Her hands shook uncontrollably.
Her eyes darted around the room , her lower lip quivering with fear.
‘POW!’ The deafening gunshot reverberated through the serenity of the air.
She shouted, tears streaming down her face.
Without a second thought, she dashed out through the back door.
‘Seize her!’ The man ordered.
Brielle’s eyes were literally blinded by tears as she moved closer to the forest.
She had thought she could find a way to save her grandmother but she was already too late.
She made her way deep into the forest while the men chased after her.
‘Bring that old hag here, now!’ He commanded.
The men dragged the old frail woman and brought her before him.
‘Master Dreadmore, please…please have mercy on us.
I promise you, it won’t happen again…’ SMACK!
The slap came without warning.
‘Shut your mouth you old hag!’ Vaughn Dreadmore snapped.
‘You and your daughters have some nerve to breach the rules and perform witchcraft in our sacred land.
I will make sure you all are punished without mercy.’ He inched closer to her face.
‘You, your daughters and all your practices shall be burned for good.’ He spat the word coldly into her ears.
Vaughn straightened.
His expression remained disturbingly calm.
‘Burn her.’ Impalpable silence followed his order.
Thalia lifted her head slowly as the tears she had been trying to hold in flowed freely.
The soldiers held her by each arm and didn’t even bother to lift her as they dragged her brazenly into the house.
‘Sir, sir, please have mercy on her.’ One woman pleaded with him.
‘We can find another punishment for…’ Vaughn’s stern look was enough to make her cower in fear.
‘Set the place ablaze!’ He shouted while the men locked the house.
Once inside, Thalia looked sorrowfully at the things inside; her books, her journals medicines, her carefully preserved work , everything she had prepared thoroughly.
In a moment, everything was going to go down in flames.
Her eyes welled up with tears as she gently caressed all of them, kissing them and hugging everything she could.
Then it began.
First there was smoke which silently creept into the room, followed by a wave of heat.
As the dense smoke filled the room, Thalia began suffocating.
She coughed uncontrollably while she tried to shield her nostrils from the smoke.
Dizziness enveloped her in its searing embrace .
Her knees gave way, and she collapsed onto the floor.
With the last of her strength, she whispered , ‘Everything …will happen at the right time.’ Then silence.
Everything was swallowed by the flames.
The house disappeared behind a wall of fire, taking with it Thalia’s books, her medicines, her life’s work—and perhaps the secrets she had guarded for years.
By dawn, nothing remained but ash.
But some things were never meant to be destroyed.