My Grandmother was a Witch
Chapter 4
It was cold outside but she didn't care in the least. She had buried her mother today and there were people in her house. She hadn't gone back to school and was now weeks behind in her classes but she didn't care. Her mother was dead.
She was outside sitting on frozen concrete while people she didn't even know were all dressed in black inside her house. It was even black outside which only further emphasized her dark mood.
She didn't even see him sit down next to her. She was so numb from the pain, the cold, the feeling of emptiness, that she didn't notice till he said something. "It's cold out here." Jim knew she was hurting. Hell, he was hurting, too.
"I didn't notice," Kate answered and still hadn't really noticed. What was there to notice? Everything was ruined. That stupid police officer had nothing, literally nothing. They even had to call him to find out he knew nothing.
"Come on. I'll get you a coat and let's get out of here," Jim got up and retrieved two heavy coats, one for her and one for him and Kate found herself in the passenger seat not really paying any attention to anything.
She was a witch but she couldn't save her own mother. Some witch she was. She was useless.
_/\_
"Where are we?" Kate finally snapped out of it just enough to work out that she was walking on sand and watched her dad pick these little scraps of nothing as they walked.
"Coney Island. Felt like getting away from it all. The house was depressing. They'll all go home when they're ready and if somebody robs us, who cares." Jim was in his own dark place and didn't see a way out.
"Oh." Kate looked around. The boardwalk was over there. The entire place was cold and dark with almost no lights to speak of. The perfect place to get mugged and killed. Right now she didn't care.
"Here." Jim handed her something.
"What's this?" Kate took it and looked at it. It was actually rather cute looking. It looked like a little man with a big head. Made from bits of twigs, twine, and other things he'd found on the beach. She wasn't sure but it might actually be smiling at her.
"Thanks, Dad." One teeny tiny bit of sunshine on the worst day of her life. She couldn't think of another day like it. Today was clearly the worst.
Jim put an arm around her shoulder and walked with her.
_/\_
It had taken Kate three days. One day to fly back to Stanford. Then go to the Administration Building and sign out of all of her college classes. She was leaving Stanford.
She went to her dorm room and packed but slept there. She said goodbye to her roommate and wished her well. She naturally wanted to know why so Kate told her that her mother was dead so she was leaving and going home.
Unexpectedly Kate found herself being hugged and could hear her roommate crying for her. Kate was out of tears by now.
Everything she owned, save for what had never made it this far, was on its way to the airport. It was going just perfectly till she reached Chicago.
"CANCELED! What do you mean canceled?" Kate listened to the explanation and couldn't believe her ears. Her plane hadn't even left the airport it was coming from yet. They didn't have another flight to New York till tomorrow. She had a choice. Sleep in the airport or take the hotel room being offered.
But that was all she was getting. She had to get there on her own and then back on her own. She had a few choice words for the woman who was explaining all this and Kate couldn't do anything about it. All her potion stuff was in her checked bag that was presently who knew where.
So with ticket in hand for her supposed gate for tomorrow, she walked for a while and stopped when she spotted a place to get a drink. She ordered vodka and drank it in short order before finding a different place to eat something.
Now she was looking for a place that had seats without arms so she could lay down and sleep the night in the airport. She was using her carry-on and coat as a pillow and watched travelers go past her in both directions.
Hours later it was like the place just shut down. She saw people with vacuum cleaners walk around with seriously long electrical cords. Right behind her was this man walking around picking up trash and putting in a replacement bag for the next container of trash.
None of these people even gave her a second look. It was like they saw this day after day. It didn't make her feel any better, though. She was trapped in Chicago. Too far to drive home and she didn't even know where her luggage was. Probably below her somewhere.
_/\_
All she'd really gotten were these short cat naps. Maybe 15 minutes to 30 minutes long. She washed up in a restroom, brushed her teeth, took out her tampon and put in a new one. This trip back home was the pits. About the only good thing that had happened was that her cramps hadn't showed up. Which was good because she couldn't make a potion to make them go away.
Kate handed over her boarding pass so she could get on her plane. She made her way all the way to the back. Way in the back. It was going to take forever to get off the plane when she landed.
_/\_
Kate was tired, sore, and still angry when she got out of the shuttle van at home and watched the driver drop her bags at her feet. He wished her a nice day and left her.
At least she was home. She just had to get herself and everything else inside so she could finally rest and find out how her dad was doing. She had told him what her plan was even if she didn't yet have a plan for what came next.
Except stepping inside was just the first step into her new nightmare only she wasn't asleep. She was wide awake.
_/\_
It was now weeks later and if Kate had thought the day her mother had died had been bad, this was many times worse. "Dad, you need to stop." She wasn't even sure where the bottles were coming from. The ones she found got dumped down the drain and thrown out but somehow he managed to replace them.
"GET OUT! … GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT! I'm tired of seeing your face. You're dead so GET OUT!" he yelled at her and then the unthinkable happened. He hit her and sent her falling to the floor. He hadn't just slapped her. He'd made a fist and hit her squarely in the jaw.
In total disbelief she watched him stomp his way to his bedroom probably to find another bottle to drink from.
He left her lying on the floor crying. Her jaw hurt and her dad had just hit her. He had actually hit her.
_/\_/\_
Kate was curled up in a corner still crying and raised her head but she didn't see him. She didn't have anywhere else to go. This was her home. She wasn't going to fight with her father. Besides he was bigger and stronger than her.
Then a thought hit her. She actually did have a place to go and it wasn't a hotel room that was going to cost her money.
Thankfully her mother had left her money and the insurance company had paid her claim and paid the life insurance money she was owed. She had managed to get her dad's company to put him on unpaid leave for medical reasons so he at least still had a job. If she could ever get him to stop drinking and be her father again.
Kate was very careful. She had her suitcase that had all of her potion stuff and stuffed her carry-on just as fast as she could. She needed money, keys, and directions. Now all but the directions were easy to reach. Those were in her parents' bedroom. Her dad's bedroom since she couldn't find it anywhere else.
Kate walked in. His bedroom stank. It smelled like vomit or something. Her dad wasn't even on the bed so where was he? Kate found him on the floor but he looked to be breathing so she searched till she found them.
Moments later she was driving in the family car to get away. She had money to buy gas and food. She had the directions on the seat next to her since she hadn't been paying all that much attention the first time. Mom had been the navigator. Now she was both driver and navigator.
_/\_
The dirt road was just like she remembered it. Bumpy and with some ups and downs till the house finally came into view. It was the only place she could think of to escape to.
Kate parked the car just like last time and pulled out the keys. She'd been told this place was still in the family and they had keys. So Kate unlocked the door and saw the interior looked just like she remembered it.
"I wish you were here, Grams." Kate could feel the tears starting. Mom was dead. Her dad was a drunk and he had hit her.
"I am here, honey." Kate heard her voice and turned. There she was!
"GRAMS!" Kate rushed to her with the intent of wrapping herself around her and maybe breaking down and just crying over how her life had gone to shit and letting her grandmother take care of her.
Except it didn't work out that way. Kate passed right through Grams like she wasn't even there and yet she could see her. She looked solid enough. It caused her to lose her balance and fall to the floor. She just barely kept from letting her head hit the wall.
"What the hell!?" That hadn't worked out like she had hoped it would.
"Sorry, honey, but I'm dead. Remember?" She stood over Kate who curled up on herself and started crying. "I'm sorry, Katie. But I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you. Don't have anywhere else to go." Anna knelt down so she could look at her.
Kate wiped away tears. She thought she was out of those. She had cried a river full by now. "Mom's dead, Grams!" Kate so wanted her to fix it all. She was a witch, she could fix this. Give her back her mother.
"I know, dear, I know." Anna felt for her. Her daughter was dead. How could she not be sad about that.
"You're a witch, Grams. Bring her back. PLEASE!?" Kate begged her.
"Even a dark witch can't do that, Katie. Unlike me she's moved on to what comes next. There is no coming back. I'm so very sorry." She could see Kate was hurting.
"Come on, get up. Maybe something to eat will make you feel better. The pantry and freezer are still full. Now what's in the refrigerator might be another story, though."
Kate actually managed a small grin that didn't last long. "Come on up, honey." She would help but she couldn't touch her. She was dead.
_/\_
"I see you haven't forgotten how to cook. So tell me what happened. I could feel her pass me by but I don't know why." Anna was actually glad she was here. She had questions of her own.
"Dad and I went to a restaurant and she was supposed to meet us there but she never made it. Hours later we went home and found a detective waiting for us. A Detective Raglan. She had been stabbed. Someone stabbed her and left her to die, Grams. They stabbed her and left her there. She died from blood loss.
"Stupid detective told us it was a random act of gang violence. He didn't know who did it and likely never would. She's dead, Grams." Kate couldn't help it she was back to crying.
Anna wanted desperately to hold her but she couldn't. "How long was it?"
"Too long. I already thought of that. By the time we learned of it it was about three hours or more. I can't go back and prevent it." Kate threw her fork onto the table. She wasn't hungry any longer.
"I left Stanford and came home. Now Dad's a drunk. All he does is drink alcohol straight from the bottle. He doesn't eat, he just throws up and drinks. Then he hit me, Grams. My dad hit me." Kate turned her head to show her the bruise on her jaw and watched her take a good close look.
"That doesn't sound like Jim. But people react differently to life-changing events. …Have you tried making him a potion?" Anna asked her.
"What?" Kate raised her head and looked at her.
"You're a witch, honey. You have the book full of potions that I gave you. Surely you've made one or two by now."
"A couple. I turned one guy into a penguin," Kate admitted and saw the look her grandmother was giving her. "He took my virginity, didn't use a condom, and then laughed at me. I could have been pregnant. I gave him a potion. So I used the item. It was random and he ended up being a penguin. He's probably in some zoo somewhere by now." She didn't know and really didn't care.
"Careful, Katie. Another step like that and it could lead you down the road to being a black witch. The book will become evil and your granddaughter will be evil as well."
"I could have been pregnant and he laughed at me! Now I don't have a mother to help me and my dad's a drunk." Kate wasn't hungry still or again.
"So make him a potion. You're a witch. Look at every page of the book till you find one you can use. How is your wand making coming?" Anna inquired.
"It's out in the car. I think it works. I had to use a piece of a California Redwood and a piece of hard rock candy. It doesn't look too bad. A little weird maybe but it works. I blew up a rock I found. Scared the hell out of me," Kate admitted.
Anna smiled."Good, keep up the practice. A really good witch knows how to use her wand for all kinds of things. Just get in some practice."
"A potion, huh? I hadn't thought of that. I mean he's my dad." Somehow giving him a potion was an evil act.
"Some of those potions are meant for you, so don't overlook them," Anna advised her.
"Are you sure you're dead, Grams? I need someone to help me." Kate had never felt so all alone.
"I'll always be here, honey. My home is now yours. Remember that dollar you gave me and those papers I had you sign? You own this place now. You bought it from me. Come here whenever you wish and I'll be here for you. Always." She gave Kate a kiss on her forehead that sadly, neither of them felt.
"Is that what that was? Where are the horses?" Kate didn't want to go out back and find them dead. That would only hurt worse.
"A neighbor came and rescued them. They're both fine and living somewhere else now," Anna assured her. "But if you move here you can always go get your own horses. The tack and everything is still out there."
Kate felt better about that. "I think there's a potion I can use to command Dad to stop drinking. Except I'll have to keep making him one, won't I?" Kate looked at her since she was sitting directly across from her at the kitchen table.
"So make him another one till he stops drinking on his own. He can't be that stupid. Though he is a guy and that's automatically pretty stupid," Anna joked with her. She was finally rewarded with hearing Katie laugh. It was a good sound to hear.
"So how long are you staying?" Anna could hope for months so she wasn't alone but Katie had a life to live back home. Though she could hope one day this place would be home for her.
"I don't know. I just wanted to get away from Dad before he hit me again. I do need to clean out that refrigerator, though. It's gross in there, Grams." Kate told her and made a face.
"I didn't plan to die, sweetheart. At least not that fast. Someone else had plans. Stay as long as you wish. There are trails you can take and look around. It's a little cold, I'm betting, but you might need to leave soon. This place can get snow and your car might not make it back out again," Anna cautioned her.
"I'll just spend the night then and go home and make Dad a potion. I don't know what to do for myself. I left Stanford and don't really feel like being a lawyer any longer so I need a new plan." Kate rubbed her forehead tiredly.
Anna gave her an idea. "You said you didn't like what that detective told you."
Kate looked at her blankly and tried to understand what she was trying to tell her. "Become a cop?" Kate stared at her with her eyes open wide in total shock. "What do I know about being a cop?" Kate was thinking maybe her grams had lost her mind.
"What did you know about being a lawyer?" Anna countered.
"Maybe someday I could be a detective and figure out who killed Mom. Maybe." Kate still wasn't sure this was a good idea but she didn't have another one.
"You're a witch, Katie. Be a good one. That might help you solve what really happened to your mother. My daughter," Anna told her.
"Oh, Grams!" Kate was so focused on losing her mother that she hadn't thought that her grams had lost her daughter. "I'll do it, Grams. I'm going to find out who killed her and why. I promise." She didn't know how just yet but she would do it.