Try and Catch Me

The Witch Hunt (1)
Lia could only see the column of smoke in front of her. There was nothing else on her sight but that smoke. She ran towards it, hoping and praying that she was wrong. That at the end of these thick rows of trees would be their house still intact and her mother cooking dinner or perhaps, still in her work table, hunched over her mixtures.

But the closer she got, the stronger the smell of burning logs, the stronger her heart hammered in her chest.

‘Please let me be on time.’

As it turned out, she was late. Too late. Everything was in shambles.

Her knees buckled. ‘Please. At least let Frankie reach Eldric.’

When she saw the bands of people going to the direction of the woods, she already had an inkling of what was going to happen. Yet a part of her did not want to believe that people would do such a thing to another human being. It was naive of her to cling on such ideals.

They had asked the guards where they were going.

“That’s the last of them I think. Most of them have already left for the woods. They were going for a witch hunt.” The guard shrugged.

Blood rushed through her veins. Witch hunt. They were going for them.

There was only one thought in her mind that time — Tamara. Her mind raced as fast as her legs. Tamara was alone. She left her alone.

Frankie screamed behind her. But she could not stop running back.

She turned and grabbed Frankie by his arm. “Listen. You need to wait for the general. Tell him what we know.”

“But what about you?” Lia saw the horror on Frankie’s face. She did not have to look at a mirror to know that her face reflected that look as well.

“I’ll go back to my mom.”

“Are you crazy!? They’ll kill you! I’m coming with you.”

“Listen. And listen well. You’ve wanted to save your mother and now, I wanted to save mine. You’ll be of no help even if you come. Better tell the general if you want to help.”

Frankie tried to catch up with her but Lia pushed him away, leaving him in the middle of the town as she ran towards the cottage.

The closer she got to the house, the thick smell of smoke pervaded in the air. The loud cheering and jeering could be heard as loud as the blood rushing at the tips of her ears.

Her legs gave way in the middle of the run. She ran too much today. Her knees scraped but she did not care. She pulled herself up and got back to running.

It made her remember what happened before, from a long time ago, from another time and space. Her mother upon learning her father’s first betrayal seemed like a part of her went away. And every revelation of her father’s affairs took out the life from her mother’s eyes. It was as if a part of her mother died every time they discovered the mistresses.

She recognized that kind of death to Tamara. The betrayal in her marriage, the loss of her son, and the banishment leading to her death. She was only ever alive when she was helping people. But now, she was facing yet another kind of death.

‘No.’ Lia would not lose another family member. Both of them would not lose any more family.

As she stepped outside the clumps of trees, she realized how naive she was as she watched, grabbing a hold of a tree trunk, her knees lost its strength.

In front of her was their house. The small cottage she had grown to love where most of the happiest moments of her life happened as of late. But right now, it was more of a silhouette of a house as the raging fire continued to consume it whole.

It was as if the air was knocked out of her windpipes. Her home, now lost. She scrambled to her feet, smashing and pushing everything and everyone on her path, not stopping until she was standing right in front of the blazing house.

“Mother!”