Episode 2

One fine day, when the weather was at its best, so endearing in its touch to my senses, I lingered a little longer at the creek. I saw my reflection in its clear waters, and the face that stared back at me looked as resplendent as the blue of the pristine waters.

My face was oval in shape, and my green eyes I knew was as enticing as the white rose’s perfume that wafted to where I was seated. My lips were rose red, and I attributed it to the freezing cold of the weather. My porcelain face stared back at me as one who was endowed with a magnetizing beauty. Not many can attest to having skin and tone so smooth and silky, such as that face reflected on the surface of the gentle, soothing waters.

I knew that I looked beautiful. I stared at my reflection feeling a sudden glow overcome me. There was a song in my heart and my feet were nimble and light as I stood up on the soft rocks that surrounded the creek.

I was the happiest at that moment.

Suddenly, I felt a strong breeze brush past me. I felt myself whirling at its sudden contact with my body. I felt lightheaded, and couldn’t stop my head from spinning. I sat down on a higher rock by the creek, holding my head in my hands, hoping for the dizziness to go away.

I don’t know how long I sat there, but it seemed like the hours bypassed me with alacrity. I heard someone say something to me.

“Who is that?” I asked, a little fearful. The voice was hoarse and unintelligible.

I heard laughter in the background. It seemed like the whole of the forest was laughing at me. Echoes of the laughter vibrated throughout the forest. I looked around when I heard the echoes. I looked to see if anyone was close by and there wasn't.

“Who are you?” I questioned once more, trying to steady myself from falling off the rock.

There was no answer forthcoming and I started getting fidgety.

I tried to stand up when something pushed me back to sit down. It wasn’t rough in its handling of me but neither was it a gentle push. There was something sinister behind its powerful ****** at me.

Then, I heard the voice say with a little more clarity.

“Don’t you know who I am? I have been a haunt to you since you were a child.”

I started trembling a little. I felt eyes from behind the bushes and trees staring hard at me.

“No, I don’t know who you are.” I answered. Trying to be brave, I said, “Why don’t you show yourself to me. Maybe, then, I might recognize you.”

The laughter turned cynical this time. I took a quick look around. My head wasn’t spinning so much anymore. That eerie laughter, which had first sounded like it came from some place far, was getting closer.

Afraid of the voice, I shut my ears, and tears started rolling down my face. I suddenly looked at my reflection in the water, and was taken aback to see an old woman standing behind me. She was the ugliest woman I had ever seen.

She wore a black garb, with a hood over her head. Her face was all wrinkled with deep lines running down the corners of her mouth, and her eyes were eyes of evil. They were blackened with hatred and animosity.

I turned to see if she really was standing behind me, but saw nothing instead. I heard the leaves moving with the winds in the background, and felt cold all over. I looked again at the reflection in the water and there she was, still standing behind me.

I suppressed a scream when she smiled. It was so distasteful that she looked like a demon, her teeth like that of the wolves. She almost gnarled when she opened her mouth to speak.

“So, my dear beauty, do you recognize me now?”

At that moment, I felt faint, and jumped when I felt her old wrinkly hand on my shoulder. She held me tight and pressed her nails deep into my flesh. I was sure that my skin was ruptured by her long claw-like nails, and felt blood oozing down my shoulder.

What she did next frightened me out of my skin. She started licking her fingers, wet from my blood. She kept on licking her fingers hungrily, like she was enjoying the taste of my blood. I stared at her, shocked beyond words, and when she saw the tears in my eyes, she put her forefinger out to touch it. I tried to move away from her disgusting touch but I was rooted where I was seated.

“Tears!” her voice crackled as she said it. “Ah, yes, they are for the soft-hearted, aren’t they?” Her ugly laughter rang out loud after that, echoing eerily across the forest. Some birds perched on the trees nearby, flew away in fright. Her crackled voice was tormenting to say the least, that even the creatures of the forest grew afraid of its sound.

“I have the means to let the wild beasts that await a feast like you, have their way. But, I think I will play a little game with you first, before I let them devour you. I have waited for a long time to get you, my little beauty. Do you still not know who I am? Well, let me tell you, then. I was once a beautiful princess who ruled over this forest, the most beautiful creature in its entire kingdom.”

As she said that, as if in agreement with what she said, a wolf howled from somewhere close by.

The old wrinkled woman let out an eerie cry too, in answer to the wolf. I felt my whole body stiffen. My fear was inexplicable.

When she opened her mouth, her protruding and large uneven teeth was stained with traces of my blood. I cringed and let out a whimper at the gory sight of her. She stopped to stare at me, her eyes angry and frighteningly red. They were bloodshot and the veins pronounced. She had the ugliest eyes any one could imagine.

Then, she smiled at me. With sudden greed, she started touching the blood on my shoulder and slurping it again off her fingers. She kept on doing the same over and over like she was quenching a hidden thirst.

I winced, crying softly as the pain on my shoulders increased, my eyes glued at her reflection on the water, when suddenly, I saw her transform into the most beautiful maiden I had ever laid eyes on. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

There was light radiating all around her. She held a golden wand in her hand; her black robe had changed into a purple and red gown, with a golden hemline running down its centerpiece. She wore a small crown of rubies on her head and her hair was long, cascading down to her waist, and jet black - the shiniest you have ever seen. Her face was as translucent as the clear waters that ran down the creek, and her ugly eyes now shone like beautiful blue crystals.

She stood there looking at me with a smug expression on her face, like she finally succeeded at being released from a dark spell. It was definitely an evil spell that had befallen her, and I turned out to be the maiden whose beauty tainted with blood, enabled her release.

“Well, well, so it is you who would finally restore me to my human form. I had hundreds of maidens killed by the wild beasts that roam this forest, to seek my freedom from a dark spell cast upon me by a wicked sorcerer who had the audacity to take my beauty away.

The only way I could be freed was to drink the blood of a ****** maiden so fair in the entire kingdom, which I tried to attain from the hundreds that walked through this garden, who unfortunately succumbed to tragic deaths under the wrath of the wild beasts that guarded me here.

However, none of their blood could resurrect me to the way I was before. I am the white rose that enchants anyone who enters my garden, who was cursed, transformed into a hideous witch, and who is now liberated!”

I stared in absolute astonishment at the bewitching woman who now whirled around in glee, happiness shining in her face. The light that radiated from her body made her look like a goddess. Then to my utter disbelief, when I shifted my eyes to look at my reflection in the water, I saw that I had turned into the old woman, the one who had pressed her nails into my shoulders and drank my blood earlier. I had become the hideous witch, while the freed sorcerer had regained her beauty!

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