Chapter 5 by ArtistGirl
The girl turned around. Alexa looked at her and stared. The girl stared too. Alexa’s eyes widened. The girl’s didn’t. They couldn’t. She didn’t have any eyes. Just big black holes… staring, swirling, sucking all the happiness… Alexa broke the mysterious silence and screamed.
She ran. Farther and farther into the woods, never turning around, never risking a backward glance… running faster, farther, until she ran far enough fast enough, she was sure the girl wouldn’t be there anymore.
Alexa looked around. To the right of her what you’d exect in a forest. Trees. To the left was a grove, in it a large tree with a door among the roots. Alexa, curious about what might be in it, took a step forward. Nothing happened. Alexa walked the full length of the grove until she found she had brought herself to the edge of the grove, right in front of a small door.
The door was about 5 feet tall, shorter that Alexa herself. She hesitated, then lifted her hand and knocked. No answer. She knocked again. This time, she heard a sort of buzzing noise. The door opened, and a small old woman was looking up at her. “What’ve we gots here, Peg?
Alexa gaped at her. “Who- who are you?” The woman chuckled. “Did ye hear that, Peg? The pretty lass wants to know who we are. Tell ‘er, Peg!”
The woman’s face seemed to change, and in a quite different voice, she said, “Come in, deary, come in. Now, I’s Peggy, bu’ yer prob’ly already knows that. “Actually, I didn’t” responded Alexa. The woman looked shocked. “Yer means- ye’s ne’er ‘eard o’ me? The witch o’ the grove?”
“W-witch?” Alexa stammered. “Yeah” came the reply. Just then, Alexa noticed a cauldron of a glowing purple substance. “Um- what’s that?” she asked. “Ah,” said the witch, “Just a little something I’ve made for my lovelies.” “Um, what are your… lovelies?” Peggy frowned at me. “You don’t know who my lovelies are?” Her voice changed back to the one she first used. “Well, of course, Peg. She’s never heard of us, remember? Tell ‘er, Peg, tell ‘er!”
The woman’s voice changed again. “Of course. Well, ye see, when people like you come to my house, a lot of them don’t apprez- apr-” “Appreciate” provided Alexa. “Yes, my dear, thank you, they don’t whatever you said my ‘orspitality, and they aren’ grateful. So I’s gotta punish ‘em for it, so I turn ‘em into these fellows ‘ere.” Upon saying this, she pulled out a huge jar or creatures, looking like turtle-snails with green fur. Alexa grimaced at the sight of them.
“Those used to be people?” she asked. Not answering her question, Peg said “Bedtime, deary!” Dreading to think of what Peg would do to her while she slept, Alexa silently made a plan to escape during the night.
