Disclaimer: I don't own 'The Worst Witch.'
A/N: Hi folks.
This is just an idea that came into my mind, it's a series of 10 short drabbles/one-shots that have each been inspired by a one-worded prompt and the way it worked out, the letter 'F' will be sponsoring all prompt words. The drabbles/one-shots are individual but do all very loosely connect to one another. I've so far got one and a half written, but I do have all my prompt words sorted which is further than I usually get on the planning side of things, lol.
Whilst it is fresh in my mind (as I have the memory of a sieve) to anyone who reviewed 'Just The Girl In The Mirror' I haven't yet replied to, I do apologise and give my profuse thank you, here and now. :)
Chapter 1
Freedom
Her shaky legs nearly buckled under the weight of her emotions as she stepped over the threshold of witch training college and back into a world far less evil than the prison of hell where she had spent the past four years of her life.
She had done it; she had survived...
It was something that more than once she had considered to be impossible; just a dream, nothing but a mere fantasy with little chance of it ever coming to fruition. It was something that more than once, to her shame, she had not considered as favourable; occasionally wishing for death to just take her in its grasp and end her suffering, because anything...anything had to be better than being in that place for even a second longer.
Now...
...now it did not matter. None of it mattered. Now it was over. Now the end was in sight; now there was light at the end of the tunnel and she felt...
...she did not know how she felt.
It just didn't seem real, none of it did, it felt more like an illusion; a cruel trick on her tutors part, merely another way for her to toy with her prey but it was real, and she was having trouble getting her head around that fact and processing the knowledge that after what felt like a lifetime, everything was finally going to change, and for the better, she hoped.
Her mind was a complete whir; a whole cauldron of tumultuous emotions bubbling away ferociously inside of her and the fire, fire that had once been dampened and nearly extinguished, was now burning away fiercely; burning with a new-found hope.
Hope.
It was something she had struggled to cling to over the years, her optimism shrinking day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, as she had waited for the end.
The end was never in sight...
She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, convinced that she was not alone; there was a feeling of uneasiness tingling in her spine, telling her that she was being watched. Cautiously she spun round on her heel, and with her spell-casting fingers at the ready, she was prepared to defend herself against anything untoward that she might be about to encounter, but there was no one there.
The forest clearing was completely deserted, yet she remained unconvinced as her instincts screamed out at her on red alert. Her eyes scanned the surrounding area but they could see nothing, her ears listened out for any little sound; the snap of a twig, the breath of another, but there was nothing to be seen. Nothing to be heard. Nothing to be found. She stood for a few minutes more, not even daring to breathe, before she relented and continued on her way, looking behind her every so often and eventually putting her feeling down to a highly active paranoia, developed over her time at witch training college.
She suppressed a small shiver at even the memory.
The whole place just gave her the creeps; there was something about it, something so unnaturally evil...
Her only goal for the time being was to get as far away as possible as she could from that place, as fast as she could, and never to return.
Never Ever.
In a vain attempt to try to distract herself, she tried to concentrate on the positive emotions that she was experiencing, trying to pick them out from her jumbled thoughts, but she still couldn't explain what she was feeling; there were just no words.
Was it relief?
Was it excitement?
Was it hope?
Or was it simply freedom?
...free; she was free.
It was something she had longed for, for as long as she could remember, praying to whichever deity that might have been listening that the day would soon come. Yet the days had gone by so slowly, practically dragging in, the sands of time trickling away little by little and then seeming to stop in mid-flow.
Eventually she had given up.
Eventually she had lost count: days, weeks, months, years; everything blurred together, meshing into one large pit of darkness and misery as she had fallen deeper. Each beating and vicious onslaught knocking her down further and further to the depths of despair; each time she had found it harder and harder to find the strength to crawl back up on her feet, both physically and mentally, but now...
She was free.
She was finally free.
Now she was able to cast off the iron shackles that she'd been chained in for so long. Now she was able to spread her wings and fly.
No longer would she have to spend every waking moment of her existence just trying to survive under the radar of her tyrannical tutor, no longer would she have to spend every second of every day trying to please her; working herself beyond the point of exhaustion just to succeed – and failing every time. For nothing she did was ever good enough and it never would be. No longer would she be criticised, belittled, beaten and broken, day in day out.
No longer would she have to fear for her life.
A small smile found its way across her features.
She was free...
...and she had a future.
Maybe she had won after all?
As she left the last of the grounds, she had failed to notice the two snake-like eyes watching her from the shadows; hidden from sight in between the greenery of the trees. If she had, she would have seen the figure standing there; she would have seen the smirk that slowly spread across the owners face and she would have noticed the faint sparks of magic travelling through the air and encircling her before they dissipated.
The tracking spell was in place.
If Constance Hardbroom thought she could run forever, then she was seriously mistaken.
A/N: I hope that was okay. The next one will be 'Fear.' :)