Witch’s wonder, Hell’s hate: Part Two

*This story is under my folder titled “Witch’s wonder, Hell’s hate”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33”. Enjoy!*

We walk down the woods, my arm looped around Prince Joseph’s. There’s nothing but trees stretching on for miles and miles, but then, the trees open up for more and more space, until it starts to feel like there’s nothing but us and the woods, the grass fades beneath our feet and…

I hear screams. I don’t see trees anymore. The ground feels more smooth, like it was built. There’s a hazy white light above us that looks like a spotlight. I can see links upon links of chains lying on the ground, moving as though they are attached to someone.

But I don’t see people. I don’t see people attached to the chains or people to go with the screams. It’s like the spotlight avoids showing us any physical signs of people, like it doesn’t want us to see that there may be others down here, too.

“We’re here. We’ve made it to Hell.” Prince Joseph says with a bitter smile. He’s stopped whispering, he’s talking normally now. Why did he whisper before? Why did-

Never mind that. I’ve made it to Hell now.

Hell isn’t anything like what Mom told me stories about. There’s no fire, no scorching heat. Only disembodied screams and twisting chains, a creeping sense of loneliness crawling within me.

I don’t know where to go, but Prince Joseph seems to know. Say, how does Prince Joseph know where to go? Matter of fact, what was he doing out so late in the woods? Why does he want to help me? Out of pure kindness or something else?

The thought of Mom’s stories brings thoughts of her soft, lulling voice to my mind. At least, that’s what I think her voice sounded like. I can’t really remember much of what my Mom looked like or sounded like, but I’m sure her voice sounded calming…

What happened to her?

…………………………………………………………………

“You did a nice thing today, Anna. Healing that rat with the broken tail wasn’t something that you had to do, but you did it anyway.” Mommy says with a smile. She’s tucking me into bed, it’s really late outside.

She said it was nice of me to save the rat in the attic, but it’s not THAT nice. It needed help, so I helped it. Isn’t that what anybody would do?

“If you keep being nice, you’ll go to Heaven when you die. Heaven is a nice place, with flowers and blue skies and chirping birds. It’s beautiful, like a painting. It’s nothing like Hell, with burning flames and sharp-clawed monsters and-You don’t need to worry about Hell. You’ll never have to go there.” Mommy says.

Why did she stop talking about Hell? Did she think that it would scare me? I’m not scared of anything Mommy says, she just wants to tell me important things.

She knows so much about many things. I wonder how she knows them all. Is she just smart or did she go on adventures, like the people in the stories I read?

“How do you know so much about Heaven and Hell?” I ask, because it really is pretty interesting!

Mommy doesn’t say anything. Why? Is she okay? Her face looks a little upset. What is there to be upset about? Why is she upset? Why-

“I know a lot about magical things, sweetie. I’ve been traveling a lot before. You need to go to sleep now, close your eyes.” Mommy says.

She gives me a kiss on the head and walks up, closing the door behind her as she does.

Mommy is so wonderful. Mommy is so magical. Mommy says that she’s been to many magical things, but I wish that she would tell me about them. Any time that I ask, she doesn’t tell me much about them. She just says “I know a lot about magical things”.

But I want to know MORE about those magical things! I want to hear her tell me more than she already does! I want to learn more so I can do more than heal animals and make sparkles come in the air.

I’m really tired now. I did a lot of playing and saving that rat takes a lot of energy. I’ll sleep, just like Mommy said.

I wish Daddy had powers too. Then we could all be magical!

I guess not everybody can be a witch, though.

…………………………………………………………………

The memory of Mom at the side of my bed, telling me about Heaven and Hell, doesn’t feel as calm as I remember. It’s riddled with anxiety and unease, just like how I feel now as I walk through Hell. She never did mention how she knew about Heaven and Hell and now I’m thinking, why did she look so upset that day? Her face looked so unhappy, like she was bothered by something deeper. I haven’t even thought about that moment in years, but it just appeared in my mind.

“I’m sorry that you and your friend got dragged into this, uh…”

“Anastasia. My name is Anastasia.” I say, all too glad to hear Prince Joseph’s voice in the swirls of screams. With every scream that comes, more confusing, frightening thoughts about Mom and Leslie spiral in my brain. I just hope that I’ll be able to find Leslie and get out of here as fast as I can.

“I’m sorry, Anastasia. I never thought that my Mom would actually send her locket to be found by someone…at least, that’s what I think happened. I never really understood why my Mom was so obsessed with dark magic. She said it had something to do with “gaining all of the power” but it completely flew over my head when I was little. Now that I think about it, I wonder what else she’s done and-Am I talking too much?” Prince Joseph asks.

I never heard much about Queen Lanria and her son, Prince Joseph. I only saw them sometimes in the street and heard stories of how they were a “big impact for the public”. I’m not sure what they did for the public except be royal and I’ve certainly never heard anything about their personal lives…

But to hear Prince Joseph tell me this much about his Mom? To see his brown eyes dancing with so much panic? His arm seems to wrap around mine a little tighter, it even seems to be shaking a bit and I can’t help but feel sorry for him, my heart is twisting on the inside.

Just like when I saw that helpless rat with the broken tail in the attic when I was six years old, its big, black eyes spilling with a fear that made me think it thought it was going to die.

“No, it’s alright. I never understood much about my Mom either. She’s a witch and so am I, but she never taught me much. I kept thinking that one day, she’d teach me more than basic spells, but she didn’t. Any second that I was ready for her to teach me, she said no. She used to tell me stories about Heaven and Hell, about how Heaven was this beautiful garden that me and my Dad would go to one day, about how she was so lucky to have such a good daughter and…and…she said Hell was a place with fire and monsters, where bad people would go to one day. She’d tell me to stay good or else I would go to Hell and then she-“

I can’t finish my sentence, because now I’m remembering how high Mom’s voice would get when she would start talking about Hell, how her voice would crack slightly as though she were about to cry. Sometimes she was calm, but if she started talking about Hell too much, her voice would have this petrified quality to it, like she wanted to scream but didn’t want to scream too loudly. Whenever I asked if she was okay, Mom would stop talking, her eyes would go hard and then she would say:

“I’m fine, sweetie.”

Dad wasn’t much help when I asked if she was okay either, because he would just tell me that if she said that she was okay, then she was okay. I didn’t like the way he would say it though, he would always sound tired, like he wasn’t in the mood.

Prince Joseph furrows his brows. What is he thinking about? Is he judging me? No, he’s not judging me, he has this worrying look on his face. What is he so worried about? I just need to calm down and find Leslie. I can’t keep thinking about Mom, she’s gone. I’ve lived with her being gone for so long, why am I starting to think about her right now? If my Dad were here, he would want me to focus on what I’m doing now. “The present is relevant” he says any time I start to dwell about Mom.

“Even though I didn’t understand my Mom’s fascination with dark magic, I still didn’t like hearing her talk about it. Any time I saw her fussing with the locket or heard her talk about Hell and its flames, I would run off to my room or to another part of the castle, where she was far away from me. I remember feeling a little terrified of her stories about “obtaining power” and “making people suffer”, but I never told her about how I felt. I never stuck around long enough to hear more of what she was talking about. The servants told me she was just “different” and that I “shouldn’t be afraid of her”, so I never said anything. I felt bad for being afraid of her, but I couldn’t help it. I loved her, but she scared me.” Prince Joseph says.

He swallows hard, then takes a deep breath and says:

“Your Mom shouldn’t have been talking to you about Heaven or Hell, even though you’re a witch. And why didn’t she teach you more powerful spells? She thought you were mature enough to hear stories about Heaven and Hell, but she didn’t think you could learn more about your own powers?It’s just not adding up…did your Mom leave you too?”

I nod. Where, exactly, is he going with this?

“Maybe I’m wrong about this, but your Mom sounds similar to my Mom, minus the family witch thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if she left you to do something evil, if she’s down here herself, doing evil things, just like my Mom. Why else would she tell you certain things and then leave? It sounds to me like she’s hiding something. But then, I don’t know your Mom. I might be completely wrong but…it sounds too familiar.” Prince Joseph says, his voice wavering as though he discovered something obscene and was still startled about what he discovered.

My heart is somersaulting inside of my chest, my brain feels like it’s going to melt inside of my veins. Mom was odd, but evil? Why would she do evil things? She’s my Mom and she loves me, so if she loves me, then that means she’s sweet to everyone else, right? Isn’t that how this works?

Prince Joseph clears his throat, then he says:

“Whatever the case, we don’t need to worry about our Moms right now, because whatever they’ve done or are trying to do doesn’t matter at the moment. We’re here to save your friend. We’re here to make things right. I know for a fact that my Mom is evil and that I’ll make her pay when I find her, but you don’t have to come. It’s not your responsibility to come. Maybe I’m wrong about your Mom and she just left for her own reasons. Our Moms did what they thought was right, we’re doing what we know is right. We don’t have to see each other ever again after this, but for now, let’s not let fear break us apart.”

I can feel a smile spread on my face, I can feel my heart calming down a bit. Prince Joseph still hasn’t let go of my arm, but I don’t mind. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in Hell, that I’m not alone in how I feel about my Mom. It’s nice to know that he cares enough to help me find Leslie, to comfort me, even though he could have left me in the woods, as lost as could be, unable to-

The ground shakes beneath us and amidst the screams, I can hear a gargling, throaty roar from far away.

I guess Mom was right about monsters residing in Hell.