Amber's World: Chapter Five

Amber walked aimlessly until her legs ached and she grew tired. She stopped and looked around her. Everything looked the same. She was getting tired of seeing nothing but trees and dirt. She sank to the ground and cried, not caring what she might look like if anyone were to see her. Through her tears she thought she saw a hut appear in front of her. She looked closer. It was definitely there. Amber could swear it hadn't been there before. Or had she just not been looking properly? Getting to her feet, she walked up to the front door.

The door was wooden and looked like it was close to falling apart. It was slightly ajar. Not wishing to intrude, Amber knocked on the door. There was no answer. Feeling nervous, Amber pushed the door open further and stepped inside the hut, holding her breath. No one jumped out at her. She relaxed slightly. There wasn't much in the hut to look at. The only things in it were an old arm chair and a table. The arm chair was in a corner, and the table sat in the middle of the hut. Amber sat in the arm chair, not sure what to do. As more time passed, Amber thought maybe the hut had been abandoned and she relaxed. She closed her eyes, giving in to exhaustion.

Two people were leaning over her. The woman had red hair and brown eyes. She looked a lot like Amber. The man had dark hair and blue eyes. Their lips were moving, but Amber couldn't tell what they were saying. They were smiling down at her. The scene changed. A house was on fire and there were people screaming. There was blood everywhere. The woman was holding her, crying.

Amber jerked awake. She was sweating all over, and there were tears running down her cheeks. The dream had felt so real. She somehow knew the man and the woman were her parents. But why had she dreamt of them? What had happened to them?

Amber couldn't get back to sleep, no matter how hard she tried. She tossed and turned until eventually she gave up. She was gazing absently at the floor when she heard foot steps, and they sounded like they were getting closer and closer. In panic, Amber tried to stand up and ended up losing her footing and falling over, causing a loud bang to echo in the hut.

The door creaked open. Amber looked up from where she had fallen. An old lady was standing in the doorway. She had old, grey hair that was tied back in a bun and she was very thin. She wore an old looking teal blue dress. She looked down at Amber in shock. Amber stared back, frightened. She moved so that she was leaning against the wall of the hut. She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she could disappear.

The old lady slowly moved further into the hut. She whispered in a strange language. Out of thin air, an old wooden chair appeared in front of her. She sat down on it. When she spoke to Amber, she spoke in a gentle, kind voice.

"Are you going to tell me who you are? Don't be frightened, I won't hurt you."

Amber opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"I'm Josephine," the old lady said. "I'm a witch - but I won't hurt you, I promise. I only want to help."

"A witch?" Amber was incredulous, and still a little terrified. "But I thought witches didn't exist."

"And yet here I am." Josephine smiled.

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm Amber," Amber introduced herself. "I don't have a home or anywhere to go."

"You are welcome to stay with me if you would like to. We could get to know each other better."

Amber thought about it. She had nowhere else to. Making up her mind, she said,

"Okay - but only for a little while."

As the day continued Amber warmed to Josephine. Josephine went out and came back with a dead rabbit and fruit to eat. At first the thought of eating a dead rabbit nauseated Amber, but she needed to eat, and she got used to it. They talked more, but Josephine didn't push Amber to talk about anything she didn't want to talk about. Amber was grateful for this. She found out that Josephine had lived in the hut alone for several years. She had been shunned from the village she grew up in when people had learnt of her magic. She had been alone, just like Amber. Josephine seemed to like having Amber around and Amber liked having Josephine around. They became fast friends.