Finding The Truth
Constance Hardbroom was eighteen and fresh out of college and was looking forward to teacher training college. The teenager was going to be attending Hecketty Broomhead's training college and despite the rumours she had heard about the woman she was was looking forward to starting.
She arrived at the college and was shown her room by an boy who she noticed had an scar on his cheek she didn't comment on this she knew what teenage boys could be like after all. She unpacked and was surprised no one seemed to be coming to show her around or anything and she just figured they had to do that on their own. She found her way down to an large hall and looked around curiously. There was an lot of other people stood in the hall some much older and some around her age. She couldn't help noticing all of them had an injury of some sort.
"S...she's coming" an girl that looked to be an little older than Constance announced. The reaction to these two words was shocking. Everyone gasped and looked terrified for an split second before they started to transport away something Constance did not have the ability to do. She stood there wondering if maybe she should run or something when she felt someone grab her arm and suddenly the hall they had been standing in disappeared
Constance fell forward onto an carpeted floor from the pressure of transporting for the first time. She felt someone take her arm and helped her up.
"Are you alright?" an gentle voice asked her as she stood to her feet.
"Yes I have never ...transported before that is all..." she said as she realised she was in the room she had just unpacked in.
"Erm how did you know this was my room?" she asked confused.
"Because we are room-mates, I know everyone in this college so I knew it must be you I was sharing with" she told her. Constance sat on her bed and looked at the stranger curiously.
"What happened to your eye? In fact why has everyone I have seen got some sort of injury?" she asked.
The girl sighed and paused before answering.
"Have you not heard the rumours about this place?" she asked the dark haired teen.
"I have heard some things, though I can't say how many are true" she told her.
"I would say probably all of them, Mistress Broomhead has an right temper on her" she said
"She hit you?" Constance asked.
"She hits all her students that is why everyone was fleeing when they heard she was coming" the girl told her.
"Well..why are you all still here...why don't you leave?" Constance asked naively
"You can't fly within ten feet away from this place she has charms all around the building" she replied.
"Then transport" Constance replied
"Again charms all around the building" the girl said
"Then leave through the gate, even if it is locked I am sure it is climbable" she told her
"Not possible, two words...electric fences, we are all trapped here until she gives us permission to leave"
"And how long will that be exactly?" Constance asked.
"Two years...maybe four or maybe eight..when ever she decides she has tortured you enough and wants to move on to the next person" the girl told her.
Constance looked down hoping the girl was just trying to scare her because she was new.
"I am Wendy Nightstar by the way" the girl said offering Constance her hand to shake. Constance took it and shook it gently.
"Constance Hardbroom" she told her.
"How old are you?" she asked her
"I turned eighteen last month" she told her
"I am nineteen I have been here for an year now" she said as she sighed looking at her."It's a shame, you are really pretty, Broomhead is going to hate you for that" Wendy told her. Constance looked at her friend. Shoulder length ginger hair and an kind face though the girl looked tired and it was hard to see what she really looked like with her bruise.
"Thanks..." Constance said looking down scared.
"Oh I would tie your hair back if I were you" she told her.
"I am afraid to ask but why?" she asked her,
"Broomhead has dragged people across the floor by their hair before and this girl who left not long ago she cut of all her hair to make her 'ugly'."
"But my hair is super long she will still be able to do that even if it is up" Constance said worried
"Not if you put it in an bun" Wendy said. That is how the traditional hairstyle started.
Constance tried to avoid the scary mentor for as long as possible but it was impossible to do it forever. She remembers the first meeting like it was yesterday. Wendy and Constance had soon become good friends and they were currently sat in an hall studying when from an door to their right they heard footsteps before they had an chance to think the menacing woman walked into the room.
"In line all of you" she bellowed and everyone jumped up to obey her orders. Wendy whispered to her new friend to stand next to her and they went and joined the line.
Broomhead started to walk down the line her heels the only noise in the quiet hall as everyone was to scared to make an noise. She looked at everyone as she went trying to decide who will be her victim today. She got to the end of the line and stared at Wendy for an while before she reached the last person. Constance could feel the woman's eyes staring into her as she stopped in front of her.
"Name child" she asked
"Constance Hardbroom" she told her
The woman grabbed hold of the girl and pulled her towards her before she had time to take another breathe. She looked at the girl with an smirk.
"Aww such youthful beauty" she said looking at the girl who was barely eighteen. She smirked and took the girl of guard when she striked her hitting her around the face. Everyone in the line reacted to this some bit their lips, some looked away, some looked really sad. Constance held her now red cheek as she heard the woman laugh.
"You are very weak we will have to toughen you up an little" she said as she hit her again her ring catching her face and causing her cheek to bleed after she had done this she pushed her back in the line and told them all they could leave the line now. Wendy ran up to her friend.
"Are you OK?" she asked looking at the her injuries she rolled up her sleeve and saw the bruises covering her wrist.
"There is no point healing them...there will be more to come...come on" she said as she touched her friends shoulder gently.
Constance didn't know why but she soon became one of Broomhead's favourite people to torture, other people didn't help how could they when they were in the same situation?. Constance was the youngest pupil there which Broomhead said made her weaker. Her friendship with Wendy bothered Broomhead an lot too so they tried never to be around each other when she was there.
It didn't take long for Constance to start showing the same signs the others did, the scared eyes, the trembling hands, the jumpiness, all signs of their abuse.
Wendy had told her to learn to transport as quickly as possible it was an way to save themselves when Broomhead was after them as she never went in their rooms. Wendy was happy to help her with this.
"Right so you need to clear your mind and focus on our bedroom" Wendy told her.
"I can't clear my mind when my head is throbbing" she told her touching the newest injury she had just received from their mentor.
"Just try" she told her
"Why are you helping me"? Constance asked.
"Because I had no one to help me" she replied as Constance tried to forget about her sore head and clear her mind.
"I can't do this" the girl replied.
"Yes you can, think of it this way sometimes you only have an split second to escape where is the one place in the world you want to be at most when you hear Broomhead coming?" she asked
"Our room"? She asked
"Yes...getting away is important think of the room and nothing else" she said as they actually started to hear footsteps.
"Stop it you are creeping me out" Constance said thinking her friend was making the noise.
"It isn't me it is Broomhead" she said as they grew louder and the girl ran to transport them both away but the door was starting to open and she was nowhere near her friend.
"Our room Constance our room come on we have to get out of here" she said as Constance disappeared followed by her friend the split second Broomhead opened the door.
Constance stood up with an smile as she looked around the bedroom after she had successfully transported "Hey when she is teaching me that now she wont be able to punish me for not being able to do it" she replied as she stood up as she had landed face first.
One year later the girls were really starting to suffer. They were covered in bruises,burns, scars anything you could think off. Wendy was sick an lot and it was likely she had something wrong with her insides and was constantly pale and Constance's weight was dropping rapidly as the girl couldn't eat because of her broken jaw.
"I swear this woman is going to end up killing us" Wendy said
"Well at least we won't have her beating us if we are dead" Constance replied.
They sat there for an few moments in silence.
"Broomhead is going away right?" Constance asked
"She is back tonight, she is only away for an few hours" Wendy said
"We have to get out of here...this might be our only chance" Constance said as the girl agreed. This was easier said than done, Broomhead had guards all over the building so sneaking out was very hard but Constance had thought about that and had made an invisibility potion. They were out the doors and both looked up at the iron fencing surrounding them.
"Now what?" Wendy asked as they saw the fence.
"Well it is an electric fence there most be an off switch somewhere musnt there?" Constance said as they ran to look for such an thing. Constance saw an red electrical box on the wall opened it and pushed the switch down.
"Perfect" Wendy said as they ran towards the fence and started to climb which in their weakened state was difficult. They were nearly at the top when suddenly an alarm started to going of from somewhere. An alarm they had not been aware off.
"Oh darn it" said Wendy as they started to climb faster but Constance had hardly any energy as she hadn't been eating and stopped.
"Come on we are nearly.." she never got to finish her sentence as an bunch of sparks was shot towards the two girls and they tumbled back to the ground horrified to see Broomhead looking down at them.
"Running away are we?" she laughed as she picked both woman up aggressively. They fussed and fidgeted as she dragged them back into the building until they reached the main hall. Broomhead smiled and turned on Constance first but Wendy ran in front of her.
"Leave her alone, she's not well" Wendy yelled as the woman pushed her onto the floor.
Wendy then did something very stupid she jumped on the woman's back trying to stop her hurting her friend. The woman threw the girl on the floor then smiled.
"Ahh little Wendy, alright if you want to take her place you can" she said as she started to drag her out the room away from her friend. Constance stood up running to the door to try stop her leaving but she wasn't quick enough she banged on the door as she heard her friend screaming.
Constance waited for her friend to come back that night but she never did. She eventually fell asleep and saw her friend still had not returned the next morning, worried she went to look for her but heard laughter instead.
"Your little girlfriend has left you here" Broomhead laughed
"You are lying, Wendy wouldn't do that" Constance told her
"I let the girl go she begged me to let her leave and I said she could but without you and she agreed" Broomhead said messing with her head.
"She wouldn't do that" Constance said
"Ahh but she did, now we still haven't punished you for trying to escape have we?" she said as she started dragging the girl by the arm down flights of stairs. Constance didn't fuss what would be the point she only started to fuss when she realised how far down they were going.
It started to get colder as they entered the dungeons, people had wondered for an long time if it was true she locked people up in there and Constance was about to discover it was true the woman threw her into an cage as the girl screamed.
"No Broomhead you can't leave me in here" she shouted banging on the bars but it was to late the woman had left. The girl gave up sitting on the floor letting her tears fall.
It was many many years later and Constance Hardbroom was now an teacher at Cackle's Academy for Witches and was also deputy head. The woman loved her job though she still showed signs of her torture. Since the day she had left the college she had wondered about her friend. It made no sense that she would leave her like that she knew Wendy she wouldn't do it so something else had obviously happened but what Constance did not know.
She had checked death records,graveyards, hospital records and nothing ever showed for it. She really was starting to think Broomhead's story was true as she checked old newspapers after old newspapers. She decided to try an different approach an computer and went through anything to see if her friend was mentioned anywhere and eventually she found something. An article from ten years ago about an woman who had won an award for bravery. She had the same name as her friend and there was an address, Constance decided to go ahead and contact her not expecting to hear anything back.
An week later Constance was sat in an cafe where the two woman had agreed to meet. The woman was nervous what if her friend hated her?
The woman soon arrived and Constance gasped as she saw the woman was in an wheelchair.
"Hi"...the woman said awkwardly
"Hi..." Constance said "Sorry this is so out of the blue I just...why did you leave the college? Did Broomhead let you go?" Constance asked.
"No...it is an long story" Wendy said
"Please tell" Constance said
"Well she took me away to punish me for running as you know, I had never seen her so angry, for an while it was her beating me but then she threw me down the stairs everything went black then" she told her.
"Why what happened? Constance asked
"She had put me into an coma I hit my head on the hard ground as I landed and I only woke up three months after the incident, she broke my spine too that is why I am paralysed" Wendy said. Constance gasped she couldn't help it. She had never thought it was anything on an scale of this.
"Broomhead covered the whole thing up she had made them think it was an terrible accident and the other injures were consistent with what she told them, once I had recovered my parents would not let me back to the college, I did try to go back to you but I wasn't allowed, by the time I was old enough to try an inside source told me you had already gone and I didn't know where" Wendy told her.
"Wendy I am so sorry..." Constance said.
"Don't be sorry I am sorry I left you with that woman, I always wanted to find you" she told her.
"I am sorry I let her take you" Constance said.
"You were my best friend I wanted to save you" she told her.
"We have to report this" Constance said.
"We can't" Wendy replied knowing how much power the woman had.
"Yes we can, as we speak right now other people are being hurt, the students I teach one day one of them might be one of her victim's we have to put an stop to it" Constance said.
"What if they don't believe us?" Wendy asked
"We fight until they do, we can do it together, friends?" she asked
Wendy smiled and hugged the woman "Best Friends" she said as Constance smiled and grabbed her friends hand as tears fell out of her eyes. She had succeeded she had found her lost friend and together they would bring down the woman who had destroyed their lives.