“Ouch!” James yelled as his head slammed something hard. An image of the monster had flashed before his eyes as he woke sending a wave of panic through his body. He had shot upright and slammed the top of his head into the low ceiling of the wolves’ den.

“Where am I?” he mumbled as he crawled out of the only opening he could find. Thankfully it was large enough that he did not have to struggle much. Looking around he realized that he was back in the forest, although quite deeper than he’d ever been before. Once he was able to stand, he turned around and glanced back toward the hole he’d slept in. Immediately his brain was wracked with overlapping images from the night before, when he had first found this place. Pain throbbed violently as more and more memories came back to him until the final one knocked the wind out of his chest. The part where he ate another human being.

“No. No no, this can’t be real!” Nausea began to build quickly as he recalled every detail. The feel of the warm blood oozing through his mouth and the firmness of the man’s flesh as it slid down his throat. He was going to be sick. James doubled over, leaned against the tree, and puked. It lasted for several minutes, and only continued longer every time he looked at what he was puking. Hair, bone fragments, and even a few teeth. When he finally stopped, he fell onto his back and lay staring at the sky. The world was spinning too much for him to remain standing.

“I really… I really ate him. I ate another human being.” Hearing it out loud made his nausea return so he sucked in a deep breath and tried his best to fight it off. A useless endeavor as he found himself puking again a few seconds later.

“I have to get home.” He told himself as he shakily rose to his feet. Although he had never been this far into the woods, he knew that his town was south of the forest and used the rising sun to aid in his navigation. Even without getting lost, it still took him four hours to travel all the way back. Perhaps due to his legs barely cooperating with him or his energy being in the negative after using it all to expel the contents of his stomach. Whatever the reason, by the time he found his way home he was incredibly exhausted.

“I’m home!”

James heart sank as he reflexively called out upon walking through the front door. A habit that he would no longer find comfort in, as there was no one to answer him back. Which is why it unsettled him so much when his mother’s voice came echoing from his room.

“Welcome home honey!” Joy burst forth in his mind for half a second, followed by confusion and then in an instant, understanding. She was here. His anger flared as he slammed the door behind him and walked as quickly as he could manage toward his room.

“I told you to stop doing that!” As he rounded the corner, he found her sitting on his bed with her arms up behind her head.

“Oh, right. I forgot that you lack a sense of humor.” Her mocking grin twisted her face and her hair seemed to brighten.

“It isn’t funny.”

She was silent for a moment. Then she dropped her arms and her smile, replacing it with a cold and serious expression.

“Fine.”

The silence returned and neither one moved for several minutes. James angrily stared into her icy blue eyes as he attempted to organize the hundreds of thoughts rushing through his mind. After a great deal of effort, he managed to ask the one question that was weighing heaviest on his mind.

“What did you do to me?”

“I saved you.” Her answer was immediate, almost as if she knew the question he was going to ask before he knew it himself.

“You turned me into a monster!” He pointed toward the ring as he held out his hand. “How can you call that saving me?!”

“You aren’t dead, are you?” Again, her answer came without pause, delivered in a tone so matter of fact that James almost took a step backward in shock. As he stood there, mouth agape, she lowered herself to the ground and placed her back against his bed. Once she had settled with her arms around her legs and her chin on her knees, she asked “Do you feel better about their deaths now that you’ve killed the man responsible?”

“Killed him? No no no. I ATE HIM! You turned me into a monster, and I ATE that man!” James grew more and more angry as he raved. “Why on earth would that make me feel better?! What kind of sick, disgusting, horrible person would feel BETTER about this situation?! If anything, I would say that I feel worse! Which is YOUR fault!” His ears grew hotter and his face flushed red as he yelled, releasing his rage through his voice as he went. In his mind, she had become the sole cause of his suffering. If he had the power to do so he would rip her apart as well and be done with her forever.

“Careful.” She warned playfully as she looked up at him. “You might change again.” She pointed to the ring and grinned provoking James to glance down. The eyes on the ring had begun to emit a red glow. “It feeds on your anger, remember?”

Several images of the monster from his dream flashed before his eyes, accompanied by the sensation of tearing the man apart. His stomach lurched again, and a slight fear creeped into his heart. He took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and cleared his mind as well as he could before releasing it. As he did so he noticed a significant portion of his tension fade away. She laughed.

“Good boy.” Her sense of humor really is the worst, he thought.

“Tch.”

“You wanted him dead, did you not?” She asked after another moment of silence had gone on too long. James ran his fingers through his hair and let out a breath through pursed lips.

“No one deserves… That wasn’t… I don’t know.” He was at a loss for words. On one hand, he wanted to make the man pay for what he did to his family. On the other hand, he could not even begin to imagine what crime would befit a death like that. His heart was fluctuating wildly without any sign of stopping. How he felt was as big a mystery to him as it was to anyone else. “I just need some time to think.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“You will have plenty of time to think when we get there.”

“Excuse me?” James asked confused as he watched her stand up.

“You’re leaving with me.”

“You can’t be serious.” His legs shook as he got to his feet, using the wall for support. “This is my home. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I don’t remember giving you a choice.”

“I won’t leave.”

“Why? Are you afraid your friends will miss you too much? Or maybe you want to turn yourself in for what you did to that man? Hm? Well, which is it?” She had slowly gotten closer to him and was now standing an arm’s length away.

“I have to bury them.” Her eyes softened for just a moment before returning to their usual cold demeanor. It happened so fast that he thought he imagined it.

“If you stay here, they won’t be the only ones needing graves. You’ll be burying half the town before you can even say the word monster.” She paused, before continuing. “If there’s even enough left to bury after you’re finished with them that is.” James opened his mouth to protest but could not find the words. Realizing that she was right, he hung his head in defeat.

“Fine.” James pulled open his closet door and grabbed a large empty backpack. Unsure of what he would really need, he decided to stick with what he found most important. A few family photos, an armful of books, and a week’s worth of clothes. A numbing sensation crept over him at the sight of his whole life sitting in one backpack.

“Ready?”

“Almost.” James walked into his sister’s room and looked around until he found her jewelry box. Inside it he found the cross necklace that his father had given her before he passed away. He grabbed it and placed it around his neck as he walked out of her room.

“I would hide that if I were you.” He ignored her advice and kept it out so that he could readily touch it. “Alright then, it’s your funeral.” She laughed. “Or should I say, your family reunion.” James shot her a dirty look but said nothing. “Let’s go then.”

“Where are we going?” He asked once they had reached his front yard. Without answering his question, the witch summoned her broom and pointed. The last time he got on her broom James was thrown off it, almost died, devoured another human being, and ran off into the forest. He couldn’t help but feel anxious about climbing onto it again, so he stared at it and remained where he was.

“I won’t shove you off this time.” The witch rolled her eyes and tried to hide her amused expression. With great effort he strode forward and sat behind her on the broom, his arms around her waist. She was smaller than he expected, not that he had given it much thought in the first place. After a moment of consideration, he decided that her baggy shirt had been the cause of his surprise. Once he had secured his position, she pushed off the ground and shot into the air. Wind rushed past his face once more and his stomach slammed into his heart as they took off.

“Are you sure this is safe?” The ground was disappearing faster than it had the last time they flew together which unsettled him further. If he fell this time not even the ring could save him, he thought. The witch shrugged.

“It’s like riding a bicycle really.” Although he couldn’t see the sarcastic grin on her face, he knew it was there. Glancing down, James noticed there were people walking about the streets. Unlike the last time, it was currently sunny outside.

“Can they see us?” She shook her head. More magic, he assumed.

Several hours went by as they spent the morning flying over one town after another. The buildings were all so similar that he found it hard to keep track of where they were at any given time and eventually, he gave up entirely. They had flown so far in such a short amount of time that he figured they were in an area he had never visited before by now. Without interest in the on-goings of the earth beneath him that left only two things for him to stare at. The sky above him and around him, or the back of her head. Even then, he couldn’t really look up as the sun was directly above them now and he would only succeed in burning himself blind. With that in mind, he kept his gaze firmly fixed to the witch’s flowing red hair. In the sunlight it was more of a brilliant red than the almost blood red it had been the night before. He was amazed with how long it was, perhaps the longest hair he had ever seen on a woman before. It fell well past her shoulders and landed somewhere around her lower back. It was hard to tell exactly as the wind kept flipping it around and at times up into his face.

“What is your name?” James asked as it occurred to him that she had never properly introduced herself.

“Why?”

“Well, I mean. I can’t just call you ‘Witch’ forever.” She was silent for a moment before she answered.

“It’s Red.”

“Red?” he asked surprised. “What kind of a name is that?”

“A perfectly good name, that’s what!” she shouted sourly. James smiled to himself, happy that he had given her a little payback.

“I’m James.”

“I know.” He was curious how she knew already but decided it didn’t matter. Of all the things that had happened in the short time since he had met her, this was the least surprising.

The two of them fell back into silence as they flew through the afternoon. James found his eyes wondering over the landscape with increasing appreciation as the towns slowly faded into forests. The endless sea of trees rolled in the wind, creating waves of leaves that reminded him of the oceans he had seen in movies. Since they were so far inland, he had never actually gotten a chance to visit the beach or swim in the ocean. In fact, the biggest body of water he had ever seen was a medium sized lake when he was a child. If the vast expanse of greenery below him was an ocean, then that lake was a swimming pool. Above them now were dozens of storm clouds, creeping together as they too followed the wind. It was a symphony of nature and the wind was its orchestrator.

“We’re here.” James opened his eyes to find that he had been leaning his head against her back after falling asleep. Embarrassed, he quickly sat up and turned his head to inspect their surroundings. The land hadn’t changed much since the towns disappeared, but they were significantly closer to the ground now. Red was lowering them steadily as she inspected the forest. When she located a small clearing, she brought them down to land. Without warning the broom disappeared, causing James to fall the last five feet where he landed on his backside. Laughter filled the air as she gently landed on her feet next to him.

“You did that on purpose.” He said, allowing his frustration to seep into his voice. She continued laughing and helped him to his feet.

“Follow me.” She started walking toward the wood line as he stood there wiping dirt and grass off his clothes. When he had finished, he placed his bag which had fallen off with the impact over his shoulder and jogged after her. Upon reaching the first row of trees, James noticed that the air felt physically heavier and it took considerable effort for him to continue forward. Just when he was going to stop and protest the resistance broke and he stumbled forward. He opened his mouth to ask what it was and found another wall of air pressing into his face. This one was even more difficult to pass through. Sweat broke out over his entire body and he grew agitated as he watched Red walk through without any effort at all. Any emotion he was feeling the moment he passed through the second wall vanished as soon as he saw it.

“C-Castle… But I didn’t… I mean how could this…” James found himself standing before a vastly different scene than he had viewed from the sky. There was no castle in the forest as they landed, nor was there a clearing anywhere near big enough to fit one. Yet several hundred feet away from him sat a castle so large you could fit an entire town inside it and still have room for more. Red placed one hand on his back and brushed the other over the landscape.

“Welcome home, James.”