The Coven: Prologue
By Patrick O'Donnell
Present 3:00 am
The moon was shining through the window, creating white streaks over the bed and the floor. Sarah was rocking back and forth hovering over her sleeping parents. Sarah felt her whole body clench and she couldn’t stop the shaking. The voice in her head had become a throbbing sound, pushing against her brain in an attempt to break her will. “Blood, give me blood. You know you want to. You know what you are becoming. We are so close.” Sarah tried covering her ears to no avail. The voice continued its dark chant.
“I don’t have to listen to you. You aren’t real. I’m just having a break down; I’m just having a breakdown.” Sarah kept repeating the words quietly under her breath as if it would help make sense of the insanity. She wanted to run, she wanted to hide, wanted to take back all the horrible things she did that led to this mistake.
Sarah’s Mom woke with a start. Her 18-year-old daughter rocking nervously above her would have been enough to startle any parent. “Oh my god, Sarah, are you okay?” she asked.
Sarah didn’t stop rocking or even turn to look at her Mom. In a low voice, she responded. “I’m sorry Mom, I’m so sorry; I’ll be a good girl I promise.” Sarah’s Mom sat up. Both of them sat there in silence.
“Betty, what the hell are you doing? Go to bed, it’s like three in the morning.” bellowed Sarah’s Father.
“Dan, it’s fine,” Betty whispered. “Let’s get you to bed sweetie.” She gently put her hand on Sarah’s head and felt her skin. It was warm to the touch. Betty made a mental note to call the doctor in the morning.
Three Weeks Ago 2:00 pm
“Would you just tell me who it is already?” asked Jenna. Her eyes were starting to give off a look of frustration. Sarah thought it was cute when Jenna was getting annoyed. The house was silent. Both of Jenna’s parents worked and so the girls were often left to fend for themselves. It had been this way for as long as either of them could remember.
“Okay, fine I’ll tell you, not that it matters. His name is Brian. You know, he is that guy in our science class.”
Jenna made the face that she makes when she disapproves of something. “You know, I think you could do so much better than that meathead.”
Sarah gave a soft giggle. Jenna had always been the reasonable one. “You don’t have to worry about it, it’s not like he is even going to pay attention to me. I don’t look anything like you.” Sarah, for years, had been jealous of Jenna’s body. Jenna had a full pair of breasts ever since 7th grade, not to mention her curves. What made it worse was that Jenna was oblivious to it all. She preferred her computer over the company of others, most of the time.
“Look, I’ll help you. I hate to see you so sad. I’ve been reading up on witches and I think I may have a solution.”
Sarah had to hold back the laughter. “Witches, are you for real? How the hell would that help me? Besides, I thought you believed in science or some shit.”
Jenna faked being offended. “I do believe in science, I just also believe science doesn’t have all the answers. Now, to answer your question, I was reading online about how in the Puritan days of old, witches used love potions to lure away married men so they could procreate and shit like that. Maybe we could do something like that for you. I know it sounds a bit old school, but there’s nothing to do and my parents are on another one of their long, boring trips.” Jenna rolled her chair over to the computer and printed off some pages.
Sarah laid down on the floor and stared at the ceiling. Making a love potion to get the attention of the boy she liked, because she was too shy to ask herself, felt insane. However, the alternative of watching reruns on T.V felt far less appealing. “What are you printing out?” Jenna wouldn’t answer at first. Her face just got a mischievous smile. “I am getting us a list of books that we need to pick up from the library to become witches.
Present 8:15 am
The sun made it seem like it was in an oven cranked up as high as it would go. Sarah shielded her eyes from the aggressive rays and tried to push herself to go to class. Lately, nothing seemed to matter, least of all learning anything that they had to teach in this school. As she passed, people’s faces seemed to blur and melt. The sensation of seeing it made Sarah feel sick to her stomach. The talking they were doing sounded like a bag full of teeth chattering. At last, she reached the door of her classroom. The low lighting in the hallway cast everything in a sinister wash of apathy. The classroom was already full of students ready to overachieve as they rushed headlong into their promising futures.
“Over here, I have been waiting for you. Where have you been?” A familiar voice sounded over the cacophony of the world. It was Jenna. She didn’t look too well herself. “Why the hell haven’t you been responding to my calls or texts?” She asked accusingly.
Sarah looked confused. “I don’t remember getting any messages or calls. I’m sorry; I don’t even know what’s going on right now. I feel like I'm losing myself.”
Jenna gave out a soft sigh. “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to jump down your throat first thing. I’m just freaking out. I have been seeing things and feeling things, and there has been this fucking cat that won’t leave me alone. It sits outside my window all goddamn night and watches me.” Sarah reached out to comfort Jenna. “Hey, before I forget, have you seen Brian? He hasn’t been in class now in a few days and people are starting to ask questions. I know you were with him after we made them…”Jenna didn’t finish her sentence. Both girls knew they had stumbled upon something they shouldn’t have.
“Let’s just get the fuck out of here. I have something I want to show you anyway.” Sarah said. Jenna nodded and the two of them quietly left the classroom to get to the outside.
Three Weeks Ago 11:36 am
The car ride was nice. It had been a while since Jenna and Sarah had a purpose to leave the house. “Promise me that no matter what happens, you won’t leave me,” Jenna said.
Sarah perked her head up from the window she had been staring through. “Hey, no matter what I’m not going anywhere. Not even if I do get Brian. It’s you and me against the world right?” She gave Jenna a squeeze on the arm.
Jenna enjoyed being touched. With her parents being gone most of the time, Jenna felt alone for most of her life. The only real person she had a connection with was Sarah. She was scared to tell Sarah that her thoughts had become consumed with what happened after these next two years. Would Sarah leave and go to a better school? Jenna would not be able to follow and was afraid of being left behind.
Jenna and Sarah arrived at the library. “Let’s split up, I’ve got two lists here that should help us. This way we don’t waste any time. We only have so much time, so we need to make this count.” Jenna said. The library smelled musty.
Sarah thought about the last time she had ever been to a library. It felt like ages now. The shelves reached towards the sky holding giant tomes of knowledge. Sarah wasn’t looking where she was going and ran into an elderly woman. “I’m so sorry. I should have been looking.” Holding out her hand she helped pull the old lady to her feet.
The woman’s hair came down to her shoulders in silver curls. Glasses sat firmly at the end of her nose and it seemed she should go cross-eyed trying to look through them. “I appreciate your help. Now, can I help you?” asked the woman.
“No offense, but why would you help me?” The elderly woman tapped a tag pinned to her blouse. It read: Mary Ann Lead Librarian. “Oh, well it’s nice to meet you, Mary Ann, my name’s Sarah. When Sarah took her hand to shake it she could swear it felt electric. “I’m looking for books on how to become a witch.” Sarah waited for the Mary Ann to react. She knew her Mother would flip her shit if her daughter was becoming a witch.
“I think I know just the place.” With a graceful turn, the elderly woman started walking. Sarah was surprised at how fast the woman was. It seemed that she should be slow and brittle. Instead, she left Sarah feeling winded and ready to sit down. Luckily, they didn’t have to go far. “This section covers everything from Salem to Wiccans.” Sarah was amazed to see so many books. With all of them in one place, she wondered where Jenna was looking to find her books. “What makes you want to learn to be a witch?”
Sarah wasn’t sure how to answer the question and not look like a crazy, insane stalker. “It’s for school.”
Mary Ann paused as Sarah waited to see if she would inquire further. “Let me leave you with this. It is wonderful to see such a nice young woman explore early history.”
Sarah wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.
Getting back to the task at hand, Sarah thumbed through several of the books to no avail. They were either history or an exploration, nothing about how to become a witch. She was about to give up when a green sparkle caught her eye. One of the books was wedged between smaller books. She pulled it out to reveal a green book that was small with no artwork, just a title in soft gold lettering: Rules of a Coven. Sarah went to find Jenna. She was lost in a book about the science behind a different supernatural phenomenon, “Check out this book I found. It’s called ‘Rules of a Coven.’ I think it’s got exactly what we need.”
Jenna looked it over. The book was deceptively heavy. “We are really doing this, aren’t we? We are really becoming witches.” Jenna said. Sarah nodded in agreement. Neither of them could remember when they were this excited.
When they got to the counter, they ran into an issue. The book was missing a UPC code, or anything to identify that it belonged to the library. Not wanting to give up, Sarah brought the book to Mary Ann. “What an odd book,” she remarked. Mary Ann turned the book over in her hands several times as if she was trying to figure out what it was. “Well, this book doesn’t seem like one that is even supposed to be here. Why don’t you girls just take it off our hands? We have no use for it if it isn’t cataloged.” She gave the book back. A low buzzing sound filled Sarah’s ears as she took back the book.
“This is so cool. I can’t wait to read it.” Jenna exclaimed. It had been a long time since Jenna had been happy about anything.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a one of a kind experience. I’m going to read some of it when I get home and then we can figure out how to make it work.” They agreed on that. The drive home was filled with laughter and loud pop songs. It seemed as if life couldn’t get much better. When she got home, Sarah ran up to her room with the book hidden under her shirt. When she finally got up to her room she pulled it out and began to read.
