Samara the Witch

Chapter One

It had been three years since Samara had been thrown down that well. Three years since she'd escaped, and Richard had saved her. He'd sent her straight back to the barn, unable to live with her. But Samara didn't mind it. She didn't mind being alone too much anymore, and it wasn't like she wanted to spend time with someone who hated her.

The barn was different now. It was no longer the room of an eight-year-old, but the room of the eleven-year-old Samara was now. Samara never had any visitors, except for when Richard came to give her some food and drink. She sat for hours staring at the ever blank screen of the television. Or the wall, where she'd burnt her picture of the tree at Shelter Mountain Inn. Or the empty stalls, where horses had once stood, proud and graceful, until they'd drowned themselves, driven insane by the visions she had given them.

Samara didn't know where her powers had come from. She'd been able to do things like that since she was tiny—it had always just seemed normal to her. It hadn't been until she started going to school that she realised it wasn't. She could make pictures of things that saw in her head, without even trying to. She could move objects with just her mind. She didn't even know what else she might be able to do.

"Samara! You have a visitor!"

It was Richard, calling from the doorway. Samara didn't look away from the wall. She didn't care who it was. It was probably someone from the Eola Country Psychiatric Hospital or something. She hoped it wasn't, she'd hated it there. She heard the door slam, and then there were footsteps on the ladder.

"Samara?"

Samara turned around. She smiled slightly at the sight of the man standing before her. Samara didn't see many people, but she was sure that most didn't look like this man. He was tall, wearing bizarre, bright clothes with a cloak, and had a long mane of snowy hair and a matching beard. "My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"I'm not allowed to go to school. I make them see things.," Samara said.

Dumbledore chuckled. "I have heard about that Samara. We could help you. Make it better, for everyone. But you have to come with me." He reached into his long robes and pulled out a letter, which he handed to Samara. She took it in her hands for a closer look. there was an oddly specific address written in green ink on the front:

Miss S. E. Morgan
The Loft in the Barn
Morgan Ranch
Moesko Island
Washington
United States of America

Samara turned it over and tore off the seal, feeling curious about what this strange letter could say.

Dear Miss Morgan

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry-

Samara didn't read anymore. She put the letter down beside her.

"Daddy won't let me go," she said. "He doesn't let me go near other people."

Dumbledore smiled to her kindly, a strange thing to Samara. "Think about it," he said, he walked towards the ladder again, preparing to leave.

"Are you really a wizard?" Samara asked, just before he was about to step onto the ladder.

Dumbledore stopped in his tracks.

"Prove it."

Dumbledore turned back and began to ascend the steps once again. As he stepped back onto the wooden floor, he took something else out from his pocket. A wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he said, swishing the wand in the air. Samara looked behind her. Her chair was floating in midair. She'd had the chair since she was seven, and it had never floated before. Not even in her head. "Do you believe me now?" Dumbledore asked.

Samara nodded. "Can you fix the TV?"

"Reparo!"

It didn't appear to have changed at all. Samara knelt beside it and turned it on. There was no static. It was tuned to MTV, and she could hear the music. It was working.

"Thank you," she said to Dumbledore. "But I can't go. Daddy won't let me."

Dumbledore smiled warmly. "I have already spoken to your father. He would be glad for you to leave here, but you do not have to go if you don't want to."

Samara thought about it. It seemed like it would be good. She'd get to leave the barn, and learn to control her powers. Was there a downside? If there was, she couldn't think of it.

"I want to go," she said.

"Marvelous. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?" Dumbledore asked.

Samara nodded. She liked sweets, but she hadn't had any in the last three years. Dumbledore dug inside his pocket and passed her the sweet.

"I will send for you at the end of August, so you have time to get your things from Diagon Alley, in London."

Dumbledore began to descend the steps once more. Samara didn't stop him this time. She sat in her chair, watching the television. A band called Siouxsie and the Banshees was playing. She began to sing along with the words as well as she could.

"When you think your toys, have gone berserk, it's an illusion…"

But soon the music changed to another song, and she turned the TV off again. She almost couldn't contain her excitement. She was going to leave the barn, go somewhere new. Maybe even learn to control her powers. Maybe find some friends who wouldn't be afraid of her. Though that last part seemed unlikely to her. How long could a month take? She needed time to go faster. She didn't want to be locked up in this barn any more. She felt like she couldn't take it any longer.