance this birthmark.
For it is my famiy's right,
To see the future in the light.
But I will not fear what I see,
Instead I will behold the beauty of thee.'
After Abby had completed the spell, she began to doubt that magic even existed for the first time in her entire life. For no magic did occur after the spell, or at least not the 'puff of smoke' or 'blinding light' sort. So Abby left the attic utterly disappointed, well you would be too, wouldn't you?
That night when Abby finally feel asleep, she wondered if the rest of the world was right. Witches didn't exist, they never had and they never will. Or so she thought. For that very night her grandmother came to her in her dreams. She explained why her name was very weird indeed. You see Abby's grandmother was called Sacra Myrtle, which was really an anagram for Mary St. Clare. This shocked Abby immensely, so that's why her last name was Myrtle, and that's how Mary St. Clare, knew her name. Mary St. Clare was her grandmother, so Abby had been right all these years about her grandmother being a witch, but not only was she a witch she was thee witch.
So Abby was right to be superstitious all along, and no wonder she felt a connection with the witches in Macbeth. Being a witch was in her blood and it was finally her time to become a witch, a white witch though she never was into black magic, and she never really did like Lady Macbeth. Finally Abby felt she had a purpose in life, yeah it might not be a doctor like the rest of her class, but she was proud none the less. After all who what's to be a doctor when you can cast spells and possibly fly to the moon on a broomstick- though she might have to verify that one.
Either way Abby was thankful, not only for that history project but for all that Macbeth homework. If she didn't have any English homework, she would have never gone up to the attic that night. Thus consequently she would have never found the St. Clare Family book of spells, or the truth about her grandmother. But how will she ever tell her mother that she's a witch in training? That's a question I'm sure will be unanswered for a long time.
Well I guess magic exists then, or does it? That's up to you to decide, but do you really believe everything happens for a reason? Or is it caused by the spells that witches casts? I guess we'll never know and that's the beauty of it.