2 Months Earlier
Anna shuffled her papers. Normally she was not this nervous about a presentation. She had aced her public speaking class in high school and college. Not even presenting ideas to management at work caused her more than a few butterflies. Anna was an incessant preparer. She would worry and nitpick all the way to a presentation but by the time she got there she was confident. Public speaking was her talent. However the topic today was far more important than she was used to presenting. Even with years of research and preparation she felt nervous about how her audience would take this.
Sitting in front of her six ordinary women of various ages. At a glance it would look like a book club meeting or even a knitting circle. There were a few snack spread on the table, no doubt taken from a Pinterest recipe. The whole setting seemed very commonplace for suburbia. The only thing that betrayed this scene was the ancient book laying in the middle of the coffee table. It was leather bound with symbols etched into it.
"Anna has something she would like to present to the coven." One of the women announced. She was the oldest, in her seventies. Her simple blue dress was so clean and pressed it looked as if she never moved. Her white hair was cut into a bob so slick there was not one hair that looked out of place. Her eyes were friendly but there was an air of intimidation about her.
"Thank you Linda." Anna flashed her bright public speaking smile. It had little effect on her audience. They were used to these kind of tricks.
"You all know that I have been researching some of the unknown arts in witchcraft. It is amazing how many lone witches of the past were not able to find a coven. Frequently their secrets died with them but luckily we have been able to retrieve some of these…"
"Yes dear, we know all this." Linda interrupted her. "Can you please get to the point?" Anna faltered. This was already not going according to plan.
"I have done some research on the Blair witch. I feel that if she truly exists should could be a viable candidate for us to reach out to."
"You are suggesting that we go check out some backroads legend and see if she is a real person we can invite to our coven?" The voice came from a woman in her late thirties. She had black wavy hair and glasses. It was clear she was not warming up to Anna's idea. "That is ridiculous. I barely know the legend. From what I understand it was just a cover story for some creep that got his rocks off by killing kids, disgusting." She shook her head.
"That is only one of the stories, and probably the least factual. My research shows..."
"Yeah I've heard of some of this." Another woman piped up. She was the youngest of the bunch, only in her twenties or so. "There was a documentary about this on public tv a while back. Some of the stories seemed pretty dark to me."
"Dark magic?" The black haired woman asked. "Even worse!"
The mention of dark magic dissolved the meeting into an angry chatter.
"Killing kids?"
"How do we even know this is real?"
"Anna, you can't be serious."
Anna tried to regain control and failed. She looked helpless down at her prepared speech. After over a year of research they wouldn't even let lay out her plan much less demand it. She felt tears welling in her eyes but wiped them away angrily.
"Silence!" Linda demanded. Her voice was calm but firm. The women quieted immediately. Linda waited for a few moments to ensure she had their attention.
"We will listen to Anna's full proposal before we voice our opinions." She turned to Anna and nodded. "Continue."
"Thank you Linda." Anna straightened and tried to compose herself. She took a deep breath and resumed her presentation.
"I am not asking that we invite someone we do not even know into out coven. I am simply stating that this worth looking into. A legend with this many stories is hard to ignore. The stories go back for nearly a century." She paused and glanced at Linda. She was frowning slightly but did not look completely disapproving yet.
"My theory is that the witchcraft has been passed on from mother to daughter for generations. We know that this gift is genetic, and it is not unheard of for families like this to be reclusive and more reliant on nature. I suggest to the coven that we investigate. Once we know more of what we are dealing with we can decide what further action we want to make, if any." Anna finished with a confident voice and looked expectantly at the women in front of her.
"Thank you Anna." Linda turned to the group. "We will now move on to an organized discussion. Who would like to go first?" The woman with black hair and glasses raised her hand. "Carol you may go first."
"None of the stories I have ever heard sound like anything other than dark magic. Killing kids? Why would we ever risk investigating something like that?"
"We all know that witches have been put in a bad light for as long as we've been alive. People blame any bad thing on the witches residing close by. You know that." Anna tried too not sound condescending but failed slightly. The young blond raised her hand.
"Yes Brooke?" Linda said.
"The documentary I saw had some gruesome stuff in it. Something about binding and torturing some hikers. I honestly don't remember anything good they said."
"That is because it was a documentary on a legend. Of course they are going to play up the ghost story. Do you really think they would let an eyewitness talk about something nice she did?" Anna was getting annoyed. As a witch she knew the persecution they faced. How could they be so blind?
"Do you have any evidence of these good deeds Anna?" Linda inquired.
"Well, not necessarily of good things."
"What do you have evidence of then?"
"There are numerous ambiguous accounts. People have seen mists, creatures acting strangely, and reports of an old floating woman. There are many of these neutral stories. Keep in mind that there are rarely friendly accounts of witches in history."
"Thank you for this information Anna." Linda turned to the group. "We'll put this to a quick vote. Please raise your hand if you believe this should be further investigated." The five remaining women looked cautiously at each other. No one raised their hand.
Linda waited calmly for a seconds to see if anyone would raise their hand. Once satisfied she turned to Anna. "I'm sorry dear. The coven has decided against your proposal. If you find more evidence you can present your findings on a later date." Linda smoothed her skirt and turned back to the rest of the group. "Now we will move on to…"
"Wait!" Anna jumped from her seat. She looked livid. "You can't just dismiss a countless hours of research just because you're scared."
"Please sit down Anna." Linda looked stern. "The coven only goes forward with the decisions of the majority."
"Oh fuck the majority." The other women gasped but Anna didn't care. She grabbed her binder and marched towards the door hoping to be out of eyesight before the tears started to fall.