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Melanie's Witch Series: Part 14 The Battle in Ireland

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The Dark Realm Boiling black cast iron cauldrons were bubbling all over the floor. The fires from them burning were the only light visible. It lit this cavern in an evil way. The walls had a green ooze pouring out of its crevices. The dark floor was filled with old apothecary bottles holding, human eyes, noses,fingers, and ears. The creatures at the cauldrons had heads that were so grotesque that at first sight, you wondered if it was even possible to be a head. The horns curled around their grotesque misshapen heads. Each horn had open cracks with white ooze coming out of them. The horns had warts and blisters bubbling on them. They also had markings on them for rank. The more marks the horns contained, the higher the rank of the creature. Their heads were closer to an egg shape than round. Their bodies had the fluidity of water. They wore burlap strips as their clothing. They had no visible shape to them. They mumbled in some language and had no noticeable teeth when

Melanie's Witch Series: Part 13

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Melanie felt refreshed after a night tucked into her cottage. She stumbled out to her kitchen to make a new fire, make some much-needed coffee, and open her curtains to let it the glorious subtle light that filled the hills of Cork. While reaching for the kitchen curtain she felt something brush against her lower leg and jumped back and almost knocked the coffee pot off the counter. Her car Griffin was rubbing her leg and purring. She picked him up and nuzzled him against her face giving him kisses. She should have been surprised to see him pop up, but he always appeared when she needed a protector. Then it hit her, she needed protection? What did Griffin know that she did not? Melanie walked over to the couch and placed the cat down on the middle cushion. She set logs into the fireplace and nestled some newspapers below it and lit the papers on fire with a match from the wall sconce. She pondered how many matches were in the container. She walked with purpose back to

Melanie's Witch Series: Part 12 Melanie in Ireland

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Melanie walked the Irish hills and let her mind wander. She was heading into the city of Cork. She had saved for this trip back to her homeland for decades. She had not been to Ireland since her and her mom fled on that cold and blackened night. They filled what they could into their tapestry bags and ran. They boarded a plane for America. Running from the past, running from the darkness and from the evil that was now following them. Magic was both a blessing and a curse. Melanie’s mom never seemed to really rest. She was never at peace. She kept one eye looking back on the past for she feared it would catch up to them and she needed to be ready. Arriving back in Cork and walking the same hills she toddled around many moons ago, Melanie could feel a shift in herself. She felt freer here. She was alone with the sheep on the hillside. Her tiny thatched roof cottage was only a few rooms, but it was all she needed. She was only here for a three-month stint. She needed to f

Melanie's Witch Series Part 11: Childhood Part 2

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Melanie’s teen years past without so much as a whisper of magic sprinkled in. Spells seem to be just out of her fingertip reach.Not one book had shown up in years. On her sixteenth birthday everything was about to change. Little did Melanie know how much. It was a chilly day in April the day Melanie turned 16. She woke up when the sun danced upon her pillowcase. It tickled her eye lids and she slowly responded with a flutter of her long thick eyelashes. She squinted and strained against the morning’s cheery brightness as her eyes settled on focusing in on her dresser across her room. She sat up and her curls were tousled all around her head. They were a mess from her tossing and turning in anticipation of her 16th birthday. She went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and bounced downstairs. As she came to the bottom of the stairs, she stepped into the kitchen where her mom greeted her with balloons of all colors and a splendid HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout! Melanie smiled an

Melanie's Witch Series Part 10: Melanie's Childhood Part 1

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Melanie’s first remembrance of something magical happening was when she was four years old. She was out with her mother grocery shopping and she felt agitated at not getting what she wanted at the store checkout. She remembers thinking she should throw a fit to get what she wanted; she closed her eyes, and in a moment reopened her eyes and saw that everyone except her mother and her were frozen in time. Her mother got down close to her face and gently said “You cannot have everything you want in life. Things do not make people happy, love does. She hugged her daughter tight and in a split second of being in her mother’s arms she released time and let everyone go back to normal. Melanie did not understand what happened, or how she made it happen, but she knew she made it happen. When her and her mother came home they unpacked the groceries together and talked. Her mother avoided the subject of what happened in the grocery until she put Melanie to bed. While tucking h

Melanie's Witch Series: Part 9 Bird Cage

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Melanie had been so wrapped up in the death of her fiancé, the possible dating situation with James, and now the pregnancy that she had forgotten the bird cage sitting covered in the corner. It was handed down from generations of strong women in her family. It had been in that corner of the living room since she moved in with her fiancé. Legend has it if you put a wish in the bird cage, close the cage, cover it overnight, if in the morning your paper was gone then your wish would come true. The bird cage contained, like so many other ordinary things she owned, magic. It had sat in the corner waiting to be unpacked till she had the perfect spot for it in the house. Well today was that day! She knew exactly where she would put it. She emptied an end table, moved its lamp to another table, and placed the rather large wrought iron black birdcage on the table. “Hmm”, she thought, it was rather cumbersome. Maybe that is why it sat against the wall for so long. No, it will not

Melanie's Witch series: Part 8 Cravings

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Melanie had found out she was pregnant only moments ago, but all of a sudden she wanted gingerbread cookies . She remembered her fiance loved them. Maybe his baby would as well. It was her first holiday season without him in six years. Now though she had a part of him growing in her and the shock was starting to wear off. He would have been thrilled to have a baby with her , but they wanted to wait a year till they were married. Well now she was without him and carrying his child. Melanie sped out of the doctors office and drove right to a food store on the far side of town. She knew everyone on the other side of town and did not want them to suspect her of having cravings. She wanted to make a junk run, which she never did, and she wanted those adorable iced gingerbread men cookies. She wanted to nibble their arms and legs off just like her fiance used to do. She arrived at the food store in ten minutes and those cravings were getting worse. She skipped to the cookie

Melanie's Witch Story: Part 7 Taming Her Wild Side

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She caught the peeling gold painted tiny bobby pin as it fell out of her fiery red hair. It was her great grandmother’s and held a special place in her heart. Her hair was just as unruly as every other women in her family’s before her. Her red locks always slipping out of their constraints. A piece here, a piece there, hair always flailing, struggling to fall free. Her ringlets left to flounce in the wind as she walked, her bangs blinding her repeatedly, but still she tried to tame it with an immense amount of bobby pins, her great grandmother’s included. Melanie had replied to James email that she was looking forward to a second date, but thoughts lingered that she was not ready to date. She was determined to try and remain open about dating him. Her fingers lingered on her bobby pins as she sat nervously waiting for him to ask her to do something again. Bowling, dinner, movies, walk, she did not know, but if the bottom of her stomach continued doing flips,she knew s

Melanie's Witch Series: Part 6

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Holiday lights are key to discovering happiness in the darkness of winter. He told her to meet him by the children’s carousel. She was a little early and paced around it in a circle. People began to stare at her, and she started to walk away just as he walked up . Melanie could recognize James from a mile away. He was rock-n-roll through and through. He had the stereotypical rock-n-roller long straight jet black hair, black leather jacket that looked so worn in it was ready to fall to threads, black boots big enough to stomp anyone who tried to get on his stage, and he always looked like he had a stubble of a beard, even after he just shaved. Damn that is sexy she thought. He had tattoos of music notes, skulls, and tribal ink on his neck, hands, and arms. He looked like an extreme rocker who could kick anyone's ass. Why had she agreed to meet him? He was her deceased boyfriend’s bestie, and her guitar tutor; nothing good could happen from meeting him out in the rea

Melanie's Witch Story: Part 5

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Music to sooth the soul, heal grief, and aid in heartbreak. Melanie sat on her sturdy IKEA chair, held his guitar for the first time since he died, and strummed a few chords. The tears fell and she found she just could not play. Jolting up, she placed his guitar back down and ran to the bed as the tears flooded out of her. Her nose filled with snot. Her head a lead balloon. Why had life taken him from her just as they were going to be married? He left his guitar to her. He always wanted her to play, but she only made it through 15 minutes of one lesson, learned two chords, and stormed out crying in pain from her misery of missing him. It was a Saturday morning and Melanie had already had enough of life. She struggled to not give up and just go back to bed each day since his death. Wake up, force herself to shower, nibbling enough to barely stay alive. She was in limbo; to live or die and she did not care which won. It was so sudden his death, she had no time to say g

Melanie's Witch Series: Part 4

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M elanie took out her small red notebook . She was determined to write 5000 words today . They may not be her best work, but 5000 words they shall be . She wrote one word then another. Her character started out shattered and depressed. She was in pieces emotionally and mentally. She needed to move her story line forward and was stuck. She left her pen in her notebook and she walked away. She started her morning over again. Reboot, admit defeat! She had writer’s block and it was a huge stumbling block. Not a pebble, but a mountain of a writing block . She got a new cup of coffee as she noticed her first one sitting cold and untouched over by her writing desk. She put the second cup down like the first and decided perhaps she needed to do something else . She walked into her bathroom to shower. Maybe if she freshened up and took a shower her writing would be freshened up too. She needed a change of environment and to actually drink coffee. Freshly showered Melanie grabbed her

Melanie the Witch: Part 3

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O nce the swirl of the mist landed from the chaos that just ensued there was clearly a layer of soot that needed to be cleaned up. There were piles of soot all over the floor in front of the stone fireplace. She looked next to the mantle where she kept her broom, but it had moved itself. She knew it feared being burned up by all the embers in the fireplace while the silver box burned. It clearly was no where to be found.She knew not to even go hunting for the broom. Its fear was to great, so she tried to summon it to her. She could feel it pulling and its hesitation in coming to her side.She quieted her mind, told the broom in her mind that all was calm, this time her pull was stronger and it came to her hand. The broom seemed to be trembling in her hands, she held it gently, soothing it in her mind. The broom almost seemed to lean into her saying all was going to be okay now. Quietly and calmly she began to sweet the soot into the fireplace, but the broom’s bristles

Melanie Witch Story: Part 2

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The next part of Melanie's story! Magnifying Mystical Creatures: Chapter 2 She opened her tiny magical silver box each morning. She eagerly awaited each night to see what it held for her. It produced a new surprise at dawn. The item that appeared was to be used for different spells, for different people, and even though she did not know the spell yet or the person it was to be used on, she knew the silver box was filled with magic just for her. It had been in her family for as long as she could remember. She yearned each night for the dawn to hasten. It never did. It crept along as if it was injured and had to crawl like an insignificant snail. Upon the new day’s arrival she sprang to her silver box, her feet bare, in her black velvet robe, which was draped over her shoulders, and her hair flaring behind her. Her eyes wide with excitement of what would arrive in her silver box. She swiftly opened the box and gasped as her eyes gazed on an ornate antique silver