“You look at it wrongly,” her mother’s speech came out in a hiss, her tongue had turned like a snake that slithered in and out of her mouth when she spoke to her, “I am merely trying to protect you and here you are putting the blame on me. Come here, dear,” she raised her hand, reaching out to Penny who stood far away from her.
Penny shook her head, “What did you do to father?” she wanted to know about him. She had found out that he had died but she wanted to know more about it and she knew her mother had hidden the information about him.
“You already know the answer. It should be there in your memories,” her mother smiled looking at her. Penny didn’t know. How could she know when her mother had erased all of the important parts of her life.But she said that she knew about it? Did that mean she was there with her father? Of course, her mother had done something.
Suddenly out of the blue, her mother started running towards her. Throwing away the voodoo doll which was useless to her and used, she pulled out a knife from her dress which she had hidden beneath her dress and pockets. Penny could only put the rosemary back in her pocket before she started to run. The fresh snow that was on the ground along with the harden snow made it slightly harder to run away as she almost tripped once where there was nothing but snow there.
Her boots slipped against the ground once in every while and she had to catch the bark of the trees when it almost happened. Her mother was faster than her, so fast that it didn’t take her time to catch up with Penny. Catching hold of Penny’s dress from the back, she pulled and threw her against another tree.
Penny groaned when her body made contact with another tree of the forest. Falling down on the ground she flinched.
Her mother walked towards her, her movement slow as she approached her.Penny had learned a few things when it came to living life so that she could survive but no one ever taught how to handle heartbreak or how to defend from their mother who was willing to go as far as to kill their only child.
Her mother raised her hand, “I thought I would be able to keep you once I returned but I don’t think I have any use for you now. I created you so it should be alright to kill you with my own hands. Don’t you think it is fitting?” this person was in no way her mother. She was never the mother and everything had been nothing but a sham.
“Don’t do it,” Penny pleaded with her mother to whatever she was trying to do right now, “You do this and everything will change,” which was the truth. She had believed her mother all this time, hanging to the little thread of hope which her mother was pulling as the strings started to come out one after another. Hoping that the mother shehad grown up with was still somewhere in there.
The black magic which her mother had used on her had been so strong that the memories that she erased never let her know about the events that took place which had turned out to be a clean white slate. But the very slate which was white now looked tattered and old.
“Oh, Penny my child. Things have always been like this. It was just that you never knew what was going on.”
Penny could feel the cold ice that her hands were placed on the ground. The snow turning her body numb that it refused to move right now. Her mother wanted to kill her but she spoke about erasing her mind at the same time, what was it going to be?
Picking the loose snow, she threw it on her mother, distracting her before she stepped rolled away from where she was seated and stood up again, “How childish of you to think that you can run away from me. I have always had my eyes on you, Penny. Always. I have been your mother, and it is the mother’s duty to make sure that the child follows the right path.”
“I don’t think I have ever heard a logic as dumb as what you have proposed,” Penny walked back quickly, turning herself away from her mother and starting to run. She used all her might to run. At the same time, she reminded herself to practice to run faster as it seemed like she was running quite a lot lately with everyone wanting to her, for reasons she wasn’t even aware of.
It was one thing to know who and why they were doing, and a completely different matter when one didn’t know what they did that had put themselves on the map. Both her hands were busy as they held the bottom of her skirt so that she wouldn’t step on it and she tried towiden the distance between them, heading in the direction of where the inn was.
“Don’t fight it,” Penny’s mother raised her hand, whispering something as she used the spells in the air.
Before Penny could go too far from her mother she tripped out of nowhere as the roots that were below and were buried under the ground and the snow crept up reaching out for her. The roots circled her ankles and stopped her from running away. With a small thud, she grimaced over the fall before trying to move her legs from the roots that had entangled itself around her feet but its grip on her was strong which made it unable for her to move or stand up.
She tried to race her mind over the spells she had learned but she could hardly remember anything right now as she was panicking with every step her mother took towards her.
She didn’t want to die, she wasn’t ready for it!
