Introduction
June 10th,1692
My head bumped against the bottom of the cart. I swore out loud and rubbed my head. Within a couple of seconds the pain diminished and I felt as light as air. I knew that I could disappear right now if I wanted to but that wouldn't help anyone here in Salem. It would only cause more to be killed and more to be punished.
So that's why I was here, in a cart being pulled up Gallows Hill on my way to be hanged. I didn't like the fact that I would be dying in a frail old lady’s body and not something younger. Unfortunately nothing useful had come out of this life-time. But there would be another to live and another to die in.
The cart came to a sudden stop and I heard muffled groans outside of it. This is it, I thought when I heard them walking around to open the door. I had to go through being hanged and most likely being put into an important part of history while looking like I was sixty years old.
The door swung open to reveal a dark storming night and three men reaching in to grad me. I could hear people talking and the crowd roaring and knew that my hanging would be a mighty showing. Probably about a hundred people would be here which was basically the whole village. I immediately made tears wash over my face and hollered out that I was innocent a couple of times. They were expecting me to be like this, believe me, if they weren't I would be laughing at the ludicrousness of this whole thing.
I wasn't exactly innocent.
I was a full on witch. I could change my appearance (and after this I was for sure doing that). Control the all of the elements, create special remedies that help to cure the most impossible of diseases, and much more.
One morning I had been outside thinking that everyone was asleep when I had heard a outrageous scream from Ms. Tucker who had caught me turning into a cat.
There were other reasons why I was being hanged and I knew what they were clearly. I had made a few mistakes in my life but I had never liked fitting in. I was charged for being a witch because I was a gossiper, I fought in public with my husbands, had parties at night, drank, owned two taverns, lived a outrageous life compared to the other townsfolk, and dressed in stuff other women wouldn't be caught dead in.
The guys grabbed me and I forced a wail to come out of my throat. I needed to do this to make the façade seem completely and utterly real but still I felt weak. They lifted me up and carried me over to the platform where I would be hanged. They would put that rope around me and the ground would disappear beneath my feet. Afterwards they would check my breathing and pulse but I knew enough to appear dead for at least an hour.
I was near the stool now. I willed more tears to roll down my cheeks before they made me stand on the stool. The biggest man, whom I recognized as George Corwin the sheriff of Salem, grabbed the rope and forced it around my neck. It felt wrong there and abnormal.
Another man, his name unknown to me, bent down and placed his hands on the stool. He was waiting for Corwin to tell him to pull it out from under but Corwin wasn't one to leave without having the last word.
“This is for everything you've done to me and my town you witch. You knew that this was coming after your first accusation.” I rolled my eyes. This wasn't exactly the first time I had been accused of being a witch. I was blamed twelve years ago too and I had also been in court many times for the fights I had. Maybe he was right, maybe I should have expected this, but I frankly had thought living a fun life was better than fitting in.
I let go of the scared routine and spat in his face. When I saw his expression of rage I laughed viciously.
Corwin swore more and gave the other man the heads up. The man pulled the stole from under me and suddenly the world was spinning.
I lost sight for two minutes and then came around. In front of me was Corwin laughing at the sight of my now limp body. I closed my eyes and focused on the magic that I was now forcing through my body. This magic kept me both alive but also kept me looking dead. To the beholder I would look completely dead, my neck would be bruised, my body would appear limp, I wouldn't be breathing, and my heart would not have a beat. But deep inside, my heart still would be beating and I would be still alive but without needing to breath.
The crowd was still cheering. I had drowned them out the before but now I let them in. My magic was being fueled by their hate and it felt so good. I didn't care that they hated me now, because I knew that one day, surely one day they would all realize the wrong that they have done.
I waited for hours. I waited till I could hear no more voices around me, til the sun was up, and till the following day was done. Once night unfolded around me I moved my numb hands up to my neck and wrapped them around the rope. Flames covered my palms in a mater of seconds and the rope turned to ashes.
I dropped to the ground and began running as soon as the blood flowed through my body again. Gallows Hill was nothing special. I had to run a few miles before I came across my house. I lived with no one now and soon I wouldn't even live her. I ran to the door and opened it.
I was only stopping to do a couple things. First I ran upstairs and stopped dead in front of the mirror. Staring back at me was my sixty year old self-image and I gritted my false teeth. I had to change this.
Before my eyes, the old wrinkly body turned into a curvy teenage body with pale skin. My face lost all of its wrinkles and became healthy looking. I had full lips and green eyes that were surrounded with an enormous amount of eye-lashes. My hair turned from short and gray to long and black. I couldn't change the black spirals going down my arms, but I could hide them beneath my dress.
Once I changed my image, I went to the problem of my old lady clothing. I took off the clothing that I was wearing and dug through my closet to find the extra pair of clothing that fit my age more. I pulled the corset over my head and used some magic to tie the back up, put on a full skirt and draped a shawl over my shoulders. My ensemble was my normal outfit. I wore a black dress with a red paragon bodice that was bordered and loped with different colors. I didn't care if anyone recognized it, it was my favorite. Most of the townsfolk thought this was an outrageous outfit and showed off way too much skin but I thought showing off skin was fun and daring.
Next thing to do was my hair and makeup. I looked at myself in the mirror once more and decided that I couldn't do it all fast enough without using magic. So I willed my magic to course through my fingers and make my hair fall into little ringlets all around my head. A ribbon weaved itself as a headband in my hair but still some pieces fell around my face. I grabbed my bright red lipstick and put it on along with some blush.
Everything was finally set. The only thing I could bring with me was my spell book. It was a family heirloom and weighed about ten pounds flat. It was bounded in leather and had foreign words etched into it. Everything from my family history to how to kill someone with a blink of your eye was in it and if I lost it I would be cursed for life, literally.
I opened the book and found the spell for shrinking objects. It said:
To shrink an object you must have:
A gallon of salt water
4 lizard eyes
Fire
5 drops of blood
Snow
Place the salt water, blood, snow, and lizard eyes into a caldron and mix together into a paste over the fire. Once the viscosity is high take the paste a spread it over top of the object. The object and the paste will shrink until big enough to fit in a pocket.
I went into the next room and grabbed the jar of lizard eyes, a knife, a jar of snow from the basement, and a caldron. Once back in my room I set it all on the ground and started to work. First I started the fire in the fireplace with my hands and placed the caldron over top of it. I then filled the caldron up with a gallon of salt water from the secret well behind my house. The next bit was where I took the knife and cut my hand. I groaned and squeezed my hand till five drops of blood fell into he caldron. The liquid inside the caldron filled with smoke and made a hissing sound, that only increased when I added the lizard eyes in. I quickly threw in the snow and started mixing. It only took a matter of minutes to get the right viscosity.
I took the paste and spread it over the book. The book began to shrink and the paste did too. The book stopped shrinking after a moment but the paste shrunk until it was completely gone.
I tucked the book in my corset and started down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. I took out some oil and covered everything with it. I took a match and lit fire to my house.
I ran out the door and slowed my pace. The house would go up in a matter of seconds but that didn't matter to me. I was safe now. The house went up when I expected it and I said goodbye to this life.
I was close to the forest edge when I came face to face with one of the girls who started all this mess.
“You’re not supposed to be escaping you know.” Abigail Williams said to me.
“And your not suppose to be out this late.” I said pretending to be someone else but I knew it was no use.
“Who the hell cares!” She screamed.
Her eyes had gone red and she looked to be growing fangs. This made me come to the conclusion that she was a true demon and not just some hooligan girl.
Abigail had gone around town doing false acts and have many people put up for life sentences in the mean time. Once before they had caught me I had come around a street corner to find Abigail and her friends laughing about how entertaining it was that people were getting blamed for their acts.
I stepped closer to the girl and bent down to get face to face with her.
“You know I'm actually kind of happy I ran into you. They'll be suspicious if they go to Gallows Hill and find that there is no body left.” I smiled at her and reached out to touch her heart. She winced but didn't back away.
“You can't do anything to me you witch.”
“Oh... I think I can.”
Suddenly my hand lit up over her heart and Abigail began screaming. I laughed and murmured an incantation that made her screams become mute. I knew that the procedure would be painful for her but instead of guilt, I only felt pleasure.
Don't get me wrong, I'm usually not this cruel, but every once in a while in my lifetime I felt the need to do some vengeance. This isn't the first lifetime I had been accused of something and not the first time I took vengeance on someone.
Abigail form began to change before my very eyes. The image I had seen in my mirror a while ago appeared right in front of me. Here was the image of sixty year old Bridget Bishop. One that had wrinkles, baby fat everywhere, and bruises all around her neck from being hanged.
“Don't you just love magic?” I asked as I pulled my hand away from her heart.
Abigail was now crying as she looked frantically at herself. Every time I did this I got a little something from the host I was changing and this time I could tell my new gift was mind manipulation. I felt joy wash through me along with new found power.
This was how she did it all. She had used her gift to compel everyone to believe that her misbehavior had been done by someone else. Well now I was going to use it on her.
“Abby, honey, I want you to run through town right now.” I said as I looked her in the eyes. Her previous look changed to one that look like she was drunk off of love. “Scream that you are innocent and when the sheriff catches you beg for your mercy. But don't use any powers that you have to get out of this situation.” I pulled away and looked at her.
I started to walk away but as I was nearing the edge of the forest that I was going to escape into I turned around.
“Oh, and give vengeance to your friends too. I want to make sure you all pay.” I winked at her and disappeared into the forest.
