First chapter of this new series. Sorry I really suck at summaries. Well I hope you like it~! Review please.


Chapter 1

My mother used to whisper calming words of far away lands where fairy tales and freedom away from in closed gates kept you in and Elders watched your every move, existed.
She used to sit at my bed stroking my hair until I fell asleep at night and whisper me tales and lullabies I used to believe were just made up stories.
The small town in which we came from believed her to fill false truths and looked down on her and her views.
They 'pitied' me, having to hear those stories over and giving me hope when they where no such thing.
We were a small town caged in by fence and mountain almost no one had ever ventured outside and if they did they never returned.
My mother was the only exception.
She left to search for her husband, my father, who had left to 'test the boundaries and prove everyone wrong' over two years ago.
When she returned, her hair was a mess, her clothes torn and her skin looked like it had been torn apart bit by bit.
The worst part was she wouldn't stop whispering about the 'outside,' the elders deemed her as senile and tried to take her away from me.
I was only five at the time but I knew what was happening. I had already lost my father and now they were trying to wretch my mother away.
I bit, kicked and screamed only stopping for my mother. Eventually they gave up on us deeming us as the 'unworthy.'
Other kids avoid me and taunted me for having a crazy mother. It hurt hearing them insult her as though her only daughter wasn't before them also feeling the sting of their words.
I kept my mouth shut knowing the consequences but it might have been the fact that their words somehow seemed to be the exact definition of who she was.
Crazy.
Old.
A witch.
I tried to ignore this feeling of treachery. I was betraying my own blood by believing what the others were saying, but how was I supposed to react.
It was always taught in school to respect the Elder's rules and never disobey them. No matter what the situation was you obeyed the rules even if you had to die for them.
Everyone knew the consequences if you disobeyed them.
Death.
It's been close to ten years since then. Things have changed, my mother passed away the day after I turned 11 leaving me to fend for myself.
It seemed that after she died everyone started to see me differently. Not as the witches child but as a young girl whose childhood had been twisted and turned in the sand of time.
The other kids would talk to me because they wanted to get to know me and not because they wanted to taunt me because of my mother.
For the first time I could remember in years I felt happy no longer alone, I had friends but I still felt a void where my mother should be.
"ANNABELLE" someone screamed from the bottom of the hill I was seated at. The grass sways into me tickling me as I rested on the small hill and my hazy green eyes opened barely a small smile creeping up my lips.
I looked down to see another girl my age, blonde hair tied in a French braid down her back with her baby blue eyes gave me an annoyed scowl. "Yes Lucy?" I called down to her.
She put both of her hands on her hips, her lips formed in a tight line. The hill seemed to have a calming aura as I noticed her shoulders began to sag and her hands drifted down to play with the edge of her faded yellow dress.
"Shouldn't you be doing your duties" she called back up to me a sly grin finding its way to her 'innocent' face. I gave her a small smile and she began to work her way up the hill.
She got up and planted herself in the long grass beside me pulling a strand from the ground to pull and tug at with her hands.
"I don't have duties today, you know that" I said letting my eyes glaze over the field before us. My duties were to tend to the sick and wash clothes in the church where the ill were held. In exchange for those services I got to sleep in my old house and go to school for free.
She let out a small giggle, "I know but I missed you" I open my mouth to scold blonde trouble maker but she engulfs me in a hug. I sigh knowing that there's no point in trying to get her to listen or follow the rules. I had tried before but she just had a spark of mischievous that no one seemed to be able to control.
"So" she threw me a quick side glance, "I heard that Vincent asked you out." I rolled my eyes, this was just like her. She was the need to know type of girl, the kind that you couldn't go five minutes without hearing the latest gossip.
I, was the exact opposite, after hearing the slander directed towards my mother I had no need to hear what was or wasn't true. If it was important enough Lucy would tell me.
"Yeah but I turned him down," I replied picking up a small flower and admiring its beauty, cut off from the rest of the village and all of the fences that surrounded us and kept us from venturing forward. They told us it was to keep us safe from what was out there but I had my doubts.
For instance how did the elders have such fruits that could never grow in our environment or the jewels they adorned, that were foreign to our lands?
I hadn't realized that Lucy had started talking until she landed a punch on my bare shoulder. I let out a grunt of protest as I fell backwards onto my back.
"Are you listening to me?" she asked but didn't wait for my answer before continuing, "Vincent is a great person and you know almost everyone else has been asked out. You don't want to be alone while everyone else is out and happy"
"Lucy I really don't care about being alone. I'm happy now and I'm sure I'll be happy after. He's just a guy we don't marry until 17. I do have two more years" I said sighing and letting the small flower fall from my hand. I resisted the urge to point out that she was also single and constantly being asked out.

It was a Tulip, my mother used to braid them into my long hair but after she died I felt it only as extra weight on my head. It didn't make me prettier nor any more special than the other girls.

I had it cut several days after she was laid to rest and even though many disagreed with her ways and taunted with her, they were all there to see her off to the heavens where she would eternally rest.

"Oh Anna your hopeless" she mumbled using my nickname while falling over backwards dramatically. I let out a small chuckle and shook my head at her actions. Even though she was younger than me she seemed to find a way to attract all the boys just with a flip or her hair and a bat or her eyelash. Sometimes I would envy her, everyone liked her, she had a nice family and didn't have to work for her life, but then I realize how stupid an action that is seeing as she doesn't flaunt what she owns, she holds her head tall and does her duty. She has pride something we both seem to have to much of.

"Why do you want me to find a man so badly" I asked taking a place on my stomach propping my head up with the palm of my hands. She mimicked me position raising her eyebrow while a smirk tugged at the corners of her lip.

"Duh, I thought it was obvious I want you to be able to stop working for a living. Do you know how hard it is to come home after school and see all the other girls rush to go make plans while you brush it off and walk to the church to fulfill 'your duty.'" She said biting her lip. I opened my mouth and closed it unsure of what to say. I never knew she felt this way I always thought her mind was filled with boys and fantasies that would never truly be within her reach.

As if reading my mind she answered my unasked question, "Some people are deeper than they seem, you just need to take the chance and ask instead of assuming." With that she got up and brushed the grass of her skirt holding a hand out for me.

I eyed it before grabbing it and pulling myself up. We walked down the hill in silence, it was neither uncomfortable nor awkward, it was relaxing.

As we made our way through the dainty town my eyes scouted out the smalls house that lined the streets. Instead of the usual sight of windows open and the sounds of bits and pieces of conversations wafting through the window, we were greeted with silence. Not a single child was out playing it was as if it was a ghost town.

I looked over at Lucy and her expression the same as mine, fear. The only time it was like this was when there was a disappearance. The fear of losing some one close to you just disappear without a trace, almost like they just got up and left without a word.

No one sees them leave or hears a struggle, they bodies are also never found. They might as well have just got up and climbed our boundaries and left, but all of the people so far haven't even come off as the type of people to just get up and leave. They had jobs, families and they were just all around happy.

It used to only happen every couple years but in the past month three people have gone missing. We only have a few hundred in our town and everyone knows everyone. There are no secrets and so they do the only logical thing in their mind, place the blame on someone else, and who better than the 'witches' daughter. Of course the sane people talk them out of it saying there's no such thing but it does weigh heavy whenever the finger gets pointed towards me. I feel hated again its makes me wished I was shunned again left by myself, even avoided, everything but hated.

We make our way to the center of the town weaving in and out of groups of people talking amongst themselves worried, Lucy spots her family and rushes over to them quickly, making sure everyone is there.

Its times like this were I feel alone and unloved. I have no group I belong to, no family to worry about, sure there's my friends and neighbors but who knows if they hate me too. Everyone in this town is surprising well at keeping there lips sealed and putting up fronts to keep outsiders out, or me in this case.

Lucy looks at me confusion etched into my face as she waves me over to her family. I try to shake my head no that I wouldn't want to impose but she doesn't understand and rushes over grabbing my hand and dragging me over.

I expect her family to scowl at me and yell at Lucy for bringing me over but like always her family welcomes me as a second child, as though they didn't shun me when my mother still watched over me.

"Oh Annabelle, you're okay right? Nothing wrong, no one missing?" she asks as though she my own mother though instead of Lucy's except her arm isn't around me its laced around Lucy, holding her close. I chew my lip thoughtfully pondering how to reply. I had seen almost all of my neighbors and their children today and I wasn't in any physical pain.

"No thank you for you concern" I whisper giving a small smile. She returns it though it doesn't meet her eyes; I'm used to this though. These faked feelings and the question which ultimately hold a secret meaning to them. Ever since people began to disappear I've been getting them more than a young girl would want.

She opens her mouth to say something when a loud voice breaks through the sky, turning heads and giving worried families hope; Elder James. He holds the power of our little town, the main elder and most highly respected. There a several Elders that usually take his place for these meetings but the fact he's standing before us and addressing us instead of another Elder either means something horribly wrong has occurred or something wonderful.

Everyone gasps at the sight of him wandering closer to the center where he stands on the stage the other Elders crowding behind him in a line. They seem to be keeping something behind them, maybe they have finally caught who has been behind these disappearances, maybe I can go back to talking to my neighbors and not worrying if they are telling their children to avoid me and never walk past alone, maybe I can stop wondering if the school is teaching the children to fear me. I feel hope swell up inside me as I look up with him with pride.

"We recently have been experiencing a troubling predicament involving disappearances of your neighbors, friends, and family," he paused, his eyes sweeping over the crowd staying on me longer than the others. Oh course he would blame me for this, everyone else is why wouldn't he join in with this notion too. I feel my shoulders sag in pain, not physical but mentally, the kind of pain that leaves no scars on the outside skin but slowly pulls you apart piece by piece.

"We know many of you are worried that another has gone missing and I apologize for freighting you," I heard many sighs from around me and some even cried in happiness, "but I thought it would be important to alert you that we may have found the culprit responsible for these actions" A couple cheers were heard from the men as they thrust their hands into the air in victory while mothers pulled their children close and eyed me as though he was going to call me out and I would go on a rampage and attack everyone.

"We found him lurking near the fence line with another man who when we ambushed managed to escape. He seemed to be of witch descent using some sort of power when we captured them but we found no wand and they seemed to speak another language" A couple gasps were heard and I felt even more eyes upon me. I bit my lip a tear sliding down my cheek, they assumed I was in league with him but no surprise there; I'm a monster, no?

"Let us see the beast" a man called out and couple of other men grunting along with him. I couldn't hide my curiosity either, would he look like me or would he be like how my mother described them with warts and pointy hats, with capes. If he looked differently, weirder maybe they would finally leave me alone, accept that I was a normal girl that just had a difficult life.

The Elders turned to each and began to whisper. Some nodded at points and looked back over their shoulders at the crowd, particularly at me. I looked over at Lucy with a pained expression hoping I wasn't the only one noticing their glances but she only looked at the group excited, swaying from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of the sorcerer.

The Elder's finally turned, Elder James walking forward to address the public, most mothers clutched at their children scared, their eyes burning with anxiety. I wonder if I'll ever be a mother, if I'll ever hold a child close to me worrying about their safety and watch them grow up only to deal with the heartache of having them leave me or in my mother's case having her leave me.

"We have decided that if you can control yourself and promise not to injure him as we have yet to extract his companion's where-abouts and don't want to startle him, we shall bring him out" Elder James said to the crowd eying the rowdy group of men in the corner looking towards the area where he was confined, jaws tight against their face, their teeth grinding together while their eyes were narrowed. I remembered them being the group of me that worked in the field. Their fellow companion, Andy, had recently gone missing causing their family much grief and the other workers to become agitated easier and more protective over their family. No one thinks much of it until someone close to you is taken.

Elder James motioned for the Elders to bring him forward and the crowd sucked in a large breath holding it in, in anticipation, but what they brought forth wasn't a hideous monster or a warlock with warts and a pointy hat, instead a boy with long blonde hair that curled around his ears was brought forward.

He didn't dress like a warlock should wearing instead of a cape and a black jumpsuit but a cream, green, and a dull blue, checked sweater vest over a white button down. He wore tan slacks with shiny black shoes which I couldn't name. He dressed like a rich man and held his head up as they brought him forward, proud of himself.

He opened his eyes looking out upon the small crowd, his forest green eyes studying us but instead of a look of anger, pain, or even regret he seemed to pity us. What for though? Had we done something wrong?

Another question sparked in the back of my head, where did he come from? If we were the only people in the area how could he just walk causally over here dressed like that without a single speck of mud or dirt on himself? What if he was a warlock? I felt my knees buckle the question ringing through my brain and then his eyes landed on me, they almost seemed to widen in shock but he quickly masked it, if it wasn't an illusion to begin with.

The men from the field look at him a scream out rude remarks toward him but he seems oblivious to it all even letting out a small smile. This only fuels their anger towards him as though he's taunting them but it doesn't seem like his trying to egg them on he seems like he's trying to make peace.

The men scream out things like, pansy and girly man, seeming to be drunk and not able to come up with actual insults. I look around and see mothers with fear in their eyes while boys try to join in with their dads and yell insults toward them. The young girls instead of fearing or hating him look at him with sly grins whispering to each other and blush as they whisper back. They don't seem to realize the danger they're in.

I bite my lip and turn away unable to watch this anymore I feel like I'm in a zoo and instead of animals its people on display. I begin to walk not bothering to listen to what they call out and the witch taunts they call out, it almost feels like they're being directed at me all over again, but they aren't and I feel terrible for feeling so relieved.

I make my way back home their calls and wide laugh dying away as night sweeps in and the cool air settles over our small town.