I played a fun game last night. At least I thought it were a game. Me and my cousin, Abby, went into the woods with many of the other girls from town to play with Papa's nice servant lady. Her name sounds like Tityoobuh. It be very hard to spell. I cannot spell anything good. Papa says nobody be allowed to write nor read because God says it be bad. I enjoy writin' because it helps me practice and I have been gettin' better. I do not want Papa to be mad at me, so I hide my writin' book from him and I write in it at night while he be sleepin'.
Tityoobuh's games be so much fun. She made a fire and we all danced while she sang a song with weird words and I liked to dance to it. I do not think my friend, Mercy, were doin' the dance right, because she just took off her clothes and ran 'round while she were naked. Tityoobuh made weird red stuff that Abby said were soup, but it smelled funny. I asked Tityoobuh if I could try it, but Abby yelled at me and said I could have none. I thought it were not fair that Abby got some and I did not till Tityoobuh said it were not for me because it came from cuttin' chickens. I think she meant she put chicken blood in the soup and that be why it were red. I wanted not to drink the funny soup no more. I knew not why Abby would want to drink it nor why the frog that jumped into the pot would want to drink it, either. I thought it were part of the game, so I kept playin' along. The weirdest part of the game were when Abby made a wish for Goody Proctor to die, and then she drank the blood soup. I started to think we were playin' a game where we were witches and Abby were castin' a spell to kill people like I heard people say that witches do. I knew not why Abby would want to play a game such as this, but I just kept goin' along with it. We played and danced till Papa found us. He looked mad and I do not like when he be mad. I thought he were mad because we were pretendin' to be witches and he does not like when others talk 'bout witches. I got scared and I think I fainted.
I believe I awoke the next day layin' on my bed and I could hear Papa talkin' to Abby next to me. He sounded like he were mad at Abby. I thought it were because we were pretendin' to be witches, so he might have still been mad at me and I wanted not for him to yell at me, so I pretended to still be asleep. A few minutes later, I heard Mister and Misses Putnam come in. I think I heard them say I could fly, because they said I went over Ingersoll's barn like a bird. I found that to be weird. Then, they started to talk 'bout witchcraft and I started to think that it were part of the game from the other night and Papa and Mister and Misses Putnam were playin' along. They were pretendin' that I were a under a spell made by a witch and that be why I would not wake and why I could fly. I thought it were strange that we were still playin' the game, but I still liked it and I were glad that Papa were only pretendin' to be mad. Or at least I thought he were.
My friends, Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren, came in and everyone else except for Abby left and they started talkin' 'bout witches, too. From what they were talkin' 'bout, I thought they were the witches that casted the sleep and fly spell on me. I did not like the way they were yellin' at each other and it made me whimper a little. Abby heard me and made me sit up and tried to make me wake. When she threatened me, I got scared and whimpered again. I thought she were tryin' to tell me that it were time for me to wake because that were part of the game. I got off of the bed and leaned against a wall, pretendin' to be scared of Abby, the witch. I started talkin' 'bout flyin' to my passed Mama, since I could fly in the game. I were goin' to pretend to fly up to heaven to see Mama. Abby stopped me from climbin' out the window to fly, even though I were only goin' to pretend to because I knew it were dangerous. I thought it would be fun to pretend to be a scared victim who wanted to tell others what were happenin', so I talked 'bout what Abby did last night, pretendin' to be scared. Abby kept tellin' me that none of that happened. I started gettin' more scared when Abby slapped my face. She did not fake the slap like I thought she would and it hurt. I still tried to play along with the game because I wanted her not to keep yellin' at me. I fell onto my bed and pretended to cry, yellin' to my Mama, tellin' her to come for me and save me from the witches. That seemed to only make it worse because Abby started yellin' at me, Mercy, and Mary; I were too scared of her tone of voice to understand her. I were so scared, I fainted again.
It took not as long for me to wake as the last time I fainted, because I woke up to yellin' and a song bein' played downstairs. I liked the song, but I did not like the shoutin'. I started whinin' and coverin' my ears, hopin' to block out the loud noise. I were so sick of all the yellin' that I started to scream. Persons started to surround me and yell in confusion, wonderin' what were wrong with me. I stopped screamin' and I felt someone lightly slap me, tryin' to get me to wake. I did not want Abby to yell at me again, so I just kept my eyes closed and moaned from the pain in my ears. I were confused. I were startin' to think that this not be a game at all. Did they truly believe that I were under a witch's spell? I wanted not for them to be mad at me for fakin' my illness, even though I were only pretendin', so I continued to lay there and stopped listenin' to everyone in the room.
More and more persons started comin' in and a man named John Hale tried to wake me, but I were payin' not any attention to anyone till Tityoobuh came in. They asked her 'bout what happened the other night. They believed that she were the witch that made me sleep. I wanted to tell them not to be mad at her, but I also wanted not for them to be mad at me. She told them 'bout what happened in the woods. Abby called her a liar and said such awful things 'bout her. The persons in the room started sayin' that Tityoobuh needed to be killed. I opened my eyes and were 'bout to get out of the bed to go over to Tityoobuh and defend her when she started talkin' 'bout the Devil tryin' to tempt her. I thought not that she were tellin' the truth and that she just went along with what everyone believed she were so they would not be mad at her. It be like what I did when I thought I were playin' the game or when everyone thought I were under the spell. I realized that Tityoobuh needed not my help, so I closed my eyes and went back to pretendin' to be asleep, glad that nobody was lookin' at me when I opened them.
I heard Tityoobuh say the names of persons that were with the Devil to make the lie more real and to make everyone not be mad at her no more. Soon, Abby started sayin' names, too. I assume they were mad at her, as well. I thought I could say the names of others that were with the Devil, so nobody would be mad at me, either. I sat up and started sayin' random names. I cared not for who they were as long as Papa would not be mad at me no more. It seemed to have worked, because when I got up, Papa came over to me and hugged me. I were happy that he were not mad at me, but I kept sayin' random names so Papa would be too focused on the witches that Abby and I were accusin' to bring up the incident from the other night and be mad at me and Tityoobuh again. I am still scared. I know not what will happen, but I have a feelin' that it be something bad.